Irish America
Irish America
Irish entries with a Northern flavor at the Sundance Film Festival. Park City Utah, home of the increasingly popular Sundance Film Festival, is a long way from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The only thing vaguely Irish in this ski village nestled in the Watsach mountains just east of Salt Lake City is the dark beer served in one of the town's most popular bars. It's called … [Read more...] about The Irish at Sundance
The Geneva Window, created by Harry Clarke, Ireland's greatest stained-glass artist, finds a home in Miami. The Countess Cathleen is breathtaking, her brocaded gown glowing with the light of a million rubies. Joxer Daley rubs his hands together as he gazes shrewdly beyond us, a bottle of stout set next to the red horn of the victrola behind him. The Western world's notorious … [Read more...] about Clarke’s Window Finds a Place in the Sun
Irish American of the Year, 1996 It was an evening that dreams were made of, a crystal clear Belfast night, the winter air crackling with anticipation. On the sound stage adjacent to City Hall, Van Morrison was blasting out his There'll Be Days Like This, the unofficial anthem of the peace. A huge and enthusiastic crowd, later numbered at 100,000 was rocking along to the … [Read more...] about The Man from Hope
Liz Ireland profiles Ireland's classical composer Patrick Cassidy. Mention Irish classical music to the average American academic, and you will probably be greeted with the arch query: "Is there any such thing?" There is now. Enter Patrick Cassidy, the Co. Mayo native whose debut oratorio The Children of Lir, released in the U.S. on Celtic Heartbeat Records, not only … [Read more...] about Classically Irish
Brian Friel himself cast Catherine Byrne as Chrissy in Dancing at Lughnasa after watching an Abbey Theatre dress rehearsal of his Aristocrats in which Byrne played clare. She talked of that moment during a pause in rehearsal for Molly Sweeney in which she plays the title role. "He didn't know me," Catherine Byrne recalls, "and when I heard he was coming I thought, what's he … [Read more...] about A Touch of Friel
