An Irish Christmas Music Weekend

While it does seem like Ticketmaster fees make one's tickets nearly double in price, for those who cannot quite make it across the pond to Bunratty Castle this Christmas season, there is an opportunity to indulge in Irish Christmas music in Alabama the weekend of December 7th and 8th, 2024. As Keith and Kristyn Getty are presenting "An Irish Christmas" at the BJCC Concert Hall on Saturday, December 7th. Followed by the Celtic Angels presenting their "Celtic Angels Christmas" show on Sunday, December 8th, at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center, as well.

A musical duo from Northern Ireland, Keith and Kristyn Getty are known for being modern day hymn- writers. With their 2001 hymn, "In Christ Alone", which was co-written with Stuart Townsend, being of special note. They also host a "Sing! From Generation to Generation" conference in Nashville, as they journey through the greatest hymns from all time celebrating "the vital heritage of hymnody that has been passed down through twenty centuries of Christianity".

In previous years, their show has been featured in millions of households internationally on some of the best television stations for airing cultural programs such as public television and the BBC. And this year,

Keith and Kristyn Getty will feature some of their brand new songs along with many of the traditional Christmas Carols on tour in "An Irish Christmas". With the Gettys being known for their imaginative arrangements of the classic Christmas Carols while at the same time keeping the melodic line and

rhythmic values of the traditional hymns unchanged.

Known for their "spine tingling harmonies", the Celtic Angels bill themselves as including some of the "sweetest voices under Heaven". With their "Celtic Angels Ireland" show being an homage to their emerald isle that aims to help audiences "escape to verdant valleys and heathery highlands" and "step back in time to the land of saints and scholars".

In "Celtic Angels Christmas", the Irish female ensemble which is reminiscent of the more well known Irish music powerhouse, "Celtic Woman", blends the old and new worlds with traditional and contemporary Irish and Christmas seasonal favorites. Accompanied by the Celtic Knight Irish Dancers, an Irish step dancing group, in "Celtic Angels Christmas" the Celtic Angels aim to help audiences dash through the snow to Ireland as they wish everybody a "Nollaig Shona Daiomh Go Léir, Is Go Léir Oíche Mhaith" in theIrish Gaelic. Or as they say in English, a "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"