Anna Devin soprán/soprano
Rachel Kelly meánsoprán/mezzo-soprano
John Hess pianó/piano

Irish is the oldest vernacular written language (i.e. non-Greek) in western Europe. Despite the attempted obliteration of the Irish language during colonization, the language has somehow survived. This longevity of tradition has created one of the great European literatures. As an expression of culture, the Irish language is immensely poetic and musical and ideally suited to the art song genre. However, before 2018 the number of Irish language art songs was regrettably very small.

2018 was Bliain na Gaeilge or the Year of Irish. In an attempt to make a significant contribution to the canon of Irish language art song and to encourage interaction between classical composers and Irish language poets, Dáirine Ní Mheadhra commissioned fifty new art songs. They are set exclusively to Irish language texts, from Irish and International composers. All fifty songs have been recorded. Since November 2019 they are available to listen to and can be downloaded for free here.

A pronunciation guide is also available. The dedicated website is generously hosted by the Irish Contemporary Music Centre. This allows any singer worldwide the possibility of singing an art song in Irish. This project is funded by The Arts Council of Ireland.

This three-concert series takes place in the Kevin Barry Recital Room at the National Concert Hall. It is the first public presentation of all fifty songs. It is also, most likely, the first Irish language art song recital series in the history of the Irish state.