LEWISBURG W.Va. (WVDN) – Carnegie Hall presents Celtic group Tartan Terrors on Friday, March 7, at 7 p.m. Guests are invited to come early to Club Carnegie from 6–6:45 p.m. in the Board Room located adjacent to the Hamilton Auditorium. A cash bar and snacks are available.
Tartan Terrors bring their Celtic Invasion to festivals and shows across North America, blending the energy of a rock show with humor and stepdance. The members include Ian Irmisch (Bodhran, Emcee), Peter McArthur (Bagpipes, Whistle, Vocals), Emily Yarascavitch (Fiddle, Stepdance, Vocals), Charlie McKittrick (Drums, Vocals), Phill Hood (Guitar, Vocals), Chris Kerba (Bodhran, Guitar, Vocals), and Jake Saenz (Bass Guitar, Vocals).
Ian Irmisch founded the Tartan Terrors with his late sister Ellen in 1996. He has an extensive career in the professional arts and sports worlds. At the age of five, he performed in the prestigious Great Hall of Hamilton Place and hasn’t looked back since. Ian holds credentials with ACTRA, CAEA, and the AFM and has appeared in the Spirit of a Nation Tour, Charlottetown Festival, Ross Petty Productions Robin Hood, 42nd Street, Hamilton Theatre Inc, Brigadoon, Drury Lane Productions and across the UK. He has appeared in numerous film and television productions including Death to Smoochy, Superstar, Road to Avonlea, and The Santa Claus. As a child, he trained at his mother’s dance school, Sundance Studios in Burlington. He went on to Ryerson University and Sheridan College and worked across New York City. In 1996, the Wilkes-Irmisch siblings formed Tartan Terrors and Celtic performances haven’t been the same since. He now resides in Muskoka, Ontario, where he’s an avid collector of advertising signs and gas/car memorabilia.
Peter McArthur has been performing the traditional music of the Great Highland Bagpipe for over 25 years. He first performed with Tartan Terrors in Manheim, Pennsylvania, at Celtic Fling in 2015.
Peter grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina playing with his local pipe band and spending influential time each summer at the North American Academy of Piping. He received most of his instruction from Bill Caudill at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg, NC. While at St. Andrews, Peter became a Grade 1 piper and earned a BA with Honors in Philosophy. Peter’s tenure with the SAU Pipe Band spans 20 years of winning performances in the southeastern United States and numerous championships in Grade 3. Peter currently teaches his hometown pipe band, the Cross Creek Pipes and Drums, whose hard work earned the EUSPBA Southeastern Branch Championship for Grade 5 in 2018. Peter performs at over 250 events throughout each year and spends his spring and fall giving regular weekend recitals at Pinehurst Resort. The sounds of his pipes have been heard with choirs, organs, trumpets, large orchestras, and even handbell choirs. Along the way, Peter performed with the Chieftains, Seven Nations, and the Rend Collective.
Emily Yarascavitch is a fiddling and stepdancing sensation. She draws audiences in and creates an authentic and memorable connection with her deft musicality, warm smile and infectious energy.
She began stepdancing at four years old and took up fiddle shortly after. She spent numerous years in the Canadian competition circuit, achieving prestigious awards in both fiddle and stepdance. She is trained in various fiddle styles as well as classical violin. She is a mutli Canadian Grand Masters Finalist, Junior Canadian Champion, and a two-time Canadian Open Duet Champion. As a classical musician, she has completed Advanced Theory and playing examinations.
Emily is currently the fiddle player and stepdancer for Tartan Terrors. She has been in high demand as a performer across North America and has toured with The Stepcrew, Shreem X Celtic Remix, and The Scott Woods Band.
Emily is an in-demand music teacher and runs a full private studio in Oshawa, Ontario, teaching violin, fiddle, music theory, and stepdance.
Charlie McKittrick joined forces with the Tartan Terrors in November 2016. He first hit the stage at a Christmas concert in Harrisburg, PA. Since then, he’s played dozens of festivals and theatres with the band all over North America. He brings with him his genuine passion for playing the drums, animated and energetic showmanship, an angelic tenor vocalist, and 14 years’ professional playing experience. He formerly belonged to the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and holds a BMus from the University of Windsor, where he studied classical percussion and physical geography. He’s performed internationally including stops in Germany, Singapore, nine provinces in Canada and 33 states in the USA. He’s released a solo EP and two singles (Two Hearts, Brand New Love and Christmas Countdown respectively) and continues to write and record. He performed onstage with Sen Dog of Cypress Hill and the band Finger Eleven and appears on the Scary Movie 5 soundtrack. He is endorsed by Promark drumsticks, Evans drumheads and D’Addario guitar strings. With Ireland and Scotland in his bloodline, Charlie wears the kilt with pride and makes for an explosive addition to the Tartan Terrors arsenal.
Phill Hood, Tartan Terrors’ resident Newfoundlander, has been an active member of the band since 2011. Raised off of the rugged shores of the North Atlantic, Phill brings an east coast flare to the Terror’s Celtic sound. A seasoned songwriter and performer in his own right, Phill has found success as a composer, producer, and solo artist with his band “Phill Hood and The Exclamation.” His debut album, Detour, took him across Canada in 2018, playing shows from British Columbia to Newfoundland to great acclaim and radio play! You can always count on Phill for a laugh, a song, and great dinner plans (which he regularly documents through his food blog and instagram account)! Whether you’ve known him for a while or are watching him perform for the first time, you’ll surely be singing along but the end of the first set.
A 20+ year musician, Chris Kerba has been with the Terrors for over a decade now. He shares his time and talents with another band, Eclectic Revival, which has helped turn him into the performer he is today. He brings to the stage his guitar, bodhran, singing, and his tough outer shell.
Jake Saenz is an American/Canadian musician based out of Toronto who has been pumping out the low end as the Tartan Terrors’ bass guitarist for over 10 years. With an expansive range of influences ranging from rock to new wave, and electronic/industrial, Jake provides a stoicly dependable backbone to the Tartan Terrors’ intricately layered timbre.
With a distinctive sound and a proud tradition of making Celtic music fun and accessible to any audience, the Terrors have played big stages across North America, including The Iridium, Times Square, NYC, Daryl’s House Club, Pawling, NY, Freeman Arts Pavilion, Selbyville, DE, Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival, Florence, MA, and The Celtic Music & Craft Beer Festival in Dunedin, FL.
Tickets are $35. Thanks to the Carnegie Cardinal Fund, Greenbrier County Students attend for free, but still must reserve a seat. Discounts are available for Carnegie Hall members, senior citizens, and military.
To purchase tickets, call Carnegie Hall Box Office at 304-645-7917, visit www.carnegiehallwv.org, or stop by at 611 Church Street, Lewisburg, West Virginia. Carnegie Hall Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.
Carnegie Hall WV is a nonprofit organization supported by individual contributions, grants, and fundraising efforts such as TOOT and The Carnegie Hall Gala. The Hall is located at 611 Church Street, Lewisburg, WV. For more information, please call 304.645.7917 or visit www.carnegiehallwv.org.
