Dublin Theatre Festival presents:

Hal Willner's
'Came So Far For Beauty: An Evening of Leonard Cohen Songs'
 
Featuring:
Anjani, Antony, Laurie Anderson, Perla Batalla, Steven Bernstein, Rob Burger, Charlie Burnham, Nick Cave, Julie Christensen, Jarvis Cocker, David Coulter, Don Falzone, Gavin Friday, The Handsome Family, Robin Holcomb, Briggan Krauss, Maxim Moston, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Beth Orton, Lou Reed, Chris Spedding, Kate St. John, Teddy Thompson, Kenny Wollesen.
 

At Dublin’s Point Theatre
04 & 5th October 2006
 

An eclectic all-star combination of performers come together in a unique and joyous celebration honouring the legendary poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen as part of the Dublin Theatre Festival, in what is arguably the concert event of the year with a staggering line-up of talent.
With two novels and poetry volumes already published, Leonard Cohen’s 1968 debut album saw the birth of a new voice of downbeat 60’s Americans. His hold on contemporary culture has remained undiminished ever since. Now in this unique concert event, an exceptional collection of musical giants celebrate the singular genius of this seminal 60’s icon.  
 
 
Hal Willner, one of the worlds most visionary and original music producers, curates the programme of brilliant arrangements of Cohen classics. At turns jazz, rock, folk, electronica, blues and ballads, each star performer brings their distinctive musical personality to some of the finest songs of the past 50 years.
With 25 singers and musicians performing Willner’s selections from Cohen’s total canon of 101 – Came So Far For Beauty is nothing less than musical heaven.   
Came So Far For Beauty was first performed in Brooklyn NY in 2003 when Hal Willner pulled together an extraordinary cast of performers to work together on a collaborative show as a tribute to Leonard Cohen. Much more than just a concert of songs, the magic of the event is the unique combination of artists and musicians that Willner assembles and how he waves his wand during 3 days of rehearsal to create beautiful mixes of singers and songs. This unforgettable show was reprised a year later in Brighton, England.  2005 saw it in the Sydney Opera House and now it will play 2 nights in Dublin as part of the Dublin International Theatre Festival in October.

LEONARD COHEN
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal, PQ in 1934. His father, an engineer who owned a clothing concern, died when Cohen was nine. He went on to attend McGill University, where at 17 he formed a country-western trio called the Buckskin Boys. He also began writing poetry and became part of the local boho-literary scene, a scene so "underground" that it was bereft of 'subversive intentions because even that would be beneath it." His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956, while he was still an undergraduate. The Spice Box Of Earth (1961), his second collection, catapulted Leonard Cohen to international recognition.
 
After a brief stint at Columbia University in New York, Cohen obtained a grant and was able to escape the confines of North America. He traveled throughout Europe and eventually settled on the Greek island of Hydra, where he shared his life with Marianne Jenson, and her son Axel. Cohen stayed in Greece on and off for seven years. He wrote two more collections of poetry, the controversial Flowers For Hitler (1964) and Parasites of Heaven (1966); and two highly acclaimed novels, The Favorite Game (1963), his portrait of the artist as a young Jew in Montreal, and Beautiful Losers (1966), described on its dust jacket as "a disagreeable religious epic of incomparable beauty." Upon its publication, the Boston Globe declared, "James Joyce is not dead. He is living in Montreal under the name of Cohen." To date, each book has sold more than a million copies worldwide.

HAL WILLNER
Curator
Hal Willner is among the most eclectic and original producers in contemporary music, helming a series of wildly ambitious concept albums which tapped the talents of artists running the gamut from pop to jazz to the avant-garde. Born in Philadelphia in 1957, he first earned notice in 1981 with Amarcord Nino Rota, a tribute to the legendary composer best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Federico Fellini. In addition to contributions from pop icon Debbie Harry and jazz piano great Jaki Byard, the collection also featured appearances by then-unknowns Wynton Marsalis and Bill Frisell. That same year, Willner also signed on as the music supervisor for the long-running NBC sketch-comedy series Saturday Night Live, a position he held for many years to follow.
 
