Catherine Rhatigan Sligo, Ireland, Harp
Catherine spent some years playing and touring with the Belfast Harp Orchestra in the nineties, including a tour of the east coast of America with The Chieftains. A secondary school teacher of English for many years, she binds the words to the music, and has written several historical scripts for musical theatre, and worked with the James Joyce Foundation in Zurich on their recent and highly acclaimed stage/musical interpretation of James Joyce’s excerpts from Ulysses. She has headed up several international cultural projects for the Irish Dept. of Foreign Affairs, and directed the 12 events in the year long and highly acclaimed Yeats 150: Harp Festival of Moons in 2015. In 2018 she wrote and directed Cannon in Sea for Spanish Armada Ireland, and Cairo to Connemara: Routes and Rhythms in Irish Music, which premiered in Switzerland in January 2020 with the Atlantic Orchestra Project.
More information: www.irelandharp.net
David Aebli Zürich, Bass, Bouzouki
Dave started playing Irish music at sixteen, and hasn’t stopped. He plays with several groups and has an impressive mastery of not just Irish rhythms but Greek and Balkan music too. His tasteful bouzouki and bass arrangements can be heard on several recordings of Irish, Greek and Swiss folk music, and he has toured in Greece, Ireland, Italy, France, and most recently Australia with different bands. He has been part of the Rigiblick Theatre Houseband since 2013, participating in shows requiring a wide range of musical genres.
Isabelle Hauser, Zug, Storytelling
Through her psychological background Isabelle Hauser learned the importance of stories and fairytales for human development and was able to recognise the importance of storytelling for companies internally as well as externally through her main job at a renowned Swiss enterprise. During her stay with the professional storyteller Liz Weir in Northern Ireland which lasted for several months, Isabelle Hauser learned the art of storytelling. Ever since she has been performing at public and private events, for example the Zuger Märlisunntig, in museums, at book vernissages, birthdays and school workshops. She has performed in Ireland, Switzerland and Austria with The Celtic Fragment, and most recently in Dubai, March 2020. She tells in stories in English, German and Swiss German.
More information: www.isabellehauser.com