A Calmer, More Musical St. Patrick's Day

By Alexander Hough in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 16, 2009 8:20PM

If you're looking for a St. Patrick's Day celebration that won't end with you asleep before sundown or crying in a bar bathroom, head to Symphony Center tomorrow night for the 13th annual Siamsa na nGael.

Siamsa na nGael - pronounced "sheemsa na-gail" - will feature traditional Celtic music performed by the Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, Old St. Patrick's Concert Choir, concertina player John Williams, guitarist Dennis Cahill, and vocalists Rodrick Dixon and Catherine O'Connell. There will also be Irish dancers, and the pipes, the pipes will be calling.

The show is structured around this year's theme, "Stories of Hope," with narrators telling stories linking Ireland and America. The three parts will connect the Irish to the Choctaw, Frederick Douglass, and the Chicago Police Department.

Tickets are available here. All proceeds go to Old St. Patrick's Church.

Symphony Center, 222 S Michigan, March 17 at 7:30 p.m., $25 - $55