KGNU’s Rodger Hara speaks with Mairéad Carlin of Celtic Woman from her home in Derry ahead of the group’s North American Christmas Symphony Tour and their upcoming performance in Denver. Carlin reflects on rejoining Celtic Woman after the pandemic, her long history performing in Colorado, including multiple appearances at Red Rocks, and the special connection she feels with Denver, where members of her family live. The conversation explores the group’s newly released Christmas album, which blends Irish-language songs, reimagined Celtic Woman classics, rich vocal harmonies, and new musical influences while honoring the ensemble’s roots. Carlin also shares insights into performing at altitude, her creative process, and the evolving sound of Celtic Woman as they look toward the future with new members and renewed energy (November 26, 2025).
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Rodger Hara: Welcome to KGNU. I’ve got Carlin on the line. She is speaking to us this morning from her home in Derry. So welcome to KGNU. How are you keeping?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Hi. I’m so well, thank you. Thank you for having me. It’s a real honor.
Rodger Hara: No, the honor is all ours. When will the next North American tour begin? Where will you be before you come to Denver and perform in the Veteran Concert Hall on December the fourth?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: We’re so excited. We’re just about to embark on our Christmas Symphony Tour. We’ve just released an album, so this coincides with our beautiful new Christmas album, and we’re so excited. We fly next Monday and our first concert is on Tuesday, so it’s a quick turnaround for us. We’ll have to keep hydrated on the plane, but we start in beautiful Salt Lake City, and then we make our way to Denver for a little day off, which is great. I’ll definitely be going to Cherry Creek Mall and doing my shopping, and then we’ll do our symphony tour show in the Be Hall on the 4th of December with the incredible Colorado Symphony Orchestra, which is one of my favorite symphony orchestras in the entire world. They’re just so kind and incredible players and we always get such a warm welcome whenever we come there. So it’s an honor every time we get to do that.
Rodger Hara: How is it being back with Celtic Woman? When did you rejoin?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: I originally joined—my first ever journey with Celtic Woman started in 2013, and I stayed with the group until 2020 when the pandemic hit. We were actually out on tour at the time. We were only three weeks into it. It was like a three-month tour. So it was very early in—we hadn’t really got into the swing of things at that point. And then we were obviously told about the pandemic and that we all had to go home. So we all got sent home and I was convinced that we’d be back like three weeks later. It’s fair to say that didn’t happen. But I kind of enjoyed the downtime. I think for me, I really needed it. I had been on the road at that stage for seven years, nearly eight years, and I was tired and I didn’t realize that I was tired until I kind of stopped. So as hard as it was for me to make that decision, because I just loved what I did so much, I knew that I just needed a little bit of a rest. So I think it was, in total, maybe a year and a half. In that time, not much happened anyway—like the music industry had kind of shut down. So by the time I rejoined there had only been one Celtic Woman tour. So I kind of don’t really point it. I rejoined in 2022 and I haven’t looked back since. I’m still here. Can’t get enough of it.
Rodger Hara: And all of those times touring with Celtic Woman, how many shows have you done in Denver, in Colorado?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Wow. What a question. I would say, my goodness—upwards of 30 plus. Oh my—yeah, because we usually go to Denver twice a year. And then the surrounding areas like Colorado Springs too. And yeah, I mean at least 30, I would say.
Rodger Hara: Concerts at Red Rocks.
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Yeah, I think I’ve done Red Rocks three times or four times, and every time it gets more special. The last time I performed there, there was a serious thunderstorm in the distance, which was powerful because you could literally feel the energy in the air. And we were terrified because obviously it’s open and there’s all these electronics everywhere and you’re going, “Oh my goodness, what’s gonna happen if lightning hits our speaker?” It was so cool because we were performing “Orinoco Flow,” and it was our first song, and my family were there and they took some video, and in the distance there was all this fork lightning, but in our version of “Orinoco” at the time there was also lightning in the music, so it was part of our entrance. It was so cool. I’ll never forget it.
Rodger Hara: How do you deal with the altitude and the lack of humidity?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Yeah, it’s a challenge. The last time that we went to Denver—actually our last symphony show with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra—it was the 5th of December. It was my birthday and I was so excited. Denver is like one of my favorite places. I’d gone to a beautiful restaurant the night before. The girls had thrown a lovely meal for me to celebrate my birthday, which was just so lovely. And then I woke up the next morning and I had no voice. I had altitude sickness, which is the first time that I’ve ever experienced that in all my time performing at different altitudes traveling across country. I’ve never experienced that. So I very quickly reached out to a friend of mine who’s a vocal coach. He helped me get my voice back for the show, which is incredible because the audience never would know that that’s maybe something that we deal with, something that happens. But I just steamed a lot. I basically steamed all day, used lozenges, and running on the treadmill apparently is the best thing that you could do because it gets the blood flowing to your vocal cords. So I did a good run in the morning. Lots of water, lots of hydration. Just as the show was about to start, I said a little prayer, my voice came back and I was singing “High Seas,” which is so funny. But yeah, it was an experience. I was so thankful that my voice came back for the show.