That's the Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk, a showcase for acts ranging from Dr. John to Joe Jackson to John Zorn, followed in 1984, and a year later, Willner launched Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill, which featured contributions from Sting, Tom Waits, and Lou Reed. After turning to film with work on a pair of 1987 projects, Heaven and Candy Mountain, a year later Willner earned considerable notice for Stay Awake, a tribute to the classic music of Walt Disney's animated films which featured Ringo Starr, Sun Ra, and Sinéad O'Connor.
 
In 1993, he collaborated with filmmaker Robert Altman on the acclaimed Short Cuts, a working relationship which extended into 1996's Kansas City and its accompanying Robert Altman's Jazz '34. In 1999, Willner signed to Howie B.'s Pussyfoot label to release his proper solo debut, Whoops, I'm an Indian! Most recently he has collaborated with Robert Wilson on White Town in Copenhagen, finished a tribute album to one of the most celebrated American songwriters, Harold Arlen featuring among others Jimmy Scott, Shannon McNalley, Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Eric Mingus and Sandra Bernhardt.

 

ANJANI
Vocals
"Anjani has always been known as a great singer, a musician's singer," says Leonard Cohen, who co-wrote and produced Anjani's recently released CD Blue Alert. "She's known for this impeccable sense of tone and the ability to stack vocals one on top of the other, but this voice that she was showing here was a completely different voice that had moved somehow from the throat to the heart." Released in spring 2006, Blue Alert is Anjani’s major label debut.  Blue Alert is an intoxicating marriage of Cohen’s lyrics with Anjani’s musical compositions.  Her smoldering vocals and haunting piano styling envelop the listener into the masterful web that these two artists create together. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Anjani trained in guitar, piano and voice before attending Berklee College of Music.  Anjani went on to play the jazz club circuit in Manhattan, where she was introduced to Leonard Cohen in 1984, by producer John Lissauer. Her haunting background vocals are heard on Cohen's original recording of his signature opus, "Hallelujah." Anjani joined Cohen's Various Positions World Tour as a keyboardist/vocalist, and she sang on Cohen’s subsequent albums, I'm Your Man (1988), The Future (1992), and Dear Heather (2004).

 

ANTONY
Vocals
Antony first presented his songs after-hours at the Pyramid Cocktail Lounge in NYC. After receiving a fellowship for "performance art/emergent forms," Antony assembled the Johnsons and recorded his first album in 1998.  He sang on Lou Reed's albums The Raven and Animal Serenade and toured with Lou internationally in 2003. Antony appeared as an androgynous convict singing to a crowd of inmates in Steve Buscemi's film Animal Factory.
Antony and the Johnsons' last album "I am a Bird Now" (Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade) received international acclaim in 2005, winning the Mercury Prize in the UK. Antony and the Johnsons toured the world in 2005, playing everywhere from Queen Elizabeth Hall, La Carre and Carnegie Hall to the orange groves of Sicily.  His music was featured in recent films "V for Vendetta" and "The Secret Life of Words."
Antony is currently collaborating with Charles Atlas to stage TURNING this Autumn in London, Rome and Paris. A concert and live video installation, "TURNING" feature Antony and the Johnsons playing before a cast of 13 slowly revolving Beauties, whose images were simultaneously processed and projected onto a giant screen.

 

LAURIE ANDERSON
Vocals
Laurie Anderson is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As one of the premier performance artists she has created a large body of work that spans the worlds of visual art, theater, and experimental music. Her recording career, launched by “O Superman” includes the soundtrack to her feature film “Home of the Brave” and “Life on a String” (2001). Anderson's live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances such as “Songs and Stories for Moby Dick” (1999). Anderson has published six books and her visual work has been presented in many major museums around the world. In 2002 Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA. Anderson was also part of the team that created the opening ceremony for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Her current solo performance “The End of the Moon” has recently toured the U.S. and Europe. www.laurieanderson.com.
 
PERLA BATALLA
Vocals
Grammy nominated vocalist and composer Perla Batalla first gained international attention performing and recording with various artists including Leonard Cohen, who encouraged Perla to embark on a solo career. Since then, Perla’s six CD releases have become favorites throughout the U.S. and Canada. After leaving Warner-Discovery, Perla’s first releases, Mestiza and Heaven and Earth on her own Mechuda Music label garnered Best Independent Release and Emerging Artists Awards from Amazon.com. The past five years have found Perla touring extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, performing in venues as diverse as UCLA’s Royce Hall, The Getty, Joe’s Pub and The Kennedy Center.
 
