Christmas From a Celtic Table Returns to Scottsdale!
Award winning Irish actor/director Mary Curtin returns to the West Coast to once again join Irish soprano Margaret O'Carroll and a talented ensemble for a gracious evening of songs, poetry, prose and drama. A Winner last year, a 'Must See!' this Season!
CHRISTMAS
FROM A CELTIC TABLE
A Feast of Music, Song,
Poetry and Drama
with Mary Curtin (Irish Actor as Presenter and Narrator)
Margaret O'Carroll (Soprano)
Christine Parker (Pianist)
Kathleen Keane (Celtic Fiddler)
SCOTTSDALE PERFORMANCE
Friday, December 12 - 7:30 p.m.
Louise Lincoln Kerr Cultural Center
6110 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
(480) 596-2660
Tickets: $18.00 - $25.00
Children (12 & under) $12.00/$14.00
Tickets available
through the Kerr Center/Ticketmaster outlets
CHRISTMAS FROM A CELTIC TABLE
A
Feast of Music, Song, Poetry and Drama
Award-winning actor/director Mary Curtin a native of Tralee, Co. Kerry and current resident of Cork City, Ireland, makes her United States theatre arts debut at the Celtic Arts Center, Los Angeles, as guest artist/poet and storyteller in the delightful program "CHRISTMAS FROM A CELTIC TABLE."
This well-known, "household word" in Ireland is the recipient of many awards and accolades for acting and directing, including best actress at the Cork Arts Theatre Awards (Cork 1989) and best director/producer for 'The Galway Girl', 'The Stanley Parkers', and 'The Inside Trap.'
Her most recent directing credits include 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, 'A Doll's House' by Henrik Ibsen,'Private Lives' by Noel Coward and 'Translations' by Brian Friel.
Mary is currently
directing Brian Friel's 'Translations' for The Everyman
Palace Theatre in Cork City and will direct their April 2003 production of
John Osborne's 'Look Back in Anger'.
In September 2003 -- Casting Director for an Irish short film entitled "Thanks for the Fish", Directed by Helen Williams and starring Academy Award Winning Actress Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot).
Ms. Curtin is also
in constant demand as a drama coach, voice coach, and speech and drama adjudicator,
and works privately preparing students for exams, auditions and public speaking.
Margaret
O' Carroll, Irish Soprano, Margaret O'Carroll, a Gold Medallist
at the Dublin Feis Ceoil, began her voice and piano
studies with her mother, Elizabeth, and continued at the Royal Irish Academy
of Music, in Dublin, and the Cork School of Music. Margaret credits her Wexford-born
mother for her deep love of storytelling. "She taught me how to sing
a song, how to tell a story. 'Sing from your heart' she would say."
Miss O'Carroll has an impressive performance history in her native Ireland, including oratorio (she sang her first Messiah with the late, great Irish tenor Frank Patterson), light opera, concerts, recitals, and tours with the National Folk Theatre of Ireland.
Margaret is one of the few classically trained singers in traditional
Irish
music today. Now a resident of Los Angeles, her main focus is the performance
and recording of Irish song.
In 2002 her debut CD 'Songs My Mother Taught Me, A Collection of Irish Songs' was submitted to the 45th Annual GRAMMY Awards Committee by Kerry Records for consideration in six categories including Song Of The Year and Best Traditional Folk Album.
Once
in a while, America produces an exceptional artist with tremendous versatility
and talent. Such an artist is Chicago-born Kathleen
Keane. Called a "child prodigy on the whistle" (Martin
Hayes) "virtuso violinist, one of the world's finest Celtic fiddlers"
(Chicago Tribune), and a "first-class fiddle player...amazing versatility"
(Irish American News), Kathleen has won numerous American and International
awards. She joined Gaelic Storm in 2000, wrote, sang, played and arranged
for their album Tree which went to # 2 on the Billboard World Music chart.
She co-wrote, sang, produced and performed The Longing, which appeared on
Windham Hill's Celtic Christmas Silver Anniversary album, staying at #1 on
Billboard's World Music chart for three weeks.
When DreamWorks SKG, the studio that produced the hit movie "THE ROAD TO PERDITION," starring TOM HANKS and PAUL NEWMAN were looking for the finest traditional Irish musicians in the world to perform and appear in the movie, it's no surprise that they chose KATHLEEN for her virtuoso tin whistle playing. She was a "child prodigy on the whistle" (MARTIN HAYES) and has garnered numerous American and International awards. This year Kathleen took first place in the MidWest Heats entitling her to compete in the finals in Ireland for the prestigious All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil Title, an award seldom won by an American.
Kathleen has shared the stage with many great traditioinal Irish
artists including Jimmy Keane, Mick Moloney, Robbie O' Connell, Johnny Cunningham,
Ken O' Malley and Eileen Ivers. She is based in Los Angeles and continues
to pursue a solo career.
Christine
Parker, studied piano and viola in her native England, gained
her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Music at 
Cambridge
University, and, as a student, she was a founder/member and repetiteur with
the University opera group.
In London she studied voice with Heddle Nash and joined the Ambrosian Singers with whom she made hundreds of recordings, concert appearances and broadcasts, often serving as rehearsal accompanist for Benjamin Britten, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Georg Solti and others. She studied with Simon Preston and was organist at the Carmelite Church, Kensington for 16 years. In addition, she coached leading British singers in opera, oratorio and lieder.
In 1980, after relocating to Los Angeles, Christine Parker
sang with Roger Wagner's Master Chorale, was a studio accompanist and an opera
and oratorio coach. Now a resident of Scottsdale, Arizona, she continues to
be active in music and returns to Los Angeles for special concert work.
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