National Celtic Festival release first lineup

The National Celtic Folk Festival (NCFF) will celebrate its 19th year in 2023, and the popular annual event in Portarlington will showcase a full lineup of international talent for the first time since 2019.

The artists will bring exciting, dynamic, and cultural performances to the Bellarine over three days in June.

The musicians in the first lineup announced earlier this week are:

Daoirí Farrell (Ireland)

Sorcha Costello, Conor Connolly and Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill (Ireland)

Colin Lillie (Alice Springs), and

Charm of Finches (Melbourne).

A Dublin-born singer and bouzouki player, Farrell is considered one of most important singers to come out of Ireland in recent years. His live work sees the 2013 All Ireland Champion Singer touring far and wide, performing regularly at festivals around the globe including in Canada, Australia and Europe.

Costello (fiddle), Connolly (accordion) and Ó Dubhghaill (guitar) are a skilled and dynamic trio who perform together regularly in Ireland, but this is their first trip to Australia.

Gypsy Scotsman Lillie has found a new life in Alice Springs, where he has thrived as a songwriter. In 2016, Lillie released his debut album Glass Homes, which won The AU Review “People’s Choice” Australian Artist Of The Year award, and he has kept putting out albums and EPs since then.

Sister duo Charm of Finches has mastered the art of seamlessly pairing vocal harmonies with their many stringed instruments. Their accolades include being winners of the 2021 Music Victoria Best Folk Act and 2021 Australian Folk Music Awards Youth Act of the Year and long-listed for the 2020 & 2021 Australian Music Prize.

“As the biggest Celtic festival in Australia, we pride ourselves on bringing in new, fresh performers for festival goers to enjoy,” NCFF festival director Una McAlinden said.

“This is the first year, since COVID, that we are back full tilt and we are ready to host more international and national artists this year.”

Over the three day festival, the program is packed full of culture, folk and traditions including Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, Breton, Galician and Asturian cultures.

Highlights include bush dances, heavy games, Celtic martial arts, ceilis, live theatre, pipe bands, workshops and – new in 2023 – hurling.

The 2023 NCFF will be held from June 9-12 in Portarlington.

For more information or to buy tickets, head to nationalcelticfestival.com