Explore the Songs and Sounds of a Hidden Ireland
BRIGHT VISION
This evening’s performance mines the traditions of sean-nós song, Irish harp music, song airs, and other sounds from 18th century Ireland brought to life by two of Ireland’s best-known innovators of tradition. Presided over by the spirit of the composer Seán Ó Riada (1930 – 1971) whose influence on Ó Lionáírd and Ó Súílleabháin was profound, Ó Riada’s Aisling Geal or Bright Vision is invoked through the striking piano playing of Ó Súílleabháin and the evocative vocal soundings of Ó Lionáird.
 
Iarla  Ó Lionaird has carved a long and unique career in music in Ireland and internationally. From his iconic early recording of the vision song Aisling Gheal as a young boy to his ground breaking recordings with Dublin’s Crash Ensemble and Donnacha Dennehy he has shown a breadth of artistic ambition that sets him apart in the Irish Music fraternity. He has worked with a stellar cast of composers internationally including Nico Muhly, Gavin Bryars, Dan Trueman and David Lang and  he has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Peter Gabriel, Robert Plant, Nick Cave and SineadO’Connor. His unique singing style has carried him to stages and concert halls all over the world, from New York’s Carnegie Hall  to the Sydney Opera House and beyond. His voice has graced the silver screen also, with film credits extending from “The Gangs of New York” to  “Hotel Rwanda” and most recently as featured vocalist in the film “Calvary” starring Brendan Gleeson and “Brooklyn” based on the novel by Colm Toibin.  He is the vocalist with the critically acclaimed Irish /American band “The Gloaming.”
 
“a defiantly unclassifiable sound.” The Irish Times
 
 

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin is Chair of Music and Founding Director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Recent and current compositional work includes Three Songs for Iarla O Lionáird and the RTE Concert Orchestra (NCH/Lyric fm), Madison’s Descent: A Masque in Ten Movements (Junction Festival/Lyric fm), When Heroes Sing (based on ‘The Cure at Troy, a version of Sophocles’ Philoctates’ by Séamus Heaney) for orchestra and chorus (premiére DeBartolo Center for Performing Arts, Indiana, 2016), Phoenix Rising for symphony orchestra (RTE 1): music for the film documentary on the story of Irish aviation by Alan Gilsenan.
 
“Ó Súilleabháin is one of those rarities, a musician who grasps absolutely both the classical and traditional idioms” The Herald
 
Tickets: €25/22
Book Now: http://www.paviliontheatre.ie/events/view/iarla-olionaird-micheal-osuilleabhain