NICK CAVE
Vocals
After the break up of his band The Birthday Party in 1982, Nick Cave formed Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds who released their debut album From Her To Eternity in 1984. The band have gone on to release nine further studio albums and are one of the most critically acclaimed acts working today. Nick Cave has worked across the creative arts; his output includes duets with Kylie Minogue, Shane MacGowan, Chris Bailey and PJ Harvey. He has written music for films and plays, written a novel, ‘And The Ass Saw The Angel’, and ‘King Ink’, a collection of lyrics and plays. In addition, Nick Cave composed music for, co-wrote and acted in the film ‘Ghosts... of the Civil Dead’ as well as starred in the 1991 film, ‘Johnny Suede’ with Brad Pitt. Nick Cave’s influence is wide, artists as legendary and as diverse as Johnny Cash and Metallica have covered his songs. Recently, Nick Cave wrote the screenplay for ‘The Proposition’ directed by John Hillcoat starring Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, John Hurt, David Wenham and Emily Watson, which was released in 2006 to wide critical acclaim. Currently in the studio, Cave plans a Solo band tour in the autumn.
 
JULIE CHRISTENSEN
Vocals
Before her two backup singing stints with Leonard Cohen in 1988 and 1993, Christensen had the blues and jazz in her ears and soul and voice for a long time. Before and during the years of alternative post-punk band Divine Horsemen, which she fronted with Chris D from 1983 to 1987, and before, during, and since the recordings and live sessions with Cohen, John Doe, Steve Wynn, Osamu Kitajima, k.d. lang, Robben Ford and others. Julie moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980's playing on bills with bands like X, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Blasters, & Oingo Boingo. Julie has opened theater concerts for acts as diverse as Nick Cave, Todd Rundgren, Michael McDonald, Luka Bloom, Jeff Buckley, & Doug Sahm. She performed off-Broadway in early 1997 in Sam Shepard's Sad Lament of Pecos Bill on the Eve of Killing His Wife. Last summer, Christensen did a run as "Rosie" in Sam Shepard's Simpatico at the Florida Shakespeare Theater. 
 
JARVIS COCKER
Vocals
Jarvis Cocker formed the band Arabacus Pulp (thankfully soon just Pulp) in the back of an economics class in the early 80s.  Based in his native Sheffield, the band released a string of darkly intriguing independent singles to large scale indifference for much of the rest of the decade.
In the early 90s they wove an increasingly impressive cache of songs, largely concerned with Jarvis's love-life or, more often, woeful lack thereof. These soon formed the basis of an increasingly successful string of single releases, culminating in the career-defining 'Common People', which also gave Pulp the biggest album success of their career with 'Different Class'. Jarvis became a true national icon, and then he invaded Michael Jackson's stage...
Pulp released two further albums and Jarvis diversified, directing videos for Aphex Twin and making and presenting the celebrated documentary 'Outsider Art'.  In 2002 he married Camille Bidault Waddington with whom he has a little boy called Albert.  Jarvis sometimes like to wear horror make-up and have people call him Darren, in which guise he most recently made an album under the name Relaxed Muscle.

 

GAVIN FRIDAY
Vocals
Gavin Friday was born in Dublin, October 1959. Ireland's most avant-garde chanteur founded the legendary Virgin Prunes in 1977.
Since 1987 he has composed and performed with pianist Maurice Seezer. 'Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves' (1989), their compelling moody debut produced by Hal Willner, explores the world of Brel, Piaf, Brecht and Weill with a healthy punk ethos.
The follow up, 1992's 'Adam 'N' Eve' is an eclectic work by an artist who refuses to be pigeonholed. In 1995 Gavin Friday releases 'Shag Tobacco' produced by Bomb the bass' Tim Simenon.
Today Gavin Friday is a prolific vocalist, artist and composer, whose film work includes a collaboration with Bono for the 1993 film 'In the Name of the Father'. In 1996 Friday and Seezer contribute the song 'Angel' to the 'Romeo + Juliet' soundtrack. Film scores include 'The Boxer' (1998), 'Disco Pigs' (2001) and 'In America' (2002). Late 2005, Friday and Seezer team up with legendary producer Quincy Jones to score the Jim Sheridan directed 50 Cent biopic 'Get Rich or Die Trying.' In 2001 he creates 'Ich Liebe Dich', a twisted and seductive musical theatre tribute to the German composer Kurt Weill.
Acclaimed director Neil Jordan casts Gavin in the 2005 movie "Breakfast on Pluto". Spring 2006, Gavin and Maurice once again collaborate with producer Hal Willner; they contribute to a boisterous collection of sea songs and chanteys, entitled 'Rogues Gallery', due out Summer 2006.

