Glucksman Ireland House Events Calendar Spring 2006

Spring 2006 CALENDAR OF PUBLIC EVENTS GLUCKSMAN IRELAND HOUSE – NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Free admission to Members of Glucksman Ireland House and to all students/faculty with a valid NYU I.D. card.  For all others: $10 admission charge at the door for regular event series; $15 admission charge at the door for Blarney Star Concert Series. In order to ensure a seat, please RSVP to 212-998-3950.  All events are held at Glucksman Ireland House. All events are supported by the Irish Institute of New York and members of Glucksman Ireland House.

February 3  Friday, 9 pm  THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES A fourth generation musician and a native of Co. Clare, Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin holds five World Championship Irish music titles— as a concertina player, uilleann piper, and as a member of the renowned Kilfenora Ceili Band.  With academic credentials and a roster of highly-regarded recordings, he is both performer and musical historian. He will be joined by Paris-born Patrick Ourceau on fiddle.

February 4  Saturday, 10 am - evening  A DAY OF STORYTELLING THROUGH SONG- conference and performances 'Storytelling in the Lyric and Ballad Traditions: Medieval Early Modern Narrative Songs and Ballads, Central European Narrative Song, and Irish-American Ballads' 10 am-noon: Storytelling in the medieval and early modern lyric and ballad. Roundtable discussion. 1-3: Storytelling and music in Eastern Europe 3:30-6: The Irish and Irish-American ballad tradition: Speakers/performers include Mick Moloney, Susan McKeown, Dan and Bonnie Milner. 8 pm CONCERT: The Irish and Irish-American ballad: Performers include Mick Moloney, John Roberts, Tony Barrand, Susan McKeown, Robbie O'Connell and John Doyle.

February 16 Thursday, 7 pm  Tom Phelan Tom Phelan discusses his latest novel, The Canal Bridge, which tells the tale of two Irish stretcher-bearers serving in the British army during the Great War.  On one level, the book deals with the lives of young men caught up in the war, and the lovers and families they leave behind. On another level, it questions why Ireland's World War I veterans do not occupy an honored place in the pantheon of Irish heroes.

February 23 Thursday, 7 pm  Mary Morrissy Irish writer and Cullman Center fellow Mary Morrissy reads from her work-in-progress, The Duchess, a ghosted auto-biography of Bella O’Casey, sister of famed playwright Sean O’Casey.  The novel explores O’Casey’s life and influence upon her brother.  Morrissy is also the author of a collection of short stories and two other novels, of which Mother of Pearl was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award, and winner of the Lannan Foundation Award.

February 24 Friday,  9 pm THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES - Athena Ó Lochlainn with special guest Mick Moloney Donegal fiddle great Tommy Peoples, who was to have performed on this night, was forced to cancel his trip to the U.S. because of delays in receiving travel documents. We hope to present Tommy at some future date, but are lucky to have the outstanding fiddler Athena Ó Lochlainn in New York this week and available to take his place. Athena was a Scottish-style fiddle prodigy in her California youth but fell in love with Irish music during an extended stay in Galway. She made a big splash on Broadway a few years ago as the fiddle soloist in Riverdance. She frequently performs with NYU's own Mick Moloney, who will drop in with his songs, guitar, mandolin and banjo.

March 3-5 Friday - Sunday   GRIAN CONFERENCE 8th ANNUAL GRIAN CONFERENCE Eat, Drink, and Be Hungry: Ireland and Consumption Grian is an Irish Studies organization based at Glucksman Ireland House comprised of emerging and established scholars affiliated with numerous New York-area universities. Hasia Diner, Steinberg Professor of Jewish-American Studies at NYU and author of Hungering for America: Jewish, Irish and Italian Foodways in the New Migration, will deliver the keynote speech. Please see our website for full conference schedule.  $30 registration fee for the full weekend, at the door.

March 9 Thursday, 7 pm  Making the Irish American  NYU Press and Glucksman Ireland House proudly launches Making the Irish American: History & Heritage of the Irish in the United States, edited by Ireland House’s Prof. J. J. Lee and Prof. Marion R. Casey. The volume offers a feast of twenty-nine perspectives on the vital, endlessly fascinating story of the Irish in America. Combining original research with reprints of classic works, these essays offer a truly rich understanding of the Irish immigrant impact on America, and America’s impact on the Irish immigrant.

