60th Birthday Recital:Melodies of the Silver Screen

What a privilege to arrive at the start another decade. My 7th!  A nudge to get on and do the things that one most enjoys. To mark my 60th birthday, I gave a recital of my favourite music from the cinema. A week after the day,  I presented the programme at the Upstairs Gallery at the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore. I was joined by pianist and composer Marian Ingoldsby. The evening sun was still bright and the white horses of the sea were visible through the windows of the scenic Coastguard Station on the Doneraile in the seaside town.

In December 2021, I commissioned a new violin from luthier Mark Keenan. I made the trip down to Mark's workshop in Belmont, Co Offaly to collect the instrument in August. It is a copy of a Golden period Stradivarius and I look forward to playing it in the years ahead. To go with a new instrument I commissioned a new piece for violin and piano by Marian Ingoldsby and gave the premiere performance at the event. A world premiere no less!  Notions! 

 I am happy to report that the venue was full and a retiring collection raised €500 for Meals on Wheels. Thank you all!

Set List below

Melodies of the Silver Screen  

Coastguard, Tramore 4^th September 2022

Cathy Desmond -Violin & Marian Ingoldsby -Piano

Guest  Tenor John Drohan

Programme

·         Humoresque; Dvorak                                         1947 Humoresque

·         Romanze; Shostakovich                                     1955 The GADFLY  

·         Salut d’Amour; Elgar                                           1962  Elgar (dir Ken Russell)

·         Windmills of Your Mind;  Legrand                   1968 The Thomas Crown Affair    -

·         Loss of Love ; Henry Mancini                             1970 Sunflower         

·         Speak Softly Love; Nino Rota                             1972 The Godfather

·         Lara’s Theme;  Maurice  Jarre                           1965 Dr Zhivago

·         Theme Schindler’s List; John Williams             1993 Schindler’s List

·         Por Una Cabeza; Carlos Gardel                          2002 Scent of a Woman

·         Theme; Nigel Hess                                                2004 Ladies in Lavender

·         New Commission; Ingoldsby:                            2022 Doneraile Saunter (working title)

·         The Marino Waltz; J Sheahan                              1987 The Peat Briquette Ads TV

T     Poem The Fiddlemaker's Workshop  by J Sheahan  read by Daniel Foley for Mark Keenan

·         Czardas; Monti                                                       1984 Unfaithfully Yours

·         Ashokan Farewell; Jay Ungar                               1991  Ken Burns PBS The Civil War

 

Silver Screen Selection ViolinCat: Youtube Playlist: www.shorturl.at/ejL19

Clips from the films that inspired tonight’s programme.

Glenarm Festival of Voice; Co Antrim

 

Antrim is a long way from my base in the South East but arriving home from a week exploring Scotland's West coast, the ferry dropped me in Larne a short hop from the village of Glenarm and fortuitously in the nick of time to catch the last day of the weekend festival dedicated to singing, part of a development programme for young singers by Northern Ireland Opera. At St Patrick's Church, a 'select audience' gathered to hear a song recital by soprano Soraya Mafi and pianist Simon Lepper. Fresh from a lead role in Glyndebourne, the soprano presented an appealing programme concluding with a clutch of settings of Irish texts, only one of which I had heard before. For a singer used to a big auditorium, Mafi handled the acoustic of the bijou venue comfortably demonstrating her strength and colour but never overpowering, giving succinct and clear introductions to each number. She revealed that although her name is Persian, her mother is from Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo. Entry was free gratis to all and I look forward to catching the radio broadcast in early September in my kitchen thanks to a couple of unobtrusive suspended mics.  Although not new, the wonders of radio technology never cease to amaze me.  A top notch presentation by a duo on top of their métier that could as easily have graced the stage of the Wigmore Hall as a rural parish church on the Antrim coast.

Outside Broadcast Unit in situ in Glenarm.

