The year was 1906. The setting was a stage in Savona, Italy, a northwestern port town south of Milan. The opera to be performed that particular evening was L’Amico Fritz by Pietro Mascagni, with a fresh-faced 21-year-old named Giovanni Foli included among the cast members. Though he had only a supporting role, Foli earned quite a bit of attention for his performance. This … [Read more...] about The Original Irish Tenor: John McCormack
Stalking Irish Madness: Patrick Tracey
Patrick Tracey’s first book, Stalking Irish Madness: Searching for the Roots of My Family’s Schizophrenia, is a memoir, a research document, a medical ethnography, and certainly a page-turner. As Tracey says, “There’s many, many ways to write a book about schizophrenia. But I had my story to tell and to tell it this certain way.” The story Tracey has to tell is one that begins … [Read more...] about Stalking Irish Madness: Patrick Tracey
An Epic Story of The Famine Irish: Peter Quinn
A crowd of admirers awaited Peter Quinn when he came to Glucksman Ireland House, NYU on October 16th to launch Overlook Press’s new edition of his award winning novel, Banished Children of Eve, the tale of Irish-Americans in New York during the Civil War. Many had read the much praised novel that celebrated writer William Kennedy called “terrific ... an ebullient mingling of … [Read more...] about An Epic Story of The Famine Irish: Peter Quinn
Remembering Danny Cassidy
On behalf of myself and Irish-American writers and artists, I’m here to talk about a truly great human being, our dear friend, Danny Cassidy. But let me begin long ago and far away, over forty years ago, when I was a freshman at Manhattan College in the Bronx. (And anyone interested in finding out how a college named Manhattan wound up in the Bronx should see me later.) Like … [Read more...] about Remembering Danny Cassidy
A Talk with Fionnula
Patricia Harty talks to the enormously talented Fionnula Flanagan. It’s 8 a.m. and Fionnula Flanagan arrives for breakfast looking fresh as a daisy in a crisp white shirt. Her thick white hair swept back, not a lick of make-up. She looks beautiful; her once flame-red hair is now a luscious pearl. Antique earrings she picked up for 10 cents at a yard sale adorn her ears. Molly … [Read more...] about A Talk with Fionnula