March 10 Friday, 9 pm THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES Tom Dunne and Friends: A Tribute to Paddy Cronin County Wexford native Tom Dunne is one of New York’s finest Irish traditional musicians. A few years ago he released a duet recording with the late Joe “Banjo” Burke, one that emphasized his artistry on the button accordion. His latest recording showcases Tom’s wonderful old-time fiddling and is dedicated to the County Kerry fiddle great who inspired his style and repertoire. Some of Tom’s many musical friends will join him for this celebration of the new disc.

March 13 Monday, 6:30 PM Screening of Eugene O'Neill: A Documentary Film - Cantor Film Center Due to limited seating, this event is open only to MEMBERS OF GLUCKSMAN IRELAND HOUSE (members please RSVP by Feb. 17) This a special sneak preview of WGBH Boston’s newest AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, EUGENE O’NEILL: A Documentary Film Monday, March 13th 2006 at 6:30pm Introduced by Director Ric Burns and Co-Writers Arthur Gelb & Barbara Gelb Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center NYU, 36 East Eighth Street A meditation on the life and work of America’s only Nobel Prize winning playwright, set within the context of the harrowing family dramas that shaped him. At once a portrait of the artist and a poetic exploration of the dramatic masterpieces he wrenched from himself only at the very end of his career.

March 23 Thursday, 7 pm  Thomas Fleming Noted historian and novelist Thomas Fleming presents his eloquent memoir of his father, Teddy Fleming, and his rise from lower-class, immigrant roots to political power in Jersey City. Mysteries of My Father is Fleming’s unique inside look at the world of the Irish-American political machine—and a heartbreaking exploration of the emotional wounds it inflicted on his family.

March 30 Thursday, 7 pm  Joseph O’Connor Joseph O’Connor, author of the acclaimed international bestseller Star of the Sea, reads from its sequel, his novel-in-progress Redemption. Set in 1867 in Manhattan and Montana, the book portrays a group of Irish immigrants drawn into the American Civil War: a boy soldier of Louisiana, a flamboyant Union general, a Tennessee renegade and Confederate guerilla, each connected by protagonist Eliza Mulvey, a Galway woman on an odyssey across the devastated country. Tonight’s event will be the first public reading from Redemption, which is expected to be published in 2007.

April 6 Thursday, 7 pm INAUGURAL BARRA Ó DONNABHÁIN LECTURE Prof. Thomas Ihde, Director of the CUNY Institute for Irish-American Studies and Associate Professor at Lehman College, will deliver the inaugural lecture in honor of Barra Ó Donnabháin, who provided such invaluable service to the teaching and promotion of the Irish language in America. Prof. Ihde discusses “Eugene O’Growney (1863-1899): A Progressive View of the Irish Language.” One of the founding members of the Gaelic League, Rev. O'Growney spent his final days in America editing his “Simple Lessons in Irish.” The series continues to be highly regarded today, over a hundred years later.

April 7 Friday, 4 pm  Screening and discussion of Knocknagow Please join us for a screening of Ireland's first major film, Knocknagow, a silent film that was released in 1918.  With an informal discussion by film historians Maryanne Felter and Daniel Schultz and live accompaniment by NYU's Washington Square Harp and Shamrock Orchestra, this should be a rare and memorable event.  This event will take place at Glucksman Ireland House.   April 7 Friday, 9 pm THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES - Susan McKeown Dublin native and long-time New York resident Susan McKeown has a powerful voice and a truly creative approach to the interpretation and arrangement of traditional songs. This concert will celebrate her newest solo recording, Blackthorn, which is scheduled for release in mid-March and includes a lot of Irish-language material. Fiddler extraordinaire Dana Lyn and ace guitarist Eamon O'Leary, who both feature prominently on the recording, will be among the guest musicians joining Susan for this performance.

April 8 Saturday, 10am-5pm  Yeats Summer School A Taste of the Yeats Summer School presented by the WB Yeats Society of NY: a day-long program evoking the spirit of the school in Ireland, including a dramatic presentation by Sam McCready, frequent director of the drama seminar. Followed by social and reunion. See www.YeatsSociety.org for further details.

April 12 Wednesday, 6:30pm   Joe Lee Joe Lee will present a lecture  entitled "The 1916 Easter Rising in Irish History" on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of Ireland's 1916 Rising. Hemmerdinger Hall, NYU's Silver Center, 100 Washington Square East Wednesday, April 12th, 6:30 pm

April 20 Thursday, 7 pm   Airneál na Bealtaine Airneál na Bealtaine: an evening of traditional music and song with NYU students and local musicians to celebrate the beginning of the Celtic summer with Irish Language Lecturer Pádraig O’Cearúill.  Bí Linn!