Later in the evening, the competition finale took place across the road in the Church of the Immaculate Conception and it was good to see a good crowd gathered to hear the five finalists. The distinctive plummy tones of MC  Sean Rafferty gave the event that Radio 3 vibe. Unusually for a vocal competition we heard all the competitors in a a selection of ensemble numbers as well as solo items. It made for a very convivial event as did the cup of tea served in the adjacent school hall. It was good to meet Cork soprano Niamh O Sullivan and Fr Eugene O Hagan of  the vocal trio The Priests.

Each of the five singers were impressive and I hope to hear them all gain. I loved Owen Lucas' rendition of a setting of Ledwidge by Michael Head. My pick for the winner though was Michael Bell, one of the most experienced singers  on the platform. The jury's selection was Owen Lucas who was also the audience favourite. Hannah O Brien won the Song prize with a song titled Bid Adieu with music and lyrics composed by James Joyce. I have no doubt I will hear Heather Sammon, a mezzo from Wicklow and David Kennedy a baritone from Galway again. Owen Lucas can be heard next in the NI Opera production of La Traviata and Michael Bell and Hannah O Brien are off to the Wexford Opera Factory. Doireann O Carroll accompanied the Song Prize.

I wound up the evening at McCollum's Pub in Cushendall where it was fun swapping tunes with a merry band of  brothers from Derry in the Front Parlour. #DiscoverNorthernIreland. Bravo tutti! A most entertaining day!

From Ballybricken to Bridgerton

Songs I Wish I'd Sung:Jamie Beamish  at the Theatre Royal.

It is quite a while since I posted on Cathy's Reviews. Over the last ten days, I have enjoyed some terrific events and so to sharpen the memories and send a virtual buala bos, here is the first of posts on recent excursions.

Musician and actor, Jamie Beamish was great company for an evening of songs and stories at the Theatre Royal. Over two hours, he sang a set of songs from the shows and told wry and self deprecating stories about his theatre life starting out in the school shows at De la Salle to landing roles in  major TV shows, most recently as Ciaran in Derry Girls and the cad, Nasty Nigel in Bridgerton. None of which I can repeat here as our host said, 'What is said in the Theatre Royal stays in..."Without notes or autocue, Beamish spun an nostalgic narrative that was moving but never cloying. Accompanied by pianist, Dylan Browne, he  was joined on stage by friends, Andrew Holden, Ray Collins, David Flynn and Susan Boyce for various duets. 

I occasionally ran across Beamish over the years. An true all-rounder, the first time I met him, he was in college and doing sound design for a show in Garter Lane. On other occasions, he was home from London, directing and stage managing plays. Listening to him reminisce on the various shows and characters many of whom I knew, I was reminded of how much fun and  excitement  musical theatre bestowed on us growing up in a Waterford that was often a  bit drab in the long winter months. I enjoyed many nights myself playing violin in the pit for schools and musical societies. How I wondered yet again, could Waterford have let its International Light Opera Festival slip away. On the way out, we passed Browne, digital keyboard under his arm. (Why does the Theatre Royal not have a decent in-house piano.? Every show that I have seen here has used electric keyboards of varying standards. Browne's was one of the better ones)

The evening reminded me of  Alan Cumming's  cabaret style show Sappy Songs seen  at an Edinburgh Festival in 2016 https://www.pbs.org/show/alan-cumming-sings-sappy-songs/. Beamish's performance was all the more remarkable as it was the first time he had presented this show whereas Cummings material had toured extensively and was well honed when I saw it.  A wonderful evening and  if Graham Norton needs an entertaining guest for his talk show, he should give Jamie Beamish's agent a ring. Much more fun than Rene Le Page

Wonderful #storytelling from @jamiebeamish @theatreroyalw #Waterford tonight in a show titled Songs I wished I had Sung charting his career from schoolboy days in DelaSalle musicals to international TV star pic.twitter.com/I6bnMNpyUe

— Fidleir (@fidleir) June 17, 2022