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Press Releases
Singer Caitríona O’Leary Performs Unacccompanied 21 A Live-Streamed Micro-Concert on Facebook
On Saturday September 26th, Heresy Records’ recording artist, Caitríona O’Leary, will perform the 20th installment of Unaccompanied, her weekly series of micro-concerts live-streamed on Facebook every Saturday at 2:30 PM Dublin time (GMT 1:00). For Unaccompanied O’Leary performs a wide range of songs written - or intended - to be performed without accompaniment. The repertoire for Unaccompanied includes medieval songs, sean nòs, folk and traditional songs from Ireland, England, Scotland and North America among other rarely heard works. During the broadcast O’Leary speaks about the history, provenance and texts of the songs. She performs in costumes which she designs and makes for each performance. Videos of the concert are available for replay on her YouTube channel. For Unaccompanied 21 O’Leary will perform three songs: Lollai Litil Child, based on a 14th century poem, the tenth of sixteen now known as the Kildare Poems. This collection is thought to have been compiled in either Kildare or Wexford by Franciscans around the year 1330. It was once owned by Gorge Wyse, a 16th century mayor of Waterford and is now found in the Harley manuscript housed in the British Library. How Long and Dreary is the Night is an 18thcentury Scottish traditional song with poetry by Robbie Burns. Gold Ring is an Irish jig performed in a traditional style called lilting which is sung without a formal text.
O’Leary is internationally renowned as a singer of early music, traditional Irish song and folk music. She is particularly known for her performances and recordings of unaccompanied song. In reference to a concert she performed at Beethovenfest Bonn, the General Anzeiger wrote, “This is a special genre of vocal art, called sean nós…in this type of singing O’Leary is a master.” Her most recent recording on Heresy Records, The Red Book of Ossory with her ensemble, Anakronos received five stars from the Irish Times, ArtMuseLondon called it “a singular work of genius” and The Journal of Music lauded it as “One of the records of the year”.
The idea for Unaccompanied was inspired by a May 2nd concert O’Leary performed as part of Ireland Performs, an online series of concerts established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic presented by Culture Ireland and Facebook Ireland.
Unaccompanied 21: Programme – Saturday September 26th 2020
Lollai, Litil Child, Text: 14th cent. Irish, Music: C.O’Leary
How Long & Dreary is the Night, Text: Robbie Burns (1759-1796), Music: Traditional Scottish
Gold Ring (Lilting), Traditional Irish Jig
UNACCOMPANIED: FEATURING CAITRÍONA O’LEARY
EVERY SATURDAY BEGINNING 2:30 PM (GMT 1)
FACEBOOK LINK TO CONCERT- https://www.facebook.com/caitriona.oleary.3/
YOUTUBE CHANNEL - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-O5nz3FMldmVrdGP1eAAhw?view_as=subscriber
ABOUT CAITRÍONA O’LEARY
Caitríona O’Leary (www.caitrionaoleary.com) has recorded twenty-five critically acclaimed albums with her band Dúlra and the celebrated early music ensembles Sequentia, The Harp Consort, Joglaresa, eX among others. Her recording of The Wexford Carols (producer Joe Henry, guest artists Tom Jones, Rosanne Cash, Rhiannon Giddens, Dónal Lunny) reached #1 on Billboard.
Caitríona has worked closely with many of early music's leading artists including Christopher Hogwood, Ben Bagby, Andrew Lawrence King, Konrad Junghaenel, Pedro Memelsdorff, Hille Perl, Lee Santana and many others.
Caitríona has toured and performed around the world, including such venues as the Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center, Radio City Music Hall, Cité de la Musique and the National Concert Hall, Dublin to name a few. She regularly performs at festivals throughout Europe and beyond including Halle Handel Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Tage Alter Musik Herne, Utrecht Early Music Festival, Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Festival Montalbâne, Festival Cervantino Guanajuato (Mexico), Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Concerts Spirituels Geneva, Zagreb Summer Evenings Festival, Split Summer Festival (Croatia), Dublin Theatre Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Belfast Festival at Queen’s, etc.
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