Irish soprano Clodagh Kinsella, accompanied by pianist Keith Stears, will present a concert of "Irish Airs and Arias" at the Village Theatre in downtown Danville at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday evening, September 5th.
Clodagh Kinsella of County Wexford is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, with first class honors in Vocal Studies. She has performed in venues from Budapest to New York City.
Kinsella's solo concert appearances include Hayden's Stabat Mater; Pergolesi's Stabat Mater; Handel's Messiah and Gloria; Saint Saens' Christmas Oratorio; Vivaldi's Gloria; Orff's Carmina Burana; Mozart's Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Coronation Mass, C Minor Mass and Requiem. She recently gave a recital at the Gala of the American Irish Historical Society in New York City.
Kinsella's operatic roles include Second Soprano in Monteverdi's Tirsi e Clori; Zweite Dame in Mozart's Die Zauberflote; Titania in Purcell's Fairy Queen; Les Enfants in Massenet's Werther; Sandrina in Mozart's La Finta Giardiniera; and Alcina in Caccini's Alcina.
Kinsella will be accompanied by Dublin- based pianist Keith Stears. Stears recently received a master's in music from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, specializing in piano accompaniment. He has received numerous prizes and awards, including the coveted Lucien and Maura Teissier Scholarship Award.
Kinsella will sing Irish favorites, such as The Kerry Dance and Dear Harp of My Country, as well as America's Shenandoah and America the Beautiful. Stears will present piano solos by John Field.
This concert of Irish music celebrates the partnership of the Eugene O'Neill Foundation of Danville and the O'Neill Ancestral Trust of Ireland to present "One Festival,
Two Countries" - the 20th Annual Eugene O'Neill Festival in Danville in September and the 2nd Annual Eugene O'Neill International Festival of Theatre in New Ross, Ireland in October. Eugene O'Neill is the only American playwright to have won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He lived in Danville when he wrote his greatest works, including Long Day's Journey Into Night. His home in Danville, Tao House, is a National Historic Site. His father James, along with his parents and siblings, emigrated from New Ross, Ireland in the wake of the potato famine.
The concert is made possible by a generous grant from Chevron Corporation.