Celebrate St. Patrick’s at the Atwater Library
Exploring St Patrick—the man and the meme through music and words spanning the centuries. Thrill to the traditional uilleann pipes, marvel at medieval melodies, and tap your toes to lively fiddle tunes as we touch on highlights of Patrick’s life and the story of the Irish through the ages.
Emcee Kathleen Fee, Festival Bloomsday Montreal’s Artistic Director, welcomes piper Stuart Jackson, pianist Rylan Allen, medieval music specialist Rebecca Bain, and the multi-talented Quinn Dooley to the Adair Auditorium stage for an entrancing hour’s entertainment.
Come join us.
And, yes, there’ll be a sing-along!
Stuart Jackson is a percussionist and uilleann piper from Virginia, currently based in Montréal, Canada. As a researcher, he specializes in reconstructing poorly documented and unpublished electroacoustic works from the 20th century. This project on reviving experimental compositions has received support from the Fonds de recherche du Quèbec and the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel, Switzerland.
He has presented solo percussion concerts at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (MAC) and Ausgang Plaza in Montréal, and performed as an uilleann pipe soloist with the Soho Rep Theatre and the Wordless Music Orchestra. With the Montréal percussion ensemble Sixtrum, he has performed at the Timespans Festival in New York City, Semaine du Neuf in Montréal, and the Musica Festival (with Les Percussions de Strasbourg) in Strasbourg, France. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Université de Montréal working with Jonathan Goldman and Guillaume Boutard.
Quinn has had the pleasure of working across the country as an actor/musician and has performed in several productions celebrating the music, literature, and spirit of Irish culture. Select credits include: The Flood (Imago Theatre – META Award nominated), The Wolves (Imago Theatre/Geordie Theatre), Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Segal Centre), June Carter in Ring of Fire (Theatre Aquarius, Citadel Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse), Miss Caledonia (Thousand Islands Playhouse), Once (RMTC, Grand Theatre), Evangeline (Charlottetown Festival, Citadel Theatre), Mamma Mia! (Capitol Theatre), A Man of No Importance (Theatre Sheridan), and Dora Award winning Brantwood (Theatre Sheridan). Additionally, she is a violinist and has lent her skills to many of the productions mentioned, as well as playing in the pit band for Strawberries In January (Centaur Theatre). Follow her online at @quinndooley.
Rylan has loved music and performing since he could remember. After performing in his first musical at the age of 12, he knew he wanted to pursue a career in the arts. He went on to study at the intensive Music Theatre Performance program at Sheridan College earning his BA. Rylan worked as a performer, dance captain, and choreographer in Niagara Falls. When COVID hit, he began to expand his piano skills – working as a Music Director and private voice teacher around Hamilton, Ontario, while also performing whenever he had the chance. In Summer 2025, Rylan came to Montreal for the first time to perform at the Segal Center in Max & Aaron Write A Musical, written by Trevor Barrette, and instantly fell in love with the city. When the show closed, he returned to Ontario, packed his bags, moved here, and has been working as a music director and pianist since September 2025. St. Patricks’ Day is his 2nd favourite holiday, and he’s excited to share all this wonderful music with you all! Cheers
Rebecca studied at McGill University before heading to Switzerland to study at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, where she obtained a master’s degree in medieval music performance. She was co-founder and co-director of two international ensembles for medieval music, Belladonna and the vocal ensemble Zorgina, with which she toured extensively in Europe and North America. Rebecca has sung principal roles in staged productions with several renowned medieval music ensembles, including Ensemble Sequentia (Germany) and Ensemble Gilles Binchois (France). She has also participated in over a dozen recordings and given many workshops and courses on singing and medieval music.
After 13 years in Europe, Rebecca returned to Canada in 2004. She has participated in projects with such groups as The Toronto Consort and Constantinople and taught courses on medieval culture at Marianopolis College in Montréal. In 2011, she became Artistic Director of Ensemble Scholastica; this professional women’s vocal ensemble specializing in medieval music is the only one of its kind in Canada. In addition to its regular programming, Scholastica has been featured in many festivals and concert series, including the Festival Montréal Baroque and the International des musiques sacrées de Québec. Rebecca is also currently one of the directors of Reverdies Montréal, which hosts the annual “Medieval Music Days”. Her other musical interests include contemporary choral music, which she performs, among other projects, as a member of the chamber choir Voces Borealis and Karen Young’s sextet, Lux Hodie.