GIH, Nov 13th
November 19, 2009
On Friday, November 13th ye olde Harp and Shamrock played a members reception at Glucksman Ireland House. It was great! Here’s a short video:
Video From Symphony Space
November 19, 2009
On October 24th, the WSHSO played at Symphony Space. This video gives you a whirlwind taste of the evening:
Donie with Andy McGann, Part Two
November 2, 2009
Irish Arts Center Christmas Concerts, December 2009
October 15, 2009
Last December, the 12th and 13th to be exact, the WSHSO played for the Irish Arts Center annual Christmas Concerts. I took some photos, have a look:
We’ll likely play more of these shows this year…hope to see you there!
Backstage at Symphony Space Last Year
October 14, 2009
Last year, Linda Hood took these photos backstage before the Mercy Center Benefit Concert. Pretty nice shots, Linda!
A swirl of activity reflected here!
Joe Madden and Mike Rafferty help us pass the time before the show.
WSHSOers Linda and Gail are both Mike Rafferty students. That night afforded some of us our only opportunity to play with Joe Madden, who sadly passed away just a couple months after this photo was taken.
Evidence of Early WSHSO Activity!
October 14, 2009
As those of you keeping track at home know, Mick Moloney formed the WSHSO in 2000 at which point, it would be fair to say, we weren’t reaching for the standard we do now. But our first taste of a bigger stage came in 2001 when we took part in a concert at New York’s famous Town Hall. Need evidence? Well, click on the image at right to see the cover of the evening’s program! On the inside, you can find the names of the person who were in the group at the time. (This is good, because without this I wouldn’t have remembered!)
The scan is a little small, so I took the liberty of copying the relevant paragraph out to make it easier to read:
The Washington Square Harp & Shamrock Orchestra–whose members are mostly new to Irish music–was created at NYU last year by Dr. Moloney–who teaches the repertoire in the traditional way–by ear. Members include: Scott Barlow/Drew McKeon mandolins; Wm Cooley/Scott Spencer/Diane Hodson tin whistles; Gloria Lee/Joanna Schneider pianos; Juliana Trivers/Jennifer McGrath fiddles; Dan Neely/John Runowicz guitars.
You can download the whole program as a PDF by clicking here: Town Hall, April 2001. Beware, it’s kind of a large file (about 7 MB)
Backstage after the Frank McCourt Memorial
October 11, 2009
Here’s a photo taken backstage at Symphony Space after the memorial for Frank McCourt on October 6, 2009. This event was a great tribute to a great man, and we were honored to be part of it. Photographer James Higgins has certainly captured the thrill of moment – a high point in our group’s history. Just look at these happy faces!
Left to right: Liz Kennedy, Jimmy Crowley, Linda Hood, Mick Moloney, Daniel Neely, Malachy McCourt, David Amram, Tony Horswill, Kate Bowerman. (Gail Neely and Brendan Dolan played too, but somehow they missed the photo op.)
March 15, 2009 – American Irish Historical Society
October 11, 2009
On March 15, 2009 a pared down version of the WSHSO played at the American Irish Historical Society. It was a grand evening–in attendance were bigwigs like Taoiseach Brian Cowen, First Deputy Minister Martin McGuinness, and Niall O’Dowd. Other attendees included the Consul General of Ireland, Natasha Richardson and Maureen Dowd, and Roma Downey was given an award. Oh, and I got interviewed by the New York Times. (I giggled a little when I said “hit all the right notes.” Get it? Musician? Talking about notes?) Anyhow, because we knew the surroundings were going to be so opulent, we went in fairly formal with suits and dresses. Here’s some photographic evidence:
Old, then New St. Patrick’s
October 10, 2009
For the last few years, we’ve played at both old and new St. Patrick’s Cathedrals around St. Patrick’s day, and as you might imagine, the evidence has shown up on youtube. This first video was taken downtown. As you can probably see, it was a bit chilly. Also, spontaneous dancing!:
This second video, taken at the big cathedral, gives you a sense of how hard it can be to hear!
Great places to play, both of them!
Sunnyside Shorts Film Festival
October 10, 2009
In putting this site together for all to see, I Googled the WSHSO and stumbled across this photo of the pared-down group playing at the 2008 Sunnyside Shorts Film Festival. Sunnyside Shorts is a community-based film festival in Sunnyside, Queens. More precisely, though, it’s “an evening of short, original films by independent filmmakers, including some of Sunnyside’s own” and great fun. The festival’s organized by Sherry Gamlin and Teresa Ward and usually takes place in early September. If you make or are interested in films, it’s definitely something to check out!
