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Focal Point's 50th Anniversary Celebration with Traditional IrishMusic Masters James Kelly & Daithi Sproule
Friday, March 6, 2026
Doors 7:30pm / Show 8pm
Tickets in Advance $36 (includes all fees)
Tickets Day of Show $40 (cash) / $41 (card)
As part of Focal Point's 50th Anniversary Celebration we are excited to have two of Irish traditional music's highly regarded masters, James Kelly and Dáithí Sproule. The collaboration of James and Dáithí and their connection to St. Louis goes back several decades when they had a residence at John D. McGurk's in St. Louis as part of Bowhand, a trio with James on fiddle, Dáithí on guitar and vocals, and the legendary box player, Paddy O'Brien. This trio recorded two classic albums for Shanachie Records which were reissued on a single CD in 1995 as *Traditional Music of Ireland."
James Kelly
James Kelly is one of the greatest Irish traditional fiddlers alive today. He learned his music from his father John Kelly, the renowned fiddle and concertina player from County Clare.
After years of careful study and practice, James began his recording and touring career at age sixteen. That year he won first place in the prestigious “Fiddler of the Year” competition and recorded his first album, a duet with his brother John. Since that time, James has toured Europe, the US, Canada and South America, and was a member of several influential Irish groups, including “Patrick Street” and the legendary folk group “Planxty.”
He was a presenter of the “Pure Drop” series for Irish TV and has appeared several times with the Grammy award-winning Irish group, “The Chieftains.” In the US, James has performed several times on Garrison Keillor’s national radio show, “A Prairie Home Companion.” In recent years he received the prestigious “Florida Folk Heritage Award” as well as the “Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Folk Arts Award.”
James was the TG4 Irish traditional musician of the year, having been awarded the “Gradam Ceoil TG4 2006 Irish Musician of the Year” award in recognition of his outstanding musicianship and contributions to Irish music (TG4 is Ireland’s Irish-language TV station).
He has 18 albums to his credit and recently released his latest recording, “Melodic Journeys.” He is currently working on a teaching DVD for fiddle students, as well as compiling his over 800 compositions for publication. He continues to tour with some of Irish music’s leading accompanists.
Dáithí Sproule
Guitarist, singer Dáithí Sproule is a native of Derry in the north of Ireland and has lived for many years in Minnesota. He was a member of the seminal group Skara Brae with Maighread and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and their brother Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, with whom he was one of the first people to introduce the guitar tuning DADGAD into Irish music, and he has recorded and performed around the world with many of the greats of Irish traditional music, including Trian (with Liz Carroll and Billy McComiskey), Fingal (with James Keane and Randal Bays) and, for more than thirty years, with the Irish band Altan. Other musicians with whom he has performed include Tommy Peoples, Seamus and Manus McGuire, Peter Ostroushko, James Kelly, Paddy O’Brien, Laura MacKenzie, Dolly Parton and Minnesota blues great Dave Ray. His compositions have been recorded and performed widely.
Dáithí Sproule has also had a life-long commitment to Irish language and culture. His studies on Early Irish poetry and history have been published in the magazine Comhar and in Ériu, a journal of the Royal Irish Academy. His collection of short stories in Irish, An Taobh Eile, was published In 1987. Dáithí has taught Early and Medieval Irish at University College Dublin and courses on Celtic culture, mythology and history at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher at the Center for Irish Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, since 2006.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
2720 Sutton Blvd, Maplewood, MO, United States, Missouri 63143, 2720 Sutton Blvd, St Louis, MO 63143-3036, United States, Richmond Heights
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