Irish Arts Center to Host Gala Concert Featuring Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, Camille O'Sullivan And Declan O'Rourke

Irish Arts Center (IAC), the institution dedicated to the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America, celebrates a banner year with a star-studded gala concert, April 25 at Symphony Space. The bill for the evening features a collection of artists who have made their mark on IAC - as performers, curators and artists-in-residence - during the course of their shared history. They include the legendary Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill, cabaret star Camille O'Sullivan, singer-songwriter Declan O'Rourke, and special guests such as mandolin player Marla Fibish, dancer Nic Gareiss, harpist Tríona Mashall, and pianist Feargall Murray. The evening features guest appearances by Golden Globe-winning actor Gabriel Byrne and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon.

The concert begins at 7:45pm. Tickets, beginning at $75, are available a www.symphonyspace.org. Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway in Manhattan.

These three headlining artist represent the breadth of IAC's artistic community, from traditional to contemporary, blues and rock to indie folk, and the unclassifiable hybrids in between. When trad music legends Martin & Dennis were last in residence at IAC in the fall of 2016, it prompted the Village Voice to write, "It's a big deal when the violinist and guitarist make their semi-annual New York stops." Of Declan O'Rourke, who has performed in a variety of configurations at IAC, including most recently with a full orchestra, The New York Times has said, "Compassion, romance, a sense of mortality and a sense of history run through [his] songs." And of Camille O'Sullivan, the acclaimed Irish/French singer/actress who has headlined several sold out runs at IAC, the New Yorker exclaims, "Pinning [Camille] down to any one confining musical genre is a fool's game...she brings arresting theatricality and sensuality to a wide swatch of song..."

This special gala concert takes place amidst a momentous season for Irish Arts Center, including THISISPOPBABY's raucous, celebrated theatrical extravaganza RIOT; the latest installment of IAC's Masters in Collaboration series, featuring Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell; an international tour by Liam Ó Maonlaí and Cassandra Wilson that originated in a Masters in Collaboration residency; and the continuation of IAC's signature literature-and-music series Muldoon's Picnic, hosted by Paul Muldoon, with appearances by Gary Shteyngart, The Prodigals and many more.

In just a few months, IAC breaks ground on a new permanent home comprising two buildings: a state-of-the-art new facility that will be constructed at 726 11th Avenue, and a renovation of the Center's intimate current venue, adjoining the new building, at 553 West 51st Street. On March 16, Ireland's Prime Minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, joined by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, visited the site of the New Irish Arts Center to announce $2.5 million in support for the project, bringing Irish government funding for the facility to $8.3 million and the Center's Almost Home capital campaign over the $60 million mark (to $60.5 million). Phase I of construction, the new building on 11th Avenue, is now completely funded and ready to begin. IAC continues to raise an additional $15 million for the second phase of the project-transformation of the 51st Street venue-and to create a long-term programming fund and endowment, securing the future of the organization.

About Irish Arts Center

Irish Arts Center, founded in 1972 and based in Hell's Kitchen, New York City, is a national and international home for artists and audiences of all backgrounds who share a passion for the evolving arts and culture of contemporary Ireland and Irish America. We present, develop, promote, tour, and distribute work from established and emerging artists and cultural practitioners, providing audiences with emotionally and intellectually transporting experiences-the results of innovation, collaboration, and the authentic celebration of our common humanity.

Steeped in grassroots traditions, with a commitment to inclusion that dates back to our founding, we provide education programs and access to the arts for people of all ages and ethnic, racial and socioeconomic backgrounds, and an international home for the Irish community to come together and engage with a dynamic global diaspora.

The New Irish Arts Center, on which IAC breaks ground this year, will include a flexible theater and arts space for the presentation and development of work across a range of disciplines; a second, intimate performance space-the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre-optimized for the most intimate live music and conversation, recordings, master classes and special events; classrooms and studio spaces for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities; technology to stream and distribute the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform; a spacious and vibrant avenue-facing café lobby that will be a hospitable hub for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences; and a beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet.

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