Cascadia Irish Music (not quite a) Week, 2026
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We're very happy to announce Cascadia 2026, a somewhat shortened and smaller wingding than usual, but with wonderful teachers, great classes and talks, and sessions go leor. We'll offer three full days of classes in fiddle, flute and concertina, plus warm summer nights filled with guided and free-range sessions and intimate concert/talks with our teachers. Our venue once again is the Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. It's a beautiful campus, set in the midst of a thousand acres of mostly forested land, with great hiking trails and a lovely beach on Eld Inlet, the southenmost point of the Salish Sea. Lodging is in pleasant apartments set back in the trees, with four or five private rooms in each unit, plus a shared living room area, kitchen and bathroom. Meals will be served in The Greenery restaurant, with vegetarian and vegan options available. We hope you can join us this summer, read on for details.
Best wishes from The Cascadia Board
A word from Artistic Director Randal Bays
A word from Artistic Director Randal Bays
It was a rainy night in Portland, back in the 70s, when I first walked into an Irish trad session. There was already a thriving scene around Cascadia, with some very good musicians and a great deal of wahoo. That passionate, quirky community has continued and grown, as new generations hear the music and learn to play it. Cascadia Week is presented by and for people who love Irish traditional music, and we welcome anyone who shares that passion. We're volunteer powered and almost entirely tuition funded, with no corporate or commercial sponsorship.
Ceol Cascadia also sponsors regional concerts and workshops, including the long running Irish tune learning classes taught by Randal Bays. Those classes have been going on for more than 14 years in Seattle, Olympia and online. Details can be found at http://randalbays.com/classesandlessons.html
This year's teachers include:
James Kelly and Randal Bays - fiddle
Florence Fahy - concertina
TBA / CBM - flute (to be announced / certainly brilliant musician)
Many thanks for the generous support of the Irish Consulate and the Irish Heritage Club of Seattle.
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