Arts news – Glenamaddy connection to 1916 show

THE executed 1916 leader Eamonn Ceannt was born in Glenamaddy in 1881, and it is this local connection that brings the show Seven Lives for Liberty to the Town Hall Theatre, Galway for one night on Thursday November 15. The production is an independent theatrical tribute in drama and music to the seven signatories to the 1916 Proclamation of Independence. The show includes dramatic vignettes and visuals depicting pivotal moments in the lives of the seven members of the 1916 Provisional Government. The aim of the production is to honour the great sacrifice made by those who gave their lives for our freedom and remember their contribution to the revival of the artistic and cultural life of the nation. According to the producers, 'The men and women of 1916 were our golden generation. Among their number were poets, playwrights, teachers and musicians. â€ËœSeven Lives' includes seven new tribute songs written and performed by singer-songwriter Pat Waters. The show aims not only to be a fitting tribute to the sacrifice that the seven signatories and others of their time made on our behalf but also to the family members they left behind.' Following the inaugural sell-out performance in Liberty Hall Theatre Dublin in April, the producers, playwright Frank Allen and James Connolly Heron who is the great-grandson of James Connolly, decided to pilot the show in Galway's Town Hall Theatre Galway on November 15 in recognition of Eamonn Ceannt from Glenamaddy. Ceannt moved to Dublin with his family in 1891, when he was 10 years old. He was educated at the national school in Glenamaddy and at North Richmond Street CBS in Dublin before going on to UCD. He joined the clerical staff of Dublin Corporation where he was promoted to the position of treasurer of the Corporation. He joined the Gaelic League in 1900 and became passionately involved in the language revival movement. He was also keenly interested in Irish music and played the uileann pipes. He travelled with a group of Irish athletes to Rome for the jubilee of Pope Pius X in 1908 and played a selection of Irish airs on the pipes at the Pope's request. This is one of the incidents from his life that will be referred to in the production. Tickets are now on sale from the Theatre at www.tht.ie. There is also a matinee for students with tickets priced at €5 and can be purchased by calling 091-569777. â€ËœPretty Pictures' at Kennys PÃÂRAIC BREATHNACH will be the guest speaker at the official opening of Crotty & Kelly's Pretty Pictures at The Kenny Gallery, Galway on Friday. The artists are Shane Crotty and Dean Kelly who are collaborating on a two-man show. Shane Crotty's work in this show deals with the transforming effects that tragedy can bring about. The death of a loved one can be a very difficult time and it is this process of change that defines our lives. These liminal phases, when something is neither here nor there, one thing or another, transports us into another landscape. It is a place full of unexpected beauty where violence and darkness walk hand in hand with love and kindness. Printmaking techniques used include monoprint, intaglio, digital print, and photography. The nature of the collagraph and drypoint methods lends well to the subject matter. The plates are wooden, instead of the usual metal plates and they are very delicate. They degrade and change quickly while working on them and making the editions, sometimes unpredictably. By mixing this with more contemporary techniques, drawing and gold leaf, the artist hopes to create work that have a photographic dimension with a more tactile and handmade effect. The subject matter and imagery used range from places such as Croagh Patrick, Brighton Pier, Auschwitz, cemeteries and war memorials, alongside work dealing with passing celebrity, religious iconography, modern society, wildlife and floral images. The paintings in Dean Kelly's new collection are about sentimentality rather than being in themselves sentimental. His contribution to Crotty & Kelly's Pretty Pictures marks a shift in that artist's work to simpler modes. Gone is much of the layered graphic, and to the fore is pure painting. As a young painter Alice Maher told Kelly that she could see that he, as she had herself as a young artist, needed to 'say everything with every single piece'. However she assured him that the affliction of applying an encyclopaedic method eases with time. So the penny may be dropping ... 'de-cluttering' stands to these spontaneous, instinctive, unabashedly local (and not so local) images which, while making you think, still manage to be beautiful. The exhibition runs for the month of November in the Kenny Gallery at the Liosban Retail Park, Tuam Road, Galway. Piano sensation in Galway THE winner of this year's Dublin International Piano Competition,19-year-old Russian pianist sensation Nikolay Khozyainov gives a recital as part of the Music for Galway series at the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway on Wednesday November 7 at 8 pm. Writing about the Dublin International Piano Competition, Michael Dervan of the Irish Times reported that 'so loud was the ovation after his playing [...] that it must have been depressing for any other competitor within earshot'. Galway audiences are in for a treat as Khozyainov will perform a piano lover's dream programme including Beethoven's deeply profound Piano Sonata Op. 110, Ravel's virtuosic Gaspard de la Nuit, two pieces by Chopin and Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor, often considered the composer's greatest work for solo piano. Harp Concert in Claremorris Conradh na Gaeilge will host a special concert and talk in Claremorris Public Library on Thursday next, November 8. The concert by Ann and Charlie Heymann will feature Irish and Welsh music and poetry from the 10th century right up to the time of the last professional harpers in the 19th century, as well as music and song from the living tradition. As well as playing a variety of ancient instruments, songs will include an Old Irish rosc, an excerpt from the Lay of Deirdre for the Sons of Usnach, the earliest known version of Eileen Aroon, an old Welsh epitaph for a warrior and a comic song about learning Irish. Admission is free.