April 24 Monday 5:30 pm Jurow Hall, Silver Center, NYU  100 Washington Square East   Dr. Garret FitzGerald will speak on the Role of the European Union in World Peace.  A reception will follow at Glucksman Ireland House, One Washington Mews. Dr. FitzGerald is the former Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, of Ireland.  He is also Chancellor of the National University of Ireland and has published widely on economics and history.   April 24 Monday  8:00 pm Glucksman Ireland House, NYU One Washington Mews   Dr. Garret FitzGerald will launch his most recent book, Further Reflections on the Irish State.  A reception will follow.  Dr. FitzGerald was twice Taoiseach, from 1981 to 1982 and again from late 1982 to 1987, and was the driving force behind the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. In this extensive collection, including pieces drawn from essays and speeches delivered over the past several years, Dr FitzGerald examines the emergence of the Irish state, the Northern Ireland question and the position of Ireland in relation to Europe, the US and the wider world.  Dr. FitzGerald’s previous book, Reflections on the Irish State (Irish Academic Press, 2003) also received an American launch at Glucksman Ireland House, and was met with excellent reviews.

April 27-28 Thursday, 7 pm and Friday, 10am-5pm IRISH THEATRICAL DIASPORA CONFERENCE After successful sessions in Dublin and London, the third annual Irish Theatrical Diaspora conference comes to Glucksman Ireland House with the topic of “Irish Theater in America,” as presented by Prof. John P. Harrington of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York. This year’s keynote speaker will be Glucksman Ireland House’s Prof. Mick Moloney, speaking on “Harrigan and Hart: Irish America and the Birth of the American Musical”; please see www.itd.tcd.ie or our website for conference speakers and schedule.

May 4 Thursday, 7 pm  John Devoy’s Catalpa Expedition NYU Press and Glucksman Ireland House launch John Devoy’s Catalpa Expedition, an account of one of the most fantastic, true Irish-American adventures.  With an introduction by Terry Golway, editors Philip Fennell and Marie King tell the story of the voyage of The Catalpa— a mission to free Irish rebels from a British prison in Western Australia—through Fenian leader John Devoy’s own words.

May 5 Friday, 7 pm  Celtic Language Poetry City Lore presents a reception for its 2006 People’s Poetry Gathering. This year’s Endangered Languages Initiative features the Celtic languages of Breton, Irish, Scots Gaelic, and Welsh through contemporary literary and performance poets as well as musicians working in these languages. Additional events May 6-7th at other downtown locations; please visit www.peoplespoetry.org for more information.

May 12 Friday, 9 pm THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES - MIKE RAFFERTY and WILLIE KELLY ***BREAKING NEWS: Emer Mayock has not received a U.S. visa in time for her American Tour - read below*** Flute player Mike Rafferty is, at age 78, an ageless wonder of Irish traditional music in America.  It has been nearly six decades since Mike left Ballinakill in east Galway but he still gets a beautiful tone out of his antique-style "simple-system" wooden flute and is still the finest exponent of the local east Galway style in America.  Mike's most recent recording is Speed 78 and he has made several others with his accordionist daughter Mary.  For this show, however, his partner will be New Jersey fiddle great Willie Kelly, whose mastery of the old-time music of the east Clare/east Galway region has won much acclaim from listeners on both sides of the Atlantic. Note:  Emer Mayock and Donal Siggins, who were originally scheduled to perform on this date, were unable to travel to the US because of delays in issuing their visas.

June 16, Friday, 9 pm  THE BLARNEY STAR CONCERT SERIES - Brian McNamara Uilleann piper Brian McNamara is the leading exponent of the old-time style and repertoire of south County Leitrim, a region with a rich but often overlooked musical tradition. In 1998 Brian helped bring new attention to the music of his native district with the landmark recording Leitrim’s Hidden Treasure, which featured his flute-playing father Michael and other family members. He followed that up with two solo piping recordings of his own, A Piper’s Dream and The Fort of the Jewels. Brian’s piping is very different from the loud, fast, in-your-face showmanship of many contemporary players, and instead recreates the less frenetic, gently flowing style heard in Leitrim long ago.