 

THE HANDSOME FAMILY
Vocals
Brett and Rennie Sparks (The Handsome Family) have been married for 18 years. Uncut Magazine called their seventh CD, Last Days of Wonder, (May, 2006) an, “Unqualified triumph.” They were featured in the movie, Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus and in late 2005, the venerable Irish singer Christy Moore covered two Handsome Family songs on his CD, Burning Times. A 2004 reader's poll in Mojo named The Handsome Family's third CD, Through the Trees, one of the ten essential Americana records. They live in Albuquerque, New Mexico and spend their free time training crows to steal shiny objects. For more information visit: www.handsomefamily.com
 

ROBIN HOLCOMB
Vocals and Piano
Robin Holcomb has performed extensively as a solo artist and the leader of various ensembles. Featured appearances include the Oporto Jazz Festival, Earshot Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, The Meltdown Festival and Teatro Manzoni.  Recent recordings include John Brown’s Body (Tzadik) and Solos (Songlines) following four recordings on the Nonesuch label. Ms. Holcomb is a founder and co-director of The New York Composers Orchestra.  She collaborates frequently on dance, theatre and film projects. 
 
MARY MARGARET O'HARA
Vocals
Mary Margaret O'Hara's debut album Miss America was released in 1988 by Virgin Records to great critical and popular acclaim in Canada and Europe. Mary Margaret followed up in 1992 with a Christmas EP and in 1994 with a Christmas collaboration called Count Your Blessings featuring Victoria Williams and Jane Siberry.
Last year, Mojo Magazine of the UK has listed Mary Margaret as one of the top 100 'cult music' heroes of all time and Miss America as one of the top 100 albums of the 20th Century.
During a 1999 R.E.M. concert in Toronto, Michael Stipe brought Mary Margaret on stage and declared her a 'national treasure'.
Mary Margaret has also worked as an actress and graphic artist. Apartment Hunting is Mary Margaret's second music/acting collaboration with director Bill Robertson. In 1992, she composed, contributed music for the score, and played a leading role in his debut feature The Events Leading Up to My Death.
 
BETH ORTON
Vocals
Beth Orton is a famously good singer, as evidenced by the three albums that have so conspicuously built her worldwide reputation over the past decade. Beth Orton's latest album Comfort of Strangers was released in February 2006.  It recalled the dexterous finger picking style of American guitar virtuoso Jim O’Rourke who volunteered to produce the album.
Recorded at New York's Sear Sound studio in the spring of 2005, 'Comfort of Strangers' comprises 14 songs all composed by Beth Orton with the title track written in partnership with O'Rourke and singer-songwriter M. Ward. Other recordings include Daybreaker and The Other Side of Daybreak.  Born in Norfolk, Beth now resides in London. 

 
LOU REED
Vocals
Lou Reed is a true artistic icon.   A renaissance man in every sense of the word, Reed was the primary inspiration for seminal musicians from David Bowie to Sonic Youth.   Reed also anchored Andy Warhol's seminal Factory scene with the band he founded, the Velvet Underground.   Over the last three decades, he has evolved from gender-bending glam-rocker to avant-garde noiseman to straight-up rock-n-roller to accomplished martial artist, widely-exhibited photographer and much more. 

 

TEDDY THOMPSON
Vocals
The only son of British folk-rock legends Richard & Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson was born in 1976. He first came to the musical public eye in 1996 when he turned up on his father's You, Me, Us? album, contributing backing vocals. He eventually opened for Richard on a number of solo dates following the record's release, as well as adding guitar and supporting vocals on 1999's Mock Tudor and the subsequent tour. In the summer of 2000, Teddy released his self-titled debut for Virgin Records. The album is a collection of self-penned folk-pop tunes produced by singer/songwriter Joe Henry and featuring Richard's guitar on several tracks. He's also recorded a duet with his mother for a Waterson's tribute.

