Mayo audiences to enjoy wonderful Fainne Oir with three-night run
MUSIC and dance lovers will have the chance to support their local talent this week when the beautiful Fainne Oir contemporary music and dance work by Mayo composer Kathy Fahey will be staged at Claremorris Town Hall over three nights on November 9, 10 and 11.
The story surrounding the handing down of a golden ring through the generations during Ireland's Great Famine, as it makes its way from Mayo to emigrant family members in New York, - was first performed to great acclaim in the TF Royal in Castlebar in September 2019 in front of a 2,000-strong audience. Members of Mayo Concert Orchestra and a troupe of modern Irish dancers, led by multi-award-winning choreographer Ciara Sexton, then travelled to New York where they performed Fainne Oir as a Broadway show, which was enjoyed not just by many Americans but also members of the Mayo and broader Irish diaspora, who came along to support the Belcarra native's work.
Fainne Oir recounts a story of hardship and sadness but also celebration and love, during famine times, as a young couple bare their hearts and souls to each other through music and dance in contrasting settings on two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
An enormous amount of work and time is involved in bringing a production such as Fainne Oir to fruition and the support of local people and those who appreciate the arts, music and culture is essential to support composers like Kathy Fahey, who is blazing a trail for Mayo as a music composer and impresario.
Kathy Fahey has been involved in music all her life and conducting choirs and playing in public since the age of 12. Following her music studies in Maynooth, where she gained qualifications in piano, composing and conducting, she went on to conduct performances of Handel's Messiah with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and is currently working with Mayo Concert Orchestra and the Chapel Vocalessence Ladies Choir on a new original work entitled 'Illumination', set around the Latin Mass, which will premiere at Castlebar Church this December.
Musical director of Mayo Concert Orchestra as well as numerous choirs throughout the region, Kathy Fahey is also musical director of the renowned Gardiner Street Gospel Choir in Dublin, and, most recently, worked with the Philadelphia's Sounds Of Joy Choir as part of a collaboration between Mayo Concert Orchestra and the Chapel Street and Gardiner Street Gospel Choirs, in a high-energy show on October 14 in Claremorris Town Hall.
This week's Fainne Oir performances, choreographed by Ciara Sexton and complete with a live band playing Kathy's original score, include a dancing cast of 15 and all support will be greatly appreciated.
Said Kathy: “This next chapter for Fáinne Óir is a very important one. I have spent four years developing the show to a fully professional status which will take it to some of the larger venues across the USA.
“The three nights in Claremorris are the final shows planned for Ireland, as Fáinne Óir has attracted the attention of a well-known promoter of Irish shows across the USA. The shows include a full new stage set, addition of costumes and makeup appropriate to 1840s Ireland as well as extra scenes and props, so it really is a very different show to the premiere in 2019 and it will be great to see people come along again to enjoy the production.
“Fáinne Óir has only reached this stage thanks to the greatly appreciated support to date of the people of Mayo, and it will mean so much to all of us involved if this can be kept going for just a little longer.”
Tickets for Fainne Oir in Claremorris Town Hall are available from https://townhall.ie/.