Joined by guitarist Conor Hearn, mandolinist Ethan Setiawan and cellist Brendan Hearn, and special guests, Louise Bichan presents a weekend of Halloween music and fun from the Celtic Isles, throughout New England. Featuring Samhain traditions, folk tales and songs of trowies, sea serpents, and selkies.

Bichan explains that she has often been asked whether she might consider putting on a Celtic holiday show. “This might not have been exactly what was in mind, but it inspired me to put together a show which celebrates Halloween, the harvest and the end of one season and the beginning of the next.” Bichan has gone back to her Scottish roots in her research for the show. “I’m having a lot of fun pulling together a collection of music and folk tales, some which I’ve grown up hearing and playing, some I’ve written and some which are new to me.”

Bichan is a Maine-based Scottish musician and photographer who uses both mediums to tell stories old and new. Growing up in the remote but culturally rich Orkney islands, a place where creativity abounds and playing music has been a part of the social fabric for centuries, gave Louise a solid grounding in music. Masterfully blending traditional and classical arrangements, her music is thoughtful, and complex, curious and playful. She composes in response to her roots and the world around her; weaving through stories of connection, to people, nature, the past and the possibility of the future.

For several years now throughout the North East, Bichan along with Hearn, Setiawan and Hearn have been performing the music and telling the story of her first record Out of My Own Light, (Swanbister Records, 2016) which follows her grandmother Margaret Tait from Orkney to Canada and back, with a dilemma of the heart to solve. In April 2024 she released The Lost Summer, (Adhyâropa Records) featuring her current touring band, and now she looks forward to this latest venture, hoping it might become a yearly tradition for the group. “We are really looking forward to a bit of lighthearted, spooky fun and hope the audiences will get into the spirit of it, perhaps join us in dressing up and bring along carved neeps (turnips) or pumpkins!”

Special guests have been invited to join the band along the way; fellow Berklee College of Music graduate Hannah Rose Baker joins in Cambridge, Massachusetts and fiddler Katie McNally and pianist Neil Pearlman will join on Halloween night in Portland, Maine. Tickets are on sale now and Bichan explains that all are welcome, but be advised that a few songs will include dark themes such as murder ballads.