 

STEVEN BERNSTEIN
Trumpet and Musical Director
Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/slide trumpeter, bandleader, arranger, and composer who lives outside of musical convention. He has been collaborating with Hal Willner for over 10 years, on projects including Robert Altman's Kansas City, the Doc Pomus Project, and Lou Reed's The Raven. He has released three critically acclaimed cds - Diaspora Soul , Diaspora Blues and Diaspora Hollywood. His band Sex Mob has been together 10 years touring the world, and has had their music featured on MTV, Saturday Night Live and NPR. During his 10 years in John Lurie's Lounge Lizards he arranged the music for  Get Shorty, Clay Pigeons, Fishing With John and many more film, television and commercial projects with Mr. Lurie.  . As a composer he has scored the documentaries  Keep the River On Your Right and Ballonhat, and dance pieces for Alvin Ailey, Body Vox, the Donald Byrd Dance Company, the Flying Karamazov Brothers and the San Francisco Ballet. Bernstein has played trumpet with a diverse group of artists including Sam Rivers, Linda Ronstadt, Roswell Rudd, Marianne Faithfull , Digable Planets, Sting,  Courtney Love, Levon Helm, Don Byron and Marvin Pontiac. 
 
ROB BURGER
Keyboards
A New York native, Rob Burger received his formal education at the University of Massachusetts in improvisation and classical piano.  Shortly thereafter he picked up the accordion, and launched his professional career when he landed a tour with Bill Frisell.  He was a founding member of chamber group Tin Hat Trio, and has worked with such luminaries as John Zorn, Peruvian singer Susana Baca, Rufus Wainwright, Lucinda Williams, Iron & Wine, Calexico, and many others.  He has contributed to the film scores of The Good Girl (2002) and Everything is Illuminated (2005), and has released a record of his own compositions entitled "Lost Photograph" for the Radical Jewish Culture series on the Tzadik label.  He lives in Brooklyn.

 

CHARLIE BURNHAM
Strings
Mr. Burnham is a native New Yorker who received most of his early music training in the public school system.  During his 30 plus years as a performing violinist he has toured world wide and recorded with such international stars as Casandra Wilson, Wynton Marsalis, James 'Blood' Ulmer,
Henry Treadgill and many more.  Currently Mr. Burnham is producing his much awaited debut c.d. which will be available to the public in the late fall of 2006.

 

DAVID COULTER
Musical Saw
David Coulter is a musician/composer based in Brixton, London. Over the last twenty years his numerous live and studio collaborations as a multi-instrumentalist have included work with The Pogues, Kronos Quartet, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawnhey, Charlemagne Palestine, Test Dept, Vivian Stanshall, Joe Strummer, Roger Eno, Steve Nieve, Marc Ribot, Sarah-Jane Morris, John Harle, Michael Gira, Lydia Lunch, Marianne Faithfull, Jean-Jacques Palix and 48 Cameras.  He is also an accomplished player on the didgeridoo. David toured Japan in 2003 and 2004 with Richard Strange as The Doctors of Madness, performed recently at the Barbican, London with The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and played musical saw in Hal Willner’s Nino Rota/Fellini tribute concert also at the Barbican.Since early 2004 he has been working as Tom Waits'/Robert Wilson's Associate Music Director for The Black Rider.

 

DON FALZONE
Bass
Don Falzone has toured/ performed with Tom Waits, John Zorn, Jewell, Marc Ribot, k.d. Lang, Marianne Faithful and Leni Stern. Don can be heard on motion soundtracks such as "Primary Colors" with Ry Cooder, "Fire Walk With Me" with David Lynch and "Until the End Of The World" with Julie Cruise.  He is a member of Ute Lempers band and has been touring extensively with her all over the globe.

 

BRIGGAN KRAUSS
Saxophone
Renowned saxophonist, composer and sound artist Briggan Krauss has lived in New York since 1994 and has performed and recorded with musicians such as John Zorn, Wayne Horvitz, Bill Frisell, Ikue Mori, Jim Black, Joey Baron, and many others.

