Artists:Laura MacKenzie

HISTORY
Laura MacKenzie has learned from many noted tradition bearers on both sides of the Atlantic, and has herself been recognized as a Master Folk Artist (Minnesota State Arts Board). Of Scottish heritage (through Rankins and MacKenzies), her people came to the United States by way of Nova Scotia and Northern Ireland. In St. Paul, Minnesota, Laura learned to play traditional music at ceilis (dances or social gatherings) within the local Irish-American community and soon became immersed in both the music and dance.

Laura and her colleagues played a major role in the revival of Irish music and dance in the Upper Midwest as the Northern Star Ceili Band, steaming up dance halls for seven years. During this time, Laura was also a founding member of a dance performance ensemble, the Mooncoin Ceili Dancers, and studied Irish step dancing heartily. Along the way there was some measure of formal study in anthropology and music, but her best education has been with her comrades and favorite “teachers” -- the players of traditional music -- in kitchens, pubs and dance halls across Ireland, Scotland and the United States.

Laura has enjoyed vast and varied experience in the world of music while developing as a performing artist. She has been a production assistant for A Prairie Home Companion, partnered a rare music import business, worked for a folk instrument-building business, struggled as a teaching assistant in ethnomusicology and toiled happily in the archives of traditional music at the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh. Eventually, the role of performer won out.

PERFORMANCE
In performance, Laura has worked with many ensembles, from Boiled in Lead (world beat rock ‘n reel), Walking On Air (British Isles folk), and Macha Tri (Celtic trio) to Lorie Line’s Pop Chamber Orchestra, with whom she toured nationally from 1997-2005. Laura has been privileged to perform with some of the great names in Irish music, including Daithi Sproule, Paddy O’Brien, Liz Carroll, Martin Hayes and Katie McMahon. She has also been honored to share the stage with heroes of Scottish and English piping, Hamish Moore, Jon Swayne and Julian Goodacre. Her love for the music of various piping traditions and passion for playing these instruments has lead her more recently to the music of Central France and Northern Spain, all of which she encompasses in performance.

Laura has been a featured performer for the National Flute Association and for public radio, including appearances on A Prairie Home Companion. She has performed in theatrical productions at the Guthrie Theater and with Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish author Frank McCourt (of Angela’s Ashes). Solo and with bands, Laura has performed at folk festivals across the United States, including the Milwaukee Irish Fest, North Texas Irish Festival, Champlain Valley Folk Festival, the Great River Festival, Dublin Irish Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada. More.