Caitríona O'Leary Performs Rare Christmas Songs for Unaccompanied 28

On Saturday, December 5th, Heresy Records' recording artist, Caitríona O'Leary, will perform the 28th installment of Unaccompanied her weekly series of micro-concerts live-streamed on Facebook every Saturday at 2:30 PM Dublin time (GMT+1:00).

For Unaccompanied O'Leary performs a wide range of songs written - or intended - to be performed without accompaniment. The repertoire for Unaccompanied includes medieval songs, sean nòs, folk and traditional songs from Ireland, England, Scotland and North America among other rarely heard works. During the broadcast O'Leary speaks about the history, provenance and texts of the songs. She often performs variants of the same song which may be found in different countries and on different continents. She performs in costumes which she designs and makes for each performance. Videos of the concert are available for replay on her YouTube channel. For Unaccompanied 28 O'Leary will perform three songs special Christmas songs. They are: Angelus ad Virginem - from The Dublin Troper, a mid-14th century (C. 1361) manuscript from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Perperit Virgo, from a poem by Richard de Ledrede, Kilkenny mid-14th century which is found in The Red Book of Ossory; music, English, early 13th century and The Darkest Midnight in December, traditional Irish from The Wexford Carols, a collection of 17th and 18th century carols that is considered Ireland's greatest Christmas music. O'Leary recorded The Wexford Carols with producer, Joe Henry and guest artists, Tom Jones, Rosanne Cash, Rhiannon Giddens and an all-star band in 2014.

Caitríona O'Leary is internationally renowned as a singer of early music, traditional Irish song and folk music. She is particularly known for her performances and recordings of unaccompanied song. In reference to a concert she performed at Beethovenfest Bonn, the General Anzeiger wrote, "This is a special genre of vocal art, called sean nós...in this type of singing O'Leary is a master." Her latest recording for Heresy Records, The Red Book of Ossory with her ensemble, Anakronos received five stars from the Irish Times, ArtMuseLondon called it "a singular work of genius" and RTÉ Lyric fm and The Journal of Music lauded it as "One of the records of the year".

The idea for Unaccompanied was inspired by a May 2nd concert O'Leary performed as part of Ireland Performs, an online series of concerts established in response to the Covid-19 pandemic presented by Culture Ireland and Facebook Ireland.

To post a comment, you must register and login.