Festival Retrospective

Celtic Connections 2005 – the international festival

12th January – 30th January 2005

Celtic Connections 2005 had an international flavour. We launched the festival at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton in October of the previous year. We also had artists from over a dozen different countries perform and 20% of our audiences travelled from outside of Scotland to visit the festival.

Artists appearing at the festival in 2005 included:

Anúna
Hazel O’Connor
Shane MacGowan
The Delgados
Huun Huur Tu
Strings Attached (Blazin Fiddles, Justin Currie, Colin MacIntyre and Eddi Reader)
Ian Anderson
Mary McPartlan and John Spillane
Linda Tillery and The Cultural Heritage Choir
Mindy Smith
Ricky Ross
Eleanor McEvoy and Juliet Turner
Kathyrn Williams
Mozaik

What the critics said...

Our International Connections

Celtic Connections through the years had proactively promoted artistic links across countries and cultural exchange between festivals. To celebrate these links two concerts were created to recognise the relationships with fellow music festivals including Tonder (Denmark) and Celtic Colours (Canada).
Our worldly connections were very apparent with musicians coming from all corners of the globe including Africa, America, Asia, Canada, Denmark, England, Holland, France, Ireland, Norway, Russia, Scandinavia and Spain.

First and Last

First

Our opening concert premiered a brand new piece of music by one of the greatest Scottish pipers alive, Fred Morrison. Paracas – Rhapsody of the Gael was orchestrated and conducted by Mark Sheridan for traditional ensemble, symphony orchestra and chorus with the piece taking it’s inspiration from the history of Gaeldom. There really was no more fitting opening to our 12th festival than both commemorating the suffering of our ancestors while celebrating the cultural legacy they fought to leave behind, and which flourishes not only here in Scotland, but in regions all over the world.

Last

The Main Auditorium not only opened with a brand new commission in 2005 – we closed with one too. Dougie MacLean’s Rural Image revealed a new dimension to one of Scotland’s most famous and respected singer-songwriter. He composed his own symphony in four movements incorporating original music and song.

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