WHEN the
Irish Tenors walk on to the stage at the Green Glens, Millstreet, tonight
and the RDS Main Hall on Friday and Saturday, there won’t be any sulks,
no temperamental tantrums, no ego, no despairing gestures, no dramatic tossing
of the heads, just three normal guys singing their hearts out for packed
auditoriums.
Finbarr Wright, Ronan Tynan and Anthony Kearns, it could be argued, are
too normal to belong to that troupe of highly strung international singing
talents. They are unafffected paragons of common sense with a popular repertoire.
These concerts will not only be a celebration homecoming, after a hugely
successful American tour, but a Christmas feast with all the trimmings
The chances are you'll be spending much of the
festive season in front of the television, but if you are to make an odd
foray off the sofa let it be for these gigs. The lads are on a high at
the minute, the introduction of the Celtic Tenors, has done little to
knock them off their pedestal. Why would it? They have, after all, sold
more than one million albums in the US. The Irish tenor is not only a
recognised, almost independent genre, it is also a highly lucrative one.
John McCormack, whom the three speak of with reverence, made his debut
in 1906 in Sovona and had his Covent Garden debut the following year,
going on to perform with many of the leading American opera companies
in a career which continued until 1923.
However, Joseph Locke, a more recent legend, began singing in music halls
and continued to court a popular market until his death.
The Irish Tenors look on their careers in a philosophical way. Wright
is happy to sing midddlebrow popular selections. He never feels it necessary
to defend his selection. "I'm a performer, an entertainer, above
all else. Most of the songs we sing are commercial, people like them".
His own father was a good amateur tenor, pretty much in the Mario Lanza
style. He remembers his father singing all the McCormack songs at weddings.
A likeable, friendly, lively man, he has a strong speaking rolling voice
and is quite emotional. "Within me I feel music as a precious, positive
gift. At its best it is inspirational, soothing, evocative and therapeutic.
It touches deeper human emotions than any spoken word". He has passed
his love of music on to his six year old daughter Illeana (piano) and
eight year old Fergus just picked up the cello two years ago. But Wright
was a reluctant performer initially. "I liked singing, but not so
much being up on a stage. Performing demands courage, which I didn't have.
Now I feel privileged to be a musical performer. There is an honour in
having people come listen to me".
Of the other two artistes, Ronan Tynan is probably the better known.
The Kilkenny doctor, born with a debilitating leg deformity, only to have
them amputated at the age of 20, is about to release an autobiography,
Stages, which is sure to make him a fortune, having signed a six figure
deal with Warner Books.
The three men, 29 year old Wexford born Anthony Kearns completes the line
up, started collaborating when television producer Bill Hughes asked Wright
and Tynan to participate in a project which would be Ireland’s answer
to the Three Tenors,Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo.
When Bill Hughes asked Tynan did he know of another singer he produced
Anthony Kearns, whom he heard singing at a feis. "At the time PPS,
the American public television channel, was planning to do the Irish Tenor
with John McDermott and they put the whole project together as the Irish
Tenors",” he said.
They played their first concert in the RDS in October 1998 and as they
say, the rest is history.
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