{"id":2378186,"date":"2026-04-17T20:59:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2378186"},"modified":"2026-04-17T20:59:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T20:59:16","slug":"award-winning-celtic-fiddler-eileen-ivers-performs-may-2-in-needham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/award-winning-celtic-fiddler-eileen-ivers-performs-may-2-in-needham\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning Celtic fiddler Eileen Ivers performs May 2 in Needham"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eileen Ivers has always had a deep pride of her Irish heritage. Her parents, both Irish immigrants, instilled in her and her sister a love and appreciation for it.<\/p>\n\n

Irish music was played in the family home, so it was no surprise Ivers began playing the Irish fiddle<\/a> as a child.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now 60 and a Grammy-winning artist, Ivers will bring her talents to the stage at the James Hugh Powers Hall, on the second floor of Needham Town Hall,\u00a0as part of the Needham Bank Great Hall Concert Series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn audience knows when a band is really feeling the music,\u201d Ivers told Wicked Local in a recent interview.\u00a0\u201cIt becomes a really great experience for everyone. Connecting with the audience is key. I enjoy speaking at my shows and giving some backdrop to my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

‘An emotive instrument’: <\/strong>Fiddler Eileen Ivers plans benefit concert for Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It has served her well.<\/p>\n

Ivers has had a celebrated career as a performer, composer, producer, songwriter, band leader and educator. She has performed with The London Symphony Orchestra<\/a>, The National Symphony at the Kennedy Center,<\/a> The Boston Pops<\/a>, The Chieftains<\/a>, Hall and Oates, Sting<\/a> and Patti Smith<\/a>, among others. And she has contributed to movie scores, including \u201cGangs of New York\u201d and \u201cSome Mother\u2019s Son,\u201d and was the groundbreaking musical star of \u201cRiverdance.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

From child prodigy to international platforms<\/h2>\n

Besides her parents, Ivers credits music teacher Martin Mulvihill<\/a> for sparking her interest in the Irish fiddle when she was growing up in a culturally diverse neighborhood in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a wonderful Irish teacher,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cHe taught hundreds of kids all the instruments and Irish music.\u00a0He was a kind soul who loved the music and wanted to pass it along. I loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Soon enough, Ivers began to \u201cmake music sounds,\u201d and was happy to make Mulvihill and her parents proud, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sister and I realized the sacrifices my parents had made, so it hit me as a kid that this music was really special,\u201d Ivers said. \u201cI enjoyed playing music with other kids my own age and becoming part of a community.\u00a0Martin had wonderful students, and many of those students became music teachers themselves.\u00a0It\u2019s certainly in our psyche to want to encourage passing along that music and heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Having her original music performed by different orchestras and working with some of the most talented artists in modern time is not something to be taken for granted, she said.<\/p>\n

Touring and being part of \u201cRiverdance\u201d was \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I won\u2019t forget,\u201d she said. \u201cThere was such a pride in that show. We all felt it was really special, and that we were breaking new ground. It is always exciting to be in that element.\u00a0It was just incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

She said she’s grateful for all of the opportunities she’s received, and said that while mastering the fiddle can be challenging, \u201cyou keep learning until the day you die.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fine fiddle<\/h2>\n

There is no difference between the fiddle and the violin \u2014<\/strong> each is a four-stringed instrument either played with a bow, or is strummed or plucked \u2014<\/strong> other than the style of music played on them.\u00a0The violin is favored for classical music, played in orchestras and symphonies, while the fiddle is often used for more festive types of music, including bluegrass, folk and country.<\/p>\n\n

Fiddles have not changed much since the 1700s, Ivers said, other than to have been set up slightly different today.<\/p>\n

They’ve even gone electric.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe modern electric element to the fiddle is ideal to amplify sound when playing in large venues or at festivals,\u201d Ivers explained. \u201cYou can also use microphones or clip-on microphones like I sometimes do. An added bonus is when using my electric fiddle, I can run it through guitar effects pedals on a couple of pieces, one being a solo violin piece I do with a looping pedal. It\u2019s very emotive. It can be very cathartic, and melancholy, and powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ivers praises her band, Universal Roots, saying it’s important to keep the music new and engaging for both the band and the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn audience knows when a band is really feeling the music,\u201d she said. \u201cIt becomes a really great experience for everyone. Connecting with the audience is key. I enjoy speaking at my shows and giving some backdrop to my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

She hopes the audience leaves her shows feeling \u201cuplifted or moved, and that they take that into their lives and their psyched.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf God is still giving you these feelings and is directing you to connect with people through music, that’s a blessing,\u201d Ivers said. \u201cMusic can change lives and inspire others. I am blessed to be a part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.wickedlocal.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eileen Ivers has always had a deep pride of her Irish heritage. Her parents, both Irish immigrants, instilled in her and her sister a love and appreciation for it. Irish music was played in the family home, so it was no surprise Ivers began playing the Irish fiddle as a child.\u00a0 Now 60 and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2378187,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[30218,28769,22220,22005,43013,6297,284334,390017,51971,349441,348123,47944,390022,317485,390018,21800,239343,239347,347962,23759,67134,23152,284335,344940,453058,23362],"class_list":["post-2378186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ai","tag-and","tag-arts","tag-concerts","tag-content","tag-eamotion","tag-enabled","tag-framingham","tag-highlights","tag-irish","tag-irish-music","tag-ma","tag-ma-content-sharing-framingham-milford","tag-massachusetts","tag-milford","tag-music","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-performing","tag-positive","tag-sharing","tag-story","tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","tag-theaters","tag-theaters-and-performing-arts-venues","tag-venues"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Award-winning-Celtic-fiddler-Eileen-Ivers-performs-May-2-in-Needham.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2378186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2378188,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2378186\/revisions\/2378188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2378187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2378186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2378186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2378186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}