crs pulseirishmanLeft to right: David Neal, Rebecca Leistikow, Steven Stull photo by Dede Hatch

Triphammer Arts Inc. will present The Pulse of an Irishman, a concert of Scottish and Irish songs arranged by Beethoven, in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. The concert will take place on Sunday, March 12, at 4:00pm at the CRS Barn Studio. A reception with the artists will immediately follow the concert.

In the mid-nineteenth century, music publisher George Thomson commissioned musical arrangements of the traditional songs of the British Isles from the finest composers of his time -- including both Beethoven and Haydn -- in an effort to preserve these songs for future generations. Beethoven tackled the commission enthusiastically, creating over 100 spritely arrangements of well-known traditional songs to be published by Thomson and performed by chamber ensemble. These tuneful and accessible pieces, appealing to a wide audience, include such favorite melodies as 'Sweet Power of Song', 'The Soldier', 'Sally in our Alley', and 'Auld Lang Syne'.

The Pulse of an Irishman concert offers a selection of these entertaining and unjustly neglected pieces, performed in English as Beethoven intended, by an ensemble of musicians with impressive credentials.

Baritones Thomas Erik Angerhofer and Steven Stull, tenor Carl Johengen, mezzo Dana Kinney, soprano Rebecca Leistikow, and bass-baritone David Neal, all of whom were heard in performance at the CRS Barn last summer, will perform solo and ensemble pieces, accompanied by Blaise Bryski at the piano with violinist Susan Waterbury and cellist David Fenwick.

These artists have performed repertory ranging from opera and art song to music theatre, popular songs, and newly commissioned works, with orchestras and opera companies across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, and have appeared regionally with the Rochester Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, Syracuse Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Society for New Music, Ithaca’s Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Music’s Recreations, and in concert at Cornell and Ithaca College.

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