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Photo by Marilyn Stern |
PATRICK OURCEAU - "A Frenchman now living in New York City is among the most accomplished members of traditional Irish music's Foreign Legion. A fiddler of rare talent and sophistication, his music has all the hallmarks of great Irish fiddling — beautiful tone, pulsing rhythmic lift, deft bow work and crisply executed ornamentation." Don Meade — Irish Voice
"Patrick Ourceau is one of the finest fiddlers in the ranks of foreign-born musicians playing traditional Irish music." Brendan Taaffee — Fiddler Magazine
Since moving to America twelve years ago, Patrick has performed with many U.S. based musicians, including the legendary accordion players James Keane and Paddy O'Brien, concertina wizard John Williams and the band "Celtic Thunder." In June 1999, Patrick joined the Tulla Ceilí band on their last U.S. tour, and for the past three years has been regularly performing with former Tulla Ceilí band accordion player Andrew McNamara. In recent years, however, Patrick's main concert partner has been Gearóid O'hAllmhuráin, a renowned County Clare contertina player now living in St. Louis. Together with Gearóid, Patrick has performed in concert and at festivals all across Europe and North America. In 1999, they released Tracin', a critically acclaimed duet recording faithful to the style and repertoire of the older generation of traditional musicians in Clare and East Galway. Patrick is also featured on flute player Cathal McConnell's last solo album, Long Expectant Comes At Last, released in February 1999, on the Compass Records label, and on accordion player John Whelan's Celtic Roots, re-released in February 2002 on the Narada Records label. In 2000, Patrick appeared with a host of local musicians on Music and Songs from East Clare — Volume I, an archival recording made as part of a Millennium Project to preserve and and collect folklore in that part of Ireland. For the last ten years, Patrick has also been in great demand as a teacher and regularly teaches out of his home in Brooklyn. He has taught at various festivals in the U.S. and Canada, such as the Chris Langan Weekend in Toronto; the St. Louis Irish Festival, and the Augusta Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia. He has been part of the teaching staff for the past several years at the Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York, and the Celtic College in Goderich, Canada.
TOM ENGLISH - one of New York's finest bodhran players, is also an emergency room nurse for Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Hear a sample.
IVAN GOFF - uilleann pipes, flute, low whistles.
Born in Dublin, Ivan began playing at the age of eight, and went on to win a number of All-Ireland and Oireachtas titles at various age levels. He has toured throughout Europe, North America and the Far East, performing in productions of both Riverdance and Lord of the Dance, and has also toured with the all-star Irish band Lúnasa as well as the Eileen Ivers Band. He has several degrees in music, including a Masters in Music Technology and a Masters in Musicology, and he was recently featured on the album Riverdance on Broadway.
EAMON O'LEARY - guitar, from Dublin, Ireland, has toured extensively with various groups throughout Ireland and Europe. He has quickly gained a reputation as an accomplished traditional musician and singer. Eamon has recorded in the US, Ireland and Europe. Eamon has toured Alaska. He has played with the Eileen Ivers Band, Paddy Keenan, James Keane and Emer Mayock among others.
DAVID JONES - international folksinger, is known for coaxing audiences into joining in for songs from North America and Britain.
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Mr. Allen starred opposite Christopher Walken in Hamlet and Henry VI; and with Christopher Plummer in Henry V at the original incarnation of the Stratford Shakespeare Theatre. And as founding member of the re-opened Stratford Festival Theatre he has appeared with Tammie Grimes in Shaviana, Julie Harris in Whitechapel, and Celeste Holms in Toes. Other regional highlights include Noises Off, Awake and Sing, Children of Darkness, The Faith Healer, and The Miser.
Carol, one of America's foremost players of the Celtic harp, began playing the pedal harp at age thirteen with classical instruction from Dorothy Knauss of Allentown, PA, a student of Alfred Holy. After years of playing classical music, she allowed her lifelong interest in medieval and renaissance history to take to the fore, and learned to play several variants of her instrument. During this period, she also discovered the music of her heritage and fell in love with it. Carol plays the familiar orchestral pedal harp, the bright sounding neo-Celtic harp, and the difficult triple harp made popular in Wales but also played in Italy and Spain.
Carol is currently under contract with Dorian Records in Troy, NY, but is often in demand as a side musician by other artists. Her CDs have won high praise and international awards (US, China, Australia) and her latest award was a Grammy in 2002 as a supporting musician on Paul Winter's Grammy-winning CD Celtic Solstice. In the not too distant future, Mel Bay will publish her arrangements. She has performed in much of the United States, and in England and Ireland; she has been on the teaching staff at Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, West Virginia, for more than a decade, and currently teaches harp privately, and at the Eastern Conservatory of Music and Arts in Whitehouse, NJ.
CAROL THOMPSON - Born in America of Anglo-Welsh-Irish-Austrian heritage, with relatives who fought in the American Revolution, Carol Thompson comes from a family rich in musical talent. Carol's paternal grandfather, Frank Horscroft Sr., was a percussionist who played with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and the Warner Brothers Studio Orchestra. Her father, Frank Horscroft Jr., once a multi-instrumentalist, is still at 87 in demand (two bands in Bethlehem, PA and two in Venice, FLA) as a big band trombonist. Her mother, Ruth, was a popular coloratura soprano who sang with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and at many weddings.
