Celtic Nights

Friday, October 26, 2007 / 8:00 pm
Saturday, October 27, 2007 / 8:00 pm

Saint Mark’s Cathedral
1245 10th Avenue East, Seattle

Non-reserved seating: $25 (General), $20 (Senior), $10 (Under 25)

Please be advised that “Celtic Nights” is produced and performed by the Seattle Choral Company. Anúna will not appear in this concert, but, instead, will be featured in “Celtic Origins” on November 7 at the Tacoma Rialto Theater.

“Celtic Nights” begins our season at a time when the ancient Celts once observed the Festival of Samhain (or SOW-en), the beginning of the Celtic New Year. The days grow shorter, the season colder, and the harvest comes to an end. It is the time when Celts believed the gates to the otherworld were opened and they could communicate with the dead.

“Celtic Nights” was inspired by the entrancing choral sounds of the Irish sensation, Anúna, and their director, Michael McGlynn . McGlynn makes the music of today’s Ireland come alive. He bridges the gap between classical and popular music with a unique sound world that recaptures and revitalizes the ancient music of Celtic Ireland. Listeners will experience ancient Celtic lore, traditional Irish songs and mesmerizing new works in a cathedral setting.

For this concert event, we will be joined by players from the Seattle Uilleann Pipers Club, Harpist John Carrington, Violin and Viola soloist Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi, and the Scoil Rince Slieveloughane Irish Dancers (pronounced: skole rinka SHLEEVE-lock-ane).

Featured works and arrangements by Michael McGlynn will include: Media Vita, Lux Aeterna, The Road of Passage, Geantraí, Incantations, Hin Barra, The Rising of the Sun, I Dreamt That I Dwelt In Marble Halls, Siúil a Rúin, Ocean, and Sí do Mhaimeo Í.

Anúna will mark its U.S. television debut as a featured act in an extended Public Television concert special—"Celtic Origins"—set to air as part of the August/September PBS National Pledge Drive effort. On October 3, the group will embark on a 35-city North American tour.

“Celtic Nights” will also feature the first Seattle performance of Aililiú ó Íosa: An Caoineadh (pronounced: ah-lee-LOO/oh/EE-sah/on QUEEN-eh) by Minnesota composer, Abbie Betinis. Originally composed for a Medieval mystery play, it is a haunting work scored for four soprano soloists, male choir, viola and metal-stringed Celtic harp. Betinis has successfully recreated an Irish keening, a type of wailing that dates from pre-Christian funeral rituals.