This evening’s concert takes place at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site in Baddeck. This unique venue honours the legacy of its namesake, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, who was also a music lover and a fine piano player. After travelling the world, he chose to live on Cape Breton Island for what he described as its unrivaled beauty. Surely it wasn’t just the scenery he was referring to—the music might have had something to do with it, too. It’s fair to say that everyone in tonight’s concert shares Bell’s feeling about music. Sèamus & Caoimhe are a brother and sister duo from Connemara in the west of Ireland. Known for their close vocal harmonies, sean-nós singing, and refined musicianship on harp, flute, and fiddle, their music is rooted in Irish tradition but shaped by a modern sensibility. The Alara Vocal Ensemble is a Cape Breton-based women’s choir composed of dedicated singers from across the Island. Formed in 2022 and directed by Robyn Cathcart, the ensemble blends classical, traditional, and contemporary repertoire in performances that emphasize connection and community. Charlie Grey and Joseph Peach come from Bell’s homeland of Scotland. Members of the band Westward the Light, as a duo they are inspired by the past and their surroundings, making music filled with spontaneity, sensitivity, and freedom, rooted in tradition, whilst stretching its possibilities through improvisation and imagination.