THE GREENWICH MORRIS MEN - have danced on the radio and been a mainstay of the New York Revels.
O'ROURKE'S REVELERS - Allison Blank, Kenneth Bongort, Mike Burke, David Conroy, Mae Ellis, Tom Fenaughty, Susan Spring Gelb, M. Dwayne Herron, Betina Hershey, Juliet Howe, David Jones, Danielle Kehoe, Melissa Kelly, Sharon Kennedy, Mark Maniak, Jennifer Marburger, Jerri Mayer, R. Michael Palan, Nancy Petaja, Katherine Proctor, Sue Ribaudo, Victor Ribaudo, Bob Rodriquez, Mark Seaman, Cynthia Shaw, Amanda Short, Nancy Moore Simpson, Maribeth Thueson, Aaron Trevor Tussing, Wendy Valdez, Eric von Bleicken, Argyle Wolfe-Knapp
THE WREN CHILDREN - Paul Bendernagel, Tim Bendernagel, Gregory Blank, Alyssa Rose Burgos, Lauren Marie Burgos, Kristyn Colonna, Katie Conroy, Aliza Goldberg, Gilliam M. Goulart, Chloe Hyman, Molly Moogen Koven, Ellen Mayer, Sophia Rokhlin, E. Brege von Bleicken, Marissa von Bleicken
MARY BETH GRIFFITH - a step-dancing champ and former Radio City Rockette, has worked out routines for the Ballet de Trocadero, the Dance Theater of Harlem and Broadway and off-Broadway shows. She was also assistant choreographer for Agnes de Milles' "The Informer" at the Lincoln Center in New York. She has performed with Foot and Fiddle Dance Company, and in productions of "The Will Rogers' Follies," "Cabaret," "Crazy for You," and the New York productions of "Brimstone" and "Sharon." She has choreographed for The Chelsea Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, Fireside Theater, Playhouse 91, Berkshire Theater Festival, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, and Ogunkquit Playhouse. She has taught dance at Columbia University, Marymount Manhattan College, U.C. Irvine's Satellite Program and STEPS on Broadway. She lives in New York City with her actor husband, Peter Benson and their children Luke and Fiona.
GRIFFITH CELTIC DANCE COMPANY
NORA GORMAN McHUGH has trained at the Griffith Academy of Irish Dance for eighteen years, is a six-time New England champion and has consistently been ranked among the top five Irish dancers in North America. In 1999, she was a medallist at the World Championships in Ennis, Ireland. Nora has performed with The Chieftains, Wolftones, and the Hartford Symphony. She has been featured on Connecticut Public Television and was a soloist at the Riverside Church Theatre in New York. During the summer of 2001, Nora was a member of Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance." When not dancing, Nora is a senior at the University of Connecticut, and also a volunteer at a local hospital. After graduation in May, Nora plans on applying to medical school as well as obtaining her certification as an Irish dance teacher.
KRISTYN FONTANELLA has trained at the Griffith Academy, studying Irish fifteen years, ballet and modern jazz seven years each, and tap five years. In the spring of 1998, she was accepted to Riverdance Workshop for the Flying Squad in Chicago. She has performed in the National Tour of Dancing on Common Ground; been a guest artist with the Connecticut Dance Theatre; a dance captain and assistant choreographer with "And They Call it Ireland"; the principal dancer with P. V. O'Donnell and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; appeared on Connecticut Public Television.
DANIELLE MARY GERVAIS is an Irish step dancing champion and instructor, with sixteen years of dance training in tap, jazz, ballet, modern, and Irish dance; has eight years of professional vocal instruction, is proficient in flute; and has three years of kickboxing. She has performed solo and been a guest instructor at the Riverside Church in New York; featured soloist with P. V. O'Donnell and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra; featured dance and vocal soloist with the Wolftones, at a performance in honor of Connecticut Governor John Rowland.
CAITLIN and ERIN SMITH have studied dance since the age of four and have competed in Irish Step Dancing Competitions in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Both are championshop dancers; Caitlin, also an accomplished jazz danccer, has been named a Connecticut Scholar Athlete.
KEARA SULLIVAN has performed Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance" in the United States as well as Australia, has twice been an a North American Irish Step Dancing Champion, three times a New England Irish Step Dancing Champion, competed in the All word Dance Championships in Ennis, Ireland. She has performed with The Chieftains, has appeared on Connecticut Public Television, and has taught Irish Dance.
ERIN SULLIVAN has studied Irish dance twenty years, jazz eleven years, ballet ten years. She has been New England Champion and competed at the All World Championships in Ennis, Ireland. She has been featured with Cherish The Ladies, been soloist for Hartford Symphony Orchestra, as well as a guest soloist on Connecticut Public Television.
Renovation at The Symphony Space
The Peter Norton Symphony Space has been renovated, with a new facility and a café.