Lara Garner, the founding member of Celtic Sands, is versatile as both a folk and classical musician. She plays celtic harp, recorder, tin whistle, Irish flute, fiddle, bodhran, guitar and is a classically-trained pianist. She has performed in pubs, restaurants, concert halls, churches, castles, cathedrals, gardens, and stately homes. She has lived and performed in both Paris and Rome. She also performs with the Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers and with Harpers' Hall. As a pianist, Lara has played the major piano chamber music repertoire and has also played many stage shows both locally and in Europe. She also writes her own original music. She taught herself to play the harp after a series of persistant dreams in which she was playing the harp. Lara has a degree in music from U.C. Berkeley and a Master's Degree from San Francisco State.
Fiddler Ben Roberts is known for his pyrotechnics and improvisation on both fiddle and mandolin. Besides writing and recording his own music, he also plays a mean guitar and performs regularly with the locally popular Irish rebel rock band The Bog Savages and has played lead fiddle with various country rock and bluegrass bands. Originally from North Carolina, Ben has lived in all parts of the country and is also a classically-trained violinist who has played in the Santa Cruz Symphony for the past 7 years. Ben has played in all kinds of venues and styles from symphonic concert halls, English contradances, middle-eastern music to poorly-lit bar rooms and huge outdoor parking lot stages at ATV rallies. Ben has a Master's Degree in violin performance.
Guitarist Greg Jones brings his extensive background in rock and jazz guitar to Celtic Sands. As a touring guitarist, he's been to every State in the U.S. and has played in Europe and Mexico. He's done a wide variety of engagements as performing for thousands at a President Reagan benefit, to playing for two dudes in a bar in Southern Alabama - and everything in between. Greg has appeared in San Francisco bay area clubs, on radio stations KZSU Stanford, Radio Free Berkeley, KPFA Berkeley, SFSound Comcast, and Pacifica's Laugh Locally program. He can entertain crowds with a band, or with just his voice and an acoustic guitar. He has also toured in France, Germany, England, Holland, Spain, and Ireland. He writes his own music and has his own cd production label "Skitz Records", where he has produced numerous of his own cds. Greg has a B.A. in music.