On the Town: The sun came out for musicians Moya Brennan, Eleanor McEvoy and Declan O'Rourke as they posed for photographers on the steps of the National Concert Hall in Dublin this week.
The three singer/ songwriters had come to celebrate the launch of this year's ESB Beo Celtic Music Festival. Each will perform at the festival in the NCH in August.
"I was so thrilled that I was available," said Brennan, who is often abroad touring and is just back from a tour of Germany. "I'm thrilled with the opportunity to play at the concert hall. I haven't played in Dublin for four years. The hall is such a great size."
"I love the classical sound of strings," said Dublin singer O'Rourke, whose first album, Since Kyabram, was released last year. "Classical music has been a great influence on my music."
McEvoy, who began her career as a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in the late 1980s, will sing songs from her album, Early Hours, on Friday, August 19th at the festival, performing with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra under the baton of David Brophy. Brophy said he was especially looking forward to arranging the orchestral accompaniment to McEvoy singing Anach Cuan, the traditional lament written by the poet, Raftery, for those who drowned in Lough Corrib, Co Galway, more than 100 years ago.
Performing in the NCH "means an awful lot" to all the musicians and singers, said NCH director Judith Woodworth. "They feel it gives a huge boost to Celtic music."
Traditional musicians Cormac Breatnach and Martin Dunlea gave guests a flavour of Celtic music. They finished with Armada, composed by fiddle player Máire Breatnach, who will give a fiddle workshop at the festival on August 20th. As her music summoned up the storms that threw the Spanish Armada on to Ireland's rocky coast, thoughts turned to the stories that live on in traditional music.
For information about the ESB Beo Celtic Music Festival at the NCH, go to www.nch.ie or call 01-4710000