[caption id="attachment_67537" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="From left: Bill Whelan, Athena Tergis and Mick Donnegan. "]
Renowned composer and pianist Bill Whelan is coming back to New York's Irish Arts Center for four nights of shows featuring fiddler Athena Tergis, singer Morgan Crowley and dancer Mick Donegan, as well as an orchestra.
The IAC recently presented Whelan, composer of the international stage phenomenon "Riverdance," with its Spirit of Ireland Award. His return to the venue for "An Evening with Bill Whelan," Oct. 29 to Nov. 1, follows his triumphant appearance with Tergis during last year's IAC Masters in Collaboration series.
"We had such a nice experience this time last year when we did the 'Masters in Collaboration' series and it's wonderful that Athena is going to be around to do this with me again. And, also, that I've been able to get Mick Donegan, the great dancer, to come over specially from Dublin for this and also Morgan Crowley, who I've done quite a bit of work with vocally over the last couple of years. He was involved in the very early 'Riverdance' and he's a fine singer. I think we have a nice team, plus the orchestra," Whelan told the Irish Echo in a phone interview. "It's great to be back. We did two nights last year and we're doing four this year. So it's nice to be back in the venue, as short-lived as the venue may be. Hopefully, in a few years' time, [the IAC] will have its new concert hall and it'll be nice to play there when that happens."
In addition to performing some old favorites, including excerpts from "Riverdance," Whelan, who is based in Connemara, said he will also introduce for the first time in America two of his new compositions during the show. Tergis is set to accompany him on "Jazzical Cyclebike," while Crowley will sing "After the Titanic," a piece that sets Derek Mahon's haunting poem to music.
"The first piece is rather weirdly called 'Jazzical Cyclebike.' I called it that because it is a mixture of jazz and classical - 'jazzical.' And 'cyclebike' because I wrote it at a time when I was living in Paris a couple of years ago and I was writing a piece for the Dutch Chamber Orchestra and I was cycling around Paris every day," Whelan explained. "Cycling was very much to the front of my mind and I used the whole notion of cycling around Paris as an inspiration - the movement and the bumping up and down. So there are time signatures and I think the piece reflects all of that."
The second work is a musical interpretation of Mahon's "Titanic" poem Whelan completed only several weeks ago.
"It tells the story of Bruce Ismay, who was a survivor of the Titanic and a very important figure in the shipping line that owned the Titanic. And in the subsequent inquiry he was found to have not been, shall we say, heroic on the night in question. So the poem imagines him as he did ultimately live in Connemara with all of the ghosts of that terrible night and how he saw out his days with all the memories of that night. It's a tough poem, but beautifully written by Derek Mahon and I hope I've set it accordingly," Whelan said.
Sidebar:
So, what does being honored with the Irish Arts Center's Spirit of Ireland Award mean to composer and musician Bill Whelan?
"It was an extraordinary event," the 61-year-old Limerick native said of the October ceremony at which he received the prize. "The Irish Arts Center really put the boat out and it was a lot of fun to see [IAC honorary board chairs] Liam Neeson and Gabriel Byrne there. And also to be honored at the same time as Dolores McCall, who is such a wonderful, warm-hearted and also very generous contributor to both the arts here in New York and also back in Ireland, so it was great. I was very happy to be there."
Whelan went on to say he was flattered the organization feels he represents what is best about his homeland.
"It's a rather large badge to carry around," he laughed. "But I think the whole notion of the award is to honor, I think, those people who through their work or otherwise embodies some part of that spirit of Ireland. . . . . [Even] though things are pretty grim economically at the moment, I do think there is an underlying spirit of resurrection amongst the country, so I'm very happy to receive the award at this time."
In addition to "Riverdance," Whelan has also contributed music to films such as "Dancing at Lughnasa," "Some Mother's Son," "Lamb" and "At the Cinema Palace." His production and arranging credits include work with U2, Van Morrison, Kate Bush, Richard Harris, Planxty and The Dubliners.
