Ontario Festival of Small Halls is starting things off with a bang this fall, with performances from a laundry list of beloved Canadian artists, including Cape Breton-born fiddle legend Ashley MacIsaac.
MacIsaac’s performance takes place on Saturday, October 19th at John Elliott Theatre in Georgetown.
Ontario Festival of Small Halls launched in the summer of 2014, utilizing just three small venues located in Perth, Gananoque, and Bloomfield. In 2017, the festival added ten more halls. The roster of venues has continued to grow with the festival, and recently, they chose to further expand into southern Ontario. Artists who have performed at Small Halls include Colter Wall, Kathleen Edwards, Jenn Grant, Rose Cousins, and Great Lake Swimmers.
“We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback about the festival’s expansion throughout the province, while we’ve been tapping into our programming resources to present our best lineup ever.” says Ontario Festival of Small Halls programming manager Cat Cote.
Ashley MacIsaac is well-known across the country for his ferocious fiddle-playing. He learned the instrument at an early age, performing all over his home province of Cape Breton in halls, clubs, barns and kitchens. MacIsaac’s 1995 major label debut, Hi™ How Are You Today?, brought him a Canadian Top 40 hit with the song “Sleepy Maggie,” and won the 1996 Juno Award for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year — Solo.
MacIsaac has toured the world with Philip Glass and with traditional Irish folk band The Chieftans.
In addition to Ashley MacIsaac’s performance, the Ontario Festival of Small Halls 2024 lineup includes names like Tom Cochrane, Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Hawksley Workman, and more. The festival takes place on weekends from October 4th to December 7th this year, with a total of 60 shows across Ontario.
The purpose of Small Halls is to “bring big music to small places,” making the festival intimate, meaningful and community-oriented for both audiences and artists. The chosen venues are historic, small buildings in small cities and towns, and the host organizations often arrange community dinners, decorate the halls, and —always— spread the word. Each year, the shows at Ontario Festival of Small Halls consistently sell out.
For more information or to purchase tickets for Ashley MacIsaac’s performances, visit them online here.