Rodger Hara: Wow. Enjoy it. Obviously, I hope that doesn’t happen this time. Talk about the new album—what songs are on it, is there a favorite of yours, and what track of the new album do you perform?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: So I think this is probably my favorite Christmas album that we’ve ever released. Which obviously is—you know—we have a few Irish language songs, one that was written specifically for this album, and another one called, which is a word of a traditional Irish piece that would’ve been sung at Christmas time. But it’s a real—I would say it’s a real journey. It’s definitely tipping its hat to the past of Celtic Woman, but also reenergizing our sound and really looking to the future. I feel like there’s this real energy within the group at the moment and we’re so excited about the future, and I feel this album really embodies that.
We have two—actually three—incredible new members on this record. We have the wonderful uilleann pipe player, Tara Heeley, who is just incredible. She also plays the whistles. She’ll be joining us for the first time on this symphony tour. We also have Kieran—who you may know from the great all-female Irish group. He’ll be out supporting Ed Sheeran later on this year as well. So we’re not in bad company. And the wonderful Katrina Sherlock, who is the smokiest warmest voice you’ll ever encounter. It’s like listening to—it’s so warm.
And I actually taught Katrina many, many, many years ago a few lessons, and I knew back then that she was an incredibly special talent and voice. So to see her grow and come into the group and just watching her perform in the recording studio, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride, almost like a mommy. I just felt so warm towards her and I always knew she was such a great girl and she fits in so well with the rest of us. So yeah, it’s a really exciting time.
This album has such an eclectic mix of music. My favorite—and I hate to say my favorite is the one I solo, because it doesn’t come across the best—but I’ve always been a massive fan of Joni Mitchell. I’m just a huge Joni fan and I got the privilege of recording an incredible version with orchestra of “River.” So that was just such a moment for me. There’s also an incredible rearrangement of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” which is ferocious. Our new musical director, Brian Byrne, says that it is as if Vivaldi met John Coltrane. So it’s quite a mix and it’s so energetic and it’s a real workout to sing, I’ll tell you that much. But you can feel how exciting it is for us and for the audience too.
Rodger Hara: I got an advanced copy of it and I certainly enjoyed listening to it. What can people expect to hear in addition to the new songs? Will you incorporate any old songs or is it going to be mostly the new album?
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Yeah, so we try—our whole thing is never forgetting our roots. So important to us to remember where we came from, and fans are so loyal and they followed us, so many of them from the very beginning. So we always try and stay true to that.
So on this album, we do have different versions of stuff that you might have heard us sing before, but in a different way. For example, we have a beautiful version of “The Wexford Carol,” which Meav sings so beautifully, and then we come in with harmony. There’s a lot of harmony on this album and there’ll be a lot of harmony in the show as well at Be Hall, which is the foundation of what Celtic Woman is all about. We’re all about those harmonies.
And the thing is, we’re all so different. I come from a folk background and a classical background, and then we have Katrina who comes from this rich sean-nós heritage, which is obviously the traditional Irish way of singing. And then we have Mairin who speaks the Irish language so well, but her background is classical and music theater. And then we have Kira, who’s our new fiddle player, and she is a pure Irish fiddler through and through. So there’s this lovely blend of women from all different backgrounds that when we come together, we have to try and find some common ground.
And I think that’s the beauty of Celtic Woman. It’s about putting all these people who wouldn’t necessarily be put together, and that’s what creates that unique blend and sound that people know and love about Celtic Woman. So that’s really fun.
Rodger Hara: Well, it sounds like a brilliant ensemble and likely to be another brilliant show as well. I look forward very much to seeing and hearing you December 4th at the Veteran Concert Hall. Mairéad, thank you so much for your time. It has been a joy and a pleasure chatting with you this morning.
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: I just wanna say I really do love Denver so much, and I have a real special place in my heart for Denver. In fact, a good few of my family live in Denver. A lot of my mom’s cousins were born there, and they still live there now, so it feels like a home from home for me. So I just wanna say thank you to everybody in Denver and Colorado for sticking with us and enjoying this journey, because we’re just as much on this journey as you guys are. And we hope that you like what we’re doing and that there really is a future in Celtic Woman and we hope that they’ll come along with us for the ride.
Rodger Hara: Alright, you take care and see you soon.
Mairéad Carlin from Celtic Woman: Yeah, I’ll see you on December 4th.
