We are very excited to announce that we are recording Shamus O'Brien next January and February with the orchestra of Scottish Opera, in Glasgow. David Parry will conduct, and he says he is really looking forward to it. Scottish Opera are very enthusiastic!
There is a great deal of interest in Stanford at the moment, especially with the centenary of his death approaching in 2024. Shamus O’Brien was by an Irish country mile Stanford’s most popular opera. This will be our first excursion into a distinctly Irish opera. Joseph O’Mara (1864–1927), the famous Irish opera singer who created the part of the opera’s villain, Mike Murphy, which he found “a strong acting part”, stated in an interview: “Dr Stanford is Irish, Mr Jessop, the author of the book, is Irish, the story is Irish, and what is still more to the point, the music of the piece is Irish in style and sentiment. I don’t think the lyric stage can show you so essentially Irish a piece of work” (The Era, 12 December 1896). For this reason, we are keen to put together an Irish cast who can do proper justice to the material. We have a fantastic lineup of singers:
David Parry | conductor
Jarlath Henderson | Irish piper
Orchestra of Scottish Opera
Brendan Collins | Shamus
Anna Brady | Nora
Ami Hewitt | Kitty
Joseph Doody | Captain Trevor
Andrew Gavin | Mike Murphy
Rory Dunne | Father O'Flynn
Our recording team are Matthew Bennett and, again, Dave Rowell, who's done fantastic recordings for us many times. If you would like to help this happen, please do consider making a donation.
Thank you to those who have already supported:
Friends | The Ida Carroll Trust, Vint Cerf, Michael Cooke, University of Durham, Jamie Findlay, Dave Green, John Grimshaw, The Rainbow Dickinson Trust, The Stanford Society, Allan Sutcliffe, Judith Waddicor, Renée (Mrs Percy) Young, 1 anonymous donor
Club Members | Crescendo Music Publications, Richard Hall, Øyvind Erik Jensen, Piet de Jong, Axel Klein, Andrew Lamb, Daniel Mitterdorfer, Giulio Piovani, Michael Sharp, Keiko Shirakawa, Michael Symes
Sponsors | Hugh Andrew, The Edgar Bainton Society, Stephen Banfield, David Brown, Jim Cassaro, Peter Dale, Anne-Cécile de Bruyne, Jeremy Dibble, Jacqueline Fujita, John Groves, Derek Hughes, David Russell Hulme, The William Hurlstone Society, Alyson McLamore, Eric Nye, Ann O'Brien, Michael O'Shaughnessy, Roger Parker, Charles Paterson, Christopher Purvis, Jan Smaczny, Tony Strangis, John Taylor, 3 anonymous donors
Supporters | Drew Adams, Christine Bashford, Paul Blake, Russell Burdekin, Anthony Burton, Christine Clark, David Colville, David Clare, Thomas Crochunis, John Cunningham, Bill Davy, Coleen Ferguson, Sharyi Ferguson, Robin Gordon-Powell, Jean-Marie Gregoire, Siân Griffiths, Björn Michael Harms, Hiroko Ikeda, Keiko Kiriyama, Leanne Langley, Patrick Lonergan, Mariko Nishitani, Clive Paget, Saverio Porry Pastorel, Frances Paul, Michael Pilkington, Christopher Redwood, John Sheppard, Masaya Shimokusu, Ruth Solie, Rob Stove, Anthony Thorley, Peter Trotter, in memory of John Tyrrell, Martin Winn