Canadian singer and songwriter Loreena McKennitt is her own manager and producer as well as director of her own successful international record label Quinlan Road. Over the course of a recording career spanning almost twenty years, McKennitt's genre of music, known as 'eclectic Celtic', has won critical acclaim around the world and has won gold, platinum and multi-platinum sales awards in fifteen countries on four continents. Born in the province of Manitoba, Canada, Loreena moved to Stratford, Ontario, Canada in 1981, where she still lives today. McKennitt has acted in, sung in and composed music for Stratford Festival of Canada plays such as The Tempest (1982) and The Merchant of Venice (2001). His recording career began in 1985 with the album Elemental. In the very early years of her own record company, Quinlan Road, Loreena ran her operations from the kitchen table, selling records by mail order and producing her own tours across the country. Quinlan Road's catalogue is distributed worldwide by Warner Music (in the US) by Universal Music (in Canada and other territories including Italy and Spain) and by various independent labels, including Keltia Music (France) and SPV (Germany). The years between 2000 and 2005 are years of travel for Loreena, who deepens her cultural horizon between Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Between 2005 and 2006, McKennitt was again in the studio for her new work, 'An Ancient Muse', released on 20 November 2006. In 2007, after many years of absence from the stage, she returned on tour, touching many countries, including Italy. In spring 2008, Loreena McKennitt recorded an expanded version of 'A Winter Garden'. The album, entitled 'A Midwinter Night's Dream', consists of 13 tracks (the original 5 plus 8 new ones) and was released in October 2008. In the summer of 2008, she kicked off her European tour, during which she enjoyed great public success in July and an intense appearance in Udine and Brescia, the only two cities touched by her tour in Italy. McKennitt also performed two songs on the soundtrack of the Disney film "Tinker Bell" (in Italian "Trilli") for the DVD market, and on 7 December 2008 she was one of the performers at the 16th Christmas Concert in Verona. Loreena continues to manage her career from Stratford. An active member of her community, she has founded and runs major charitable initiatives in the field of water safety and support services for families and children. About ten years after the release of her last unreleased album, Loreena McKennitt returned in May this year with a new work and is ready to present it around Europe, with a total of 25 concerts across ten countries including Spain, Germany and, indeed, Italy. The singer-songwriter has Irish and Scottish origins and it is these that have influenced her music, which draws inspiration from the Celtic folk songs to which she adds an international touch, with a surprising result that is appreciated worldwide. In anticipation of her upcoming summer tour Loreena he said: "I'm excited to return to some of the places I've already visited in previous years and to see people I met on my previous tours, but also to perform in beautiful places I've never seen before."  Moreover, the singer-songwriter will not be alone on stage, but will be accompanied by the musicians Brian Hughes (guitar, oud and Celtic bouzouki), Caroline Lavelle (cello), Hugh Marsh (violin),Dudley Philips (double bass) and Robert Brian (battery).