On Friday, March 16, Celtic Spring, referred to as the "Von Trapp family of Celtic music," and recently voted one of the top acts in the finals of NBC’s "America’s Got Talent", will be performing at Sedona's Future Studios. They are a fiddle and dance band composed of the six Wood family siblings joined by their father on the traditional Irish drum, the bodhran, and their mother on the piano. Celtic Spring’s awe-inspiring performances feature a rich variety of music from the Celtic lands and beyond, including original compositions, with arrangements that range in expression from lyrical beauty to dance tempo exuberance.

The band members are also championship Irish dancers. Wearing colorful and ornate costumes, the children perform spirited reels, jigs, and hornpipes, dancing in both the graceful soft shoes and the powerful hard shoes. Throughout the performance some of the fiddles will be exchanged for dance shoes, creating the dynamic interaction between the music and the dance. The show culminates with the band members effortlessly fiddling and dancing simultaneously!

With ancestry from Ireland, the Wood family now resides in the rural Ojai Valley in Southern California. The Wood children range in age from 6 to 21. When not on the road performing, the older girls teach violin and dance while the rest of the children are homeschooling, practicing their music and dance, playing in a youth symphony, and enjoying life in the country.

Because of their parents’ desire to immerse the children in the Celtic culture, each Wood child commenced the study of the violin and Irish dancing at the young age of four. Although the children’s training began classically, their love of the Irish dance music led them to pursue the fiddle. Ten years ago the Wood family began to attend fiddle camps, where the children have had the opportunity to learn from some of the best Celtic fiddlers in the world, including Alasdair Fraser, Natalie MacMaster, Brendan Mulvihill, Matt Cranitch, Seamus and Manus Maguire, Martin Hayes, Howie MacDonald, Paddy Glackin, and the Leahy Family. Early on in their musical career, in order to help raise the funds for camps, the children fiddled and danced at the local farmers’ market. They delighted their audiences, received invitations to other performance venues, and thus Celtic Spring was born.

Under the mature artistic leadership of the oldest Wood child, Elizabeth, each member has something special to bring to the band. Deirdre creates beautiful harmonies, layering and blending them into the music and also brings to the band her beautiful voice. Both Elizabeth and Deirdre choreograph and direct the dancing. Sean is rhythm and energy personified on both fiddle and mandolin. Patrick brings to the music his sensitivity and virtuosity. Maire is talented beyond her years. Piers Morgan, the British judge of America’s Got Talent, said of the Wood children: "They are brilliant!"

Celtic Spring’s skill, enthusiasm, and polish have taken the band around the United States, Canada, and Europe where they have performed at theaters, festivals, and on national TV, including NBC’s America’s Got Talent (and voted one of the top acts in the finals), The Today Show, abc’s Good Morning America, WB’s Steve Harvey Show, the Tom Joyner Show, P.B.S., E.W.T.N., and Japan’s Nippon Television. In 2002 Celtic Spring was named Grand Champion of the World at the seventh annual World Championships of the Performing Arts. The band has released its first CD and will release its second CD in December of this year. Celtic Spring brings pure joy and delight to their audiences.

Doors open at 7:00 P.M. Show starts at 7:30 P.M Admission is $14 advance, $17 day of show. Future Studios is located at 30 Hozoni Drive in West Sedona (mailing address: P.O. Box 4779, Sedona, AZ 86340). www.futurestudios.org. For tickets and/or information call (928) 282-9139.