 

MAXIM MOSTON
Strings
Born in Moscow, Maxim Moston has lived in New York City since 1979. An active freelance violinist, Moston divides his time between the classical and pop worlds. As an orchestral and chamber musician, he holds a Masters degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has performed at Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center, at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and at the Bunka Kaikan in Tokyo, among many others. In his non-classical pursuits, Moston performs with Antony and the Johnsons, is a member of Slow Six, and Edison Woods and is a frequent guest with The Last Town Chorus, Reuben and numerous bands around New York. Alongside his many recordings with Antony and the Johnsons, Moston can be heard on records by Rufus Wainwright, David Byrne, Joan Osbourne, Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode and Steve Tyrell. He lives in downtown Brooklyn with his wife, oboist Alexandra Knoll.

CHRIS SPEDDING
Guitar
Chris Spedding's career as a session guitarist started in London around 1969 when he played on Jack Bruce's SONGS FOR A TAILOR album. Chris received a lot of attention for this album leading to session work with such artists as Harry Nilsson (NILSSON SCHMILLSON, etc), Elton John (MADMAN ACROSS THE WATER), Donovan, Dusty Springfield, David Essex, Bryan Ferry, Paul McCartney and others.
In 1975 Chris had a solo chart hit in the UK and Europe with "MOTORBIKIN'", produced by Mickie Most. Chris was the original producer of the demos that got the Sex Pistols their first record deal. In1978, he relocated to New York. Since 1994 Chris has been living in Los Angeles. He took part in the Roxy Music reunion world tour in 2002. Chris has worked with Hal Willner on the Thelonious Monk and Kurt Weil tribute albums, where he was paired with Peter Frampton and Marianne Faithful, respectively. More recently Chris has released an eclectic collection of original and cover songs entitled CLICK CLACK on SPV Records; has toured the UK in Jeff Wayne's ambitious WAR OF THE WORLDS production as part of a 58 piece orchestra, plus onstage Martian fighting machines; has resumed his partnership with rockabilly singer Robert Gordon; and continues to record with such artists as Katie Melua and Bryan Ferry, and to make live appearances with his own trio.

 

KATE ST. JOHN
Oboe
Kate St John is a respected musician, player, composer, producer and arranger. Classically trained on oboe and later learning saxophone and accordion. In the early eighties she was in the Ravishing Beauties the new wave chamber group with Virginia Astley and Nicky Holland. Following that she was a member of the Dream Academy for eight years. During that time she was in a number of experimental projects such as Steve Nieve’s Pink Orchestra (inventing live music for silent movies) and the Waldorf Salad orchestra. In the nineties she was a member of Van Morrison’s band for four years playing oboe, cor anglais and alto sax on five albums and in numerous world tours. More recently she has toured and recorded with Nigel Kennedy on his improvised classical/jazz versions of Hendrix songs and in 1999 was Musical Director and arranger at the Barbican for a Nick Drake tribute concert, co-producing the subsequent tribute album with Joe Boyd.

 

KENNY WOLLESEN
Drums
Kenny grew up in Santa Cruz, California, moved to San Francisco early in his career and has since lived and worked in New York City. Wollesen performs regularly with Bill Frisell, John Zorn, Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos, as well as tours with trumpeter Steven Bernstein’s group Sex Mob, and Zorn’s ElectricMasada. He also leads his own band, The Wollesens.

 

Press Comments:

“An extraordinary group of International stars – singers and musicians – comes to Dublin later this year for the kind of extravaganza normally only seen in the likes of Live Aid” – Sunday Independent

‘One of the Best Music Events of the Year’    Time Out New York

‘Stunning, Gripping, Beautiful Music, The sheer emotional force of which had me pinned to my chair’ The Daily Telegraph (London)

‘The atmosphere is one of joyous salutation from the outset.  *****’   The Independent   

Ticketing Information:
Tickets €39.50 / €49.25 / €60.00 / €70.00 including booking fee from Ticketmaster outlets nationwide       24 Hrs Tel: 0818 719 300.
Buy on line: http://www.ticketmaster.ie/ (Telephone & Internet bookings subject to €2.95 S/C per ticket up to €25.00; 12.5% over €25.00 / Agents €2.00)
Dublin Theatre Festival Box Office from August 21st    01 - 677 8899 http://www.dublintheatrefestival.com/
The Dublin Theatre Festival runs at various venues from September 28th - October 14th, 2006

Press information:  Gerry Lundberg Public Relations Tel: 01 6798 476  / 086 259 1070 glundpr@iol.ie