Baker University will welcome a group of seven Irish musicians from the Dundalk Institute of Technology during the first week in May.

During a tour of Ireland over spring break, Baker ensembles and choir performed alongside the traditional music ensemble from DkIT, which is located in northeast Ireland.

The Dundalk students showed Baker students their campus and how their school operated. Now it is Baker’s turn to do the same.

The group from DkIT is led by Adele Commins and Daithí Kearney.

“I can’t wait,” Kearney said in an email interview. “It’s always great to see Ray (Director of Bands Ray James), and we have extra reason to be excited to travel having met the wonderful group that came to Dundalk in March.”

Kearney has been to the United States many times and has had the opportunity to perform at some highly regarded venues.

“I have been very fortunate to travel to America a number of times,” Kearney said. “I have performed in a number of venues, including Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and for President Obama in the White House. I have not yet been to Kansas, though, and am looking forward to it.”

The Irish students will be arriving in New York to visit Molloy College in Long Island, which also had a group visit DkIT the same week as the Baker group. They plan to sightsee around New York and then make their way to Kansas. While in New York, they will perform at the American Irish Historical Society on Fifth Avenue.

The DkIT members will arrive in Kansas on April 30. While at Baker, they will have the opportunity to observe and learn from Baker students and professors in the Department of Music and Theater. They will even perform a few traditional Irish music sessions for Baker students. On Thursday, May 1, they will attend the Chris Grubb Memorial Jazz Concert. Then on Friday, they will attend Baker’s choral concert and afterward, where they may lead an Irish dancing session.

During the remainder of the week, the visiting students will travel to a couple of area schools to do workshops. The directors of the schools they will attend all have connections to Baker.

They will perform at the Symphonic Winds Guest Artist concert on May 4, and they will provide music during the 6 p.m. Mass at Annunciation Catholic Church in Baldwin City.

While the BU interterm group was visiting DkIT, their students led a Ceili dance (Irish folk dancing). Later that day at the concert, a few Wildcats danced while the DkIT ensemble played.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to have the Irish students come to our campus,” sophomore MacKenzie Sammons, who was one of the dancers, said. “I learned so much from the abroad experience at their school. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.”

Kearney, Commins and James all hope that this trip is the first of many. They each want this to be the beginning of a long friendship between Baker and DkIT.

“It has been a fantastic experience building links with Baker University and in particular Professor Ray James,” Commins said in an email. “We always look forward to his visits to Dundalk, and he really enriched our music and teaching, particularly providing added inspiration in the field of Jazz. International opportunities are vitally important for students today and allow all of us to gain great insights into various perspectives in the world, not only in music.”

They all hope the cultural exchanges will enhance the students’ learning experiences and broaden their perspectives.

“I think the trips will enhance the connections we’ve made and set example for how we can develop into the future,” Kearney said. “There is nothing like meeting face-to-face and sharing in music. The more we learn about each other as schools, the more we can see opportunities to develop opportunities for students to travel, share with and learn from each other.”

James, who is retiring at the end of the academic year, visited DkIT in 2011 and 2012. He hopes that in the future, the schools could even develop some sort of study abroad connection, like the one Baker has with Harlaxton College in the United Kingdom.

“It’ll be really good for our campuses …We’ve got some (students) that want to go over there and study, and we’ll have some of them that want to come here,” James said. “We can start doing some exchange work with them … That’s my dream.”