Ireland’s Poet-Patriots: A Musical History, which premiered last year in San Francisco to correspond with the centenary of the 1916 Rising, is coming to Washington, D.C.’s National Cathedral on October 12. The one-night performance will illuminate 140 years of Irish history, featuring the inspired words of 12 Irish poets and patriots set to music by American composer Richard B. Evans. There will be special participation by Daniel Mulhall, Ambassador of Ireland to the United States, who will act as one of the evening’s narrators.
Kerry natives Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh and Christy O’Leary and Dubliner Aimée Farrell-Courtney will lead the Irish trad musicians, and Derek Ryan, an operatic bass-baritone from Tipperary, will sing the role of Pádraic Pearse – accompanied by a 60-member orchestra, chorus, and trad ensemble. Additional narrators for the concert will include Irish America editor and co-founder Patricia Harty, television commentator Chris Matthews, former Governor Martin O’Malley, Washington businesswoman and strategist Susan Davis, and Mark Tuohey, director of the Washington mayor’s Office of Legal Counsel. ♦
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