By John Clancy
For the first time in ten years, the Central Victorian Irish Association (CVIA) will present a full Irish concert on Saint Patrick's Day this year. Featuring a range of Irish songs, music and dance, it will be held at the Engine Room, View Street, Bendigo at 7:30 p.m. on 17 March 2025.
The concert includes a range of Irish songs, including folk songs, ballads, religious songs and more modern pieces; as well as Irish instrumental music and, of course, selections of Irish dancing in costume.
Singers will include Bryan Milne, baritone, Kay Ross, mezzo soprano, David Stephenson, tenor, and Suzanne Houlden, operatic soprano. The concert will also feature performances on Irish instruments by Don McArthur on Irish piccolo, Emily Calder on fiddle, and Meryl Wilkinson, Celtic harpist and singer.
The special guest artist from Melbourne will be Matthew Horsley on the Irish bagpipes known as the Uilleann Pipes. A highlight of the concert will be two dance segments by dancers of the O'Shea-Ryan Academy of Irish Dance. The dancers will range in age from four years upwards to adults. Older dancers will travel from Echuca, Ballarat and, possibly, Melbourne to continue the tradition established in regional Victoria by their amazing teacher Geraldine Ryan OAM, who passed away in late 2023.
Tribute to Victor Herbert
This concert will also feature "A Centenary Tribute to Irish-born composer Victor Herbert, 1859-1924". Victor Herbert was born in Dublin of upper middle-class Protestant lineage. He became the doyen of musical theatre in the USA in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His operettas included "Naughty Marietta" and "Babes in Toyland". Importantly, he was elected President of the Friends of Irish Freedom in New York in March 1916, a month before the Easter Rising, and became a staunch supporter of Irish independence.
A selection of songs from two of his stage works will be presented at this concert. These will include two songs and two arias from his grand opera "Natoma". Set in an island off California in the 1820s, the story explores the clash of cultures, the dispossession of the indigenous (Indians) people, indigenous spirituality, and the Christian belief in salvation through sincere repentance. The CVIA has reason to believe that this may well be the first time in Australia that a selection from this opera, composed in English, will be performed.
Tickets
Tickets for this concert will cost $18 for adult, $15 for concession, and $10 for child under 16.
They are available from the Capital Box Office, Tel 54346100 or from www.gotix.com.au.
It should be noted that the Engine Room is a small theatre with limited seating, so early advanced booking is advised.
