MacMaster Leahy Family brings nine musicians to Sherwood Park stage
Legendary fiddle players and seven children perform together June 8 at Festival Place.
Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, legendary Canadian fiddle players, are bringing their full family band to Festival Place in Sherwood Park on Monday, June 8. But this isn't a typical tour stop — the pair, who've spent decades as international touring musicians, are taking the stage with all seven of their children.
The MacMaster Leahy Family Band spans ages eight to twenty, each child trained on fiddle and other instruments. The ensemble adds new sonic layers to the traditional MacMaster-Leahy sound: accordion, drums, vocals from five of their kids. Mary Frances, the oldest at twenty, will perform alongside eight-year-old Maria — a generational display of what homeschooling a musical family looks like.
MacMaster recently released a memoir, I Have a Love Story, reflecting on life on tour while raising children and the philosophy behind raising musicians. She says the decision to teach each child fiddle came naturally, almost inevitably. "If you put two plus two, it's four," she told the Sherwood Park News. "It's just the evolution of an ever-growing family."
The show mixes uptempo fiddle tunes with ballads, and showcases the chemistry between parents and children — what happens when a professional stage becomes a family room. For Sherwood Park audiences, it's a rare chance to see how a world-renowned musical partnership has evolved into a multigenerational ensemble.