Eric Newcott (fiddle/uilleann pipes/ballad singer/director) a graduate of Eastern Virginia Medical School and resident in obstetrics and gynecology at Texas Tech. University Health Sciences Center, Odessa, TX, studied Irish traditional fiddling, Uilleann pipering, ethnomusicology, Irish language, Irish music history, and Irish set/step dancing at University College Cork, Cork, Ireland. He also completed a minor in violin performance at Old Domininon University in conjunction with his premedical studies and is a 1st violinist in the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra. Eric grew up in New Hampshire with the Strathspey and Reel Society of New Hampshire, a Scottish fiddle orchestra, and was also a regular in the Milford, NH contra dance band.
Anthony "Tip" Ciotti (Accordion) is a dentist in Virginia Beach with an extensive education in classical accordion and past membership in the Accordion Pops Orchestra. He has traveled the world as a medical officer in the United States Navy from which he has developed an incredible repertoire of European folk and popular music. Tip is an especially avid devotee of the ballads and songs of Italy, France, Spain, and Germany in addition to having an undying love of Irish and Scottish traditional music.
Jay Taylor (Tin whistle/Guitar/Voice) is a clinical psychologist who specializes in working with older adults. He also is involved in several non-profit organizations including Wetlands Watch, the Norfolk Rotary Club and the Norfolk Community Services Board. Jay’s passion for music has found expression in many ways. He has sung with the Virginia Opera Chorus and the Virginia Symphony Chorus. He has performed lead roles with the Virginia Beach Little Theater, the Norfolk Savoyards and The Commonwealth Musical Stage. Jay has been a member of the Cavalier Consort, singing and performing early music; and, for the past several years, has performed with Aurora, a voice and harp duo, performing recitals at the Chrysler Museum of Art and at historic houses in Hampton Roads. Jay also plays Baroque recorders with Old Dominion University’s Collegium Musicum. Though Jay’s love of music has carried him through many musical styles and periods, his first love was the folk music of the British Isles and Ireland.
Jim Edwards (Fiddle/Bodhran) Jim and his wife Jessica operate a full time music academy, Lightshine Music Academy, where they teach strings and piano. Jim plays violin and viola in the Virginia Beach Chamber Orchestra and serves at director of music for Foundry UMC in Virginia Beach.
http://www.classicol.com/viola/jimedwards.cfm
Travis Nobles (Bouzouki, whistles, guitar, and bodhran) is our staff anatomical artist and a graphic designer at Regent University.
Bill Tew (Keyboard) is a retired public school music teacher. He keeps busy in the Virginia Choral
Societyand as a substitute organist-choir director healing the spiritual souls on the Peninsula at many churches.
Laura Hinkelman (Guitar) heads up our research division as an atmospheric scientist at NASA-Langley. She hails from the Pennsylvania contra community.
Morgiana "Morg" Halley (Castanets/Vocals/Single-row Melodeon) is our resident folklorist. Her interest in folk music and dance developed in childhood and has grown steadily stronger. In Maine, she edited the DownEast Friends of the Folk Arts newsletter for two years. She earned a Master of Arts in Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she was a member of the St. John’s Folk Arts Council, and performed at many regional folk festivals across the province. She also holds a PhD in English from the University of Sheffield, in the United Kingdom. She is an internationally known maritime and folklore scholar and lecturer, who currently works in a local college library.
Rita Hamilton (Celtic Harp) is a retired operations analyst turned harper. She enjoys a busy solo career playing in many venues in Hampton Roads and Williamsburg and is an active member of the Tidewater Scottish American Association. She also has been known to frequent the emergency rooms and intensive care units of area hospitals as a music therapist soothing the sick. Rita also teaches Scottish harp and is currently working on a book of pedagogical Scottish harp arrangements.
Stephen Cunningham (Bodhran/tin whistles) is a physician and master of Irish slow airs. He is a former member of the Hampton/Newport News based-band Skellig Michael.
David March (Fiddle) is trained in the art of wilderness/survival medicine and is a professional animator. David is a violinist for the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra and has also been known to frequent nursing homes with his fiddle. He has spent many years in the Chicago and San Francisco Irish and Scottish musical communities. http://www.homepage.mac.com/dmarchfiddle
Annie Gilstrap (Flute & Vocals) is our public health advocate. Her work at WHRO, Hampton Roads Public Broadcasting Service, includes overseeing the scientific education of the children (and future healthcare professionals) of southeast Virginia. She has played with the Catholic Campus Ministry Choir, Sacred Heart Contemporary Choir, the Hampton Roads Flute Choir, and continued her flute training with Danielle Gerard of DnD Music. She has also trained her vocals with Dr. Tom DeGraaf of Sanctuary Music Ministries, Hurrah Players, and Danielle Gerard of DnD Music.
Jim Cook (Fiddle) is a high school physics teacher and one of the many dedicated educators in our nation charged with the task of energizing the youth of America to pursue careers of excellence in the realm of science be it medical research, technology, or future practitioners.
Tom Schlater (Guitar) is a Naval officer and an optometrist. Most of his off duty time is spent with his family. He can frequently be found accompanying his wife, Rose, as she sings at local retirement homes, nursing homes, and in the summer time at the beach. He has been known to give sporadic guitar performances for Grace Bible Church, the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society, the Tidewater Friends of Folk Music, and other groups.
John Blandin (Guitar) is a jack of all trades whose career(s)have taken him from running an autorepairshop, to teaching high school oceanography, to, most recently, designing and maintaining websites. His musical interests go back to his early teen years when at a performance of “Spoon River Anthology” he heard the beautiful sound of finger-picking on an old Guild 12-string. A new member to Leighas, John will lend a new sound of Celtic open-tuning (DADGAD) to the band. http://www.webwisesitedesign.com
The Name of our band is "Leigheas" (pronounced as lay-huss) which is Irish for Medicine and Healing as we consist of physicians, dentist, paramedic, music therapist, clinical psychologist, research scientists, and a few Boy Scouts for good measure who spend their days and occasional nights and next day afterwards caring and curing the ill.
For more information/bookings/albums, please contact Annie Gilstrap at 757.406.2945 or leigheasband@gmail.com.
First Flight CDs Available
CD: $15.00
Shipping & Handling: $3.00
To place order, send message to leigheasband@gmail.com
