Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain Join Ulster...

23 January 2016, 19:00, 34 Bedford St, Belfast, County Antrim BT2 7FF

Runs to 23 January 2016

The Ulster Orchestra, in association with the Ulster-Scots Agency, are delighted to bring two legends of Scottish Traditional music, Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain, to the 5thannual Burns Night celebration.

A fantastic night of music, dance and song awaits you on Saturday 23^rdJanuary2016 at Belfast Ulster Hall at 7.45pm. Tickets are priced from £27 to £10 and are available from the Ulster Hall (028 9033 4455) or online at www.ulsterorchestra.com.

With plaudits such as Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Duo Award, winners of the ‘Great Scot’ Lifetime Achievement Awards, honorary doctorates and an MBE apiece, Phil and Aly are a Scottish national institution, with their incomparable mastery of fiddle and accordion. They have been playing together now for 30 years, the lead act on BBC Scotland’s live Hogmanay broadcast since 2013and have a breath-taking history of live, broadcast and recorded activity. 2016 sees Aly celebrating his 70th birthday and Phil's 40 years on the road as a professional artist, so it is a huge honour as well as great joy to have two giants of the Scottish scene join us in Belfast for Burns Night.

The Ulster Orchestra, conducted by John Logan, will lead all the performers in a programme of music that mixes traditional favourites with more up to date work.

Singer Hannah Rarity will be joining Phil and Aly for the third time, the previous two occasions taking place with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. She also featured on the soundtrack to the short film ‘Whistle My Lad’, directed by Richard Burke, again with the RSNO.  Most recently Hannah was delighted to perform as a soloist on the BBC’s ‘Hogmanay Live’ 2014-15 with Blazin’ Fiddles, to great acclaim. She is currently a student on the Scottish Music course at the Royal Conservatoire of Glasgow, and will be graduating in 2016.

Local talent has its annual opportunity to shine too, and this year we will be joined by the Ulster-Scots Agency’s Juvenile Pipe Band, Belfast Philharmonic’s ‘Phil Kids’ Choir and the Markethill Dancers.

Of course, the work of The Bardwill feature throughout the programme, this year in the form of unique performances by Christopher Tait, who for over 15 years has been performing as Robert Burns. His theatre show ‘Robert Burns Live’ has played to rave reviews throughout the USA, Europe and SE Asia, and he has also appeared on television worldwide in his alter ego guise as The Bard.

So why not join presenter Dan Gordon, Phil Cunningham, Aly Bain, Hannah Rarity, Christopher Tait, the Ulster Orchestra and all our other performers on 23^rdJanuary 2016? The skirl of the pipes, the whirl of jigs and reels and romance of Robbie Burns’ traditional songs will be the ultimate Burns Night celebration!

Tickets are priced from £27 to £10 and are available from the Ulster Hall (028 9033 4455) or online at www.ulsterorchestra.com.