The legendary Irish Rovers return to the stage at the Empire! They began last year by hitting Spotify’s VIRAL TOP 50 in both the US and the UK/ Ireland, and ended it with recording the new album, No End In Sight! These Kings of Celtic have been honoured as one of Ireland’s greatest exports by EPIC Ireland Museum in Dublin as well as back in their hometown of Ballymena.

Seventh Town is a four-piece Celtic folk band from Prince Edward County that blends traditional Irish, Scottish and Canadian songs and fiddle tunes with fiddle, guitar, double bass and Irish whistles to back up four-part vocal harmonies. The core members have been playing together for more than a decade. That musical chemistry shines through in Seventh Town’s thoughtful and harmony-driven arrangements of old and new Celtic and folk pieces. 

When Matt Andersen steps on stage, he brings a lifetime of music to every note he plays. His latest album, The Big Bottle of Joy, is all about hard-won celebration; a dozen songs infused with raw blues-rock, rollicking Americana, thoughtful folk, and ecstatic gospel.

Tony D (Diteodoro), guitarist for Juno award winning band MonkeyJunk, has been laying it down for over thirty years. MonkeyJunk has amassed twenty Maple Blues awards and a Blues Music Award (formerly known as The Handy Awards). At the age of thirteen, Tony began his musical journey on the guitar learning mostly in the blues, rock jazz stylings.

2023 marks the 13th year of the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival Jazz Education Program. This unique program for high school students provides an opportunity for young musicians to work with some of Canada’s top jazz performers and music educators. Capping off the three days of workshops, performances, and clinics will be this concert featuring the Brian Barlow Big Band along with the four participating high school ensembles.

Justin Maki is a “Flirtatious Jazz-Pop” artist out of London, ON. He is the FCLMA’s 2021 “Pop Artist of the Year” and 2022 “Contemporary Singer-Songwriter of the Year”. Japan-born and Canada-bred, Justin’s music carefully draws influence from R&B, Soul, Funk, and Jazz and packages it in an accessible Pop format.

Join Mimi O’Bonsawin in celebrating the release of her 6th Studio album, Willow and witness the performance of the album in full. Willow was recorded by Mimi and her partner/co-producer Ryan Schurman who will be featured on drums during the concert.

As a 25-year veteran of the entertainment industry, and two-time CCMA Male Vocalist of the Year, Jason McCoy appears to be the king of reinvention. As a Country Music Artist, he’s racked up multiple CCMA and CMA awards along with a Gold album. As creator and front man of the highest selling band in Canadian Country Music history, The Road Hammers, Jason took on the Country Rock genre and guided the band to unprecedented success throughout Canada and the United States.