A triple dose of delight

When you have been the lead soloist on “Riverdance” for five years, toured extensively in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Germany, France and Scandinavia, played to a packed Carnegie Hall, played the Point and indeed “The Late Late Show,” you might think that it would be hard to motivate yourself for a gig in an intimate setting like Draiocht.

Not so for Kerry-born Kay Lynch who, as one third of the immeasurably talented Irish Sopranos, is looking forward to the group’s forthcoming appearance at the Blanchardstown venue on Thursday 3rd April. “It is not difficult to adapt at all,” she says. “It is not a question of a huge show being better than a smaller show. They are two completely different animals and we love doing both.

“Whether we are playing to thousands on a large stage or whether we are playing smaller, intimate settings like Draiocht, there has to be an exchange of energy and we need to connect with everybody. And I suppose, if we are doing our job, we definitely will make a connection.”

“Doing our job” means delivering what Kay terms “crossover classical music” or what the Morgan Freeman character in Shawshank Redemption called “singing about something so beautiful, it can't be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it.” Make no mistake, the Irish Sopranos are good.

All three – Kay, Wendy Dwyer from Cork and Deirdre Masterson from Wexford - have had extensive classical training and each possesses a very distinctive, very individual voice. The voices together comprise lyric, lyric coloratura and dramatic soprano, producing a wonderful harmonic texture and lending themselves perfectly to the ravishing harmonies for which The Irish Sopranos are fast gaining a name.

Despite this, the girls, who have toured extensively across the Atlantic, are much better known in America than in their native country. “The American people seem to love anything from Ireland anyway,” says Kay, “but they seem to have taken us to their hearts. We are always treated like princesses when we go over and they applaud people who seize the initiative and bring them something new and uplifting.

“But naturally we would like to raise our profile in Ireland too and hopefully this tour will bring our music to more of the people at home.”

“The crème de la crème of Irish classical vocal talent,” as the group has been described, will be performing songs that are “brass tacks populist,” in Kay’s words. “We have two important buzz words in the group,” she says. “Entertainment and melody. We will feature everything from the best of classical, Irish and popular music. It will be unashamedly easy listening but will also be something that those with a love of classical music will also want to hear.

“But we naturally hope that we will appeal to those who mightn’t normally listen to the classics and give them an indication of how beautiful that particular genre of music can be.”

Unlike many manufactured groups, The Irish Sopranos have been friends for years having studied and worked together in the past. As such they have a wonderful rapport on and off the stage. “Real friendship makes such a difference to the performance and the audience notices”, says Deirdre. Kay agrees. “It’s strange. We love being in a group and singing together but naturally from time to time we each need to go off and do our own thing to avoid things becoming claustrophobic.

“However, when we are working on solo projects or shows with other groups, we always end up missing each other like mad!”

The Irish Sopranos play Draiocht’s main auditorium on Thursday 3rd April at 8pm.

Tickets are €22 / €20.

Community Voice, Media House, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
Phone +353 1 822 1432 -  Fax +353 1 640 4444
info@communityvoice.ie

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