An Irish Christmas @ Severance Hall 12/18 It was a high-energy program until the very last number on the program. And then they ramped it up yet another notch! Whoo! The Irish are a feisty bunch -- no doubt about it! (I'm 1/4 Irish so I can say that.) Eileen Ivers brought her Immigrant Soul band to Severance Hall for two holiday concerts with The Cleveland Orchestra. Tito Munoz was the fantastic glue who held all the disparate parts together in stylish fashion. This was especially so when the musicians were joined by four young ladies from the Burke School of Irish Dance: Adrianne LaGruth, Kate Pfriem, Caitlin Mann and Kate Tagliaferro.

What would a Holiday music concert be without a least a couple of musical excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s splendid ballet, The Nutcracker? Here, we were treated to four of them: the light and delicate Overture, a March heralded by trumpet fanfares, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy with the twinkle-toes celeste, bass clarinet and english horn (yummy!) and Trépak, complete with the biting brass. This segment was appropriately enough provided with whirling snowflakes projected on the walls of the stage. Illusionary snowflakes, I hasten to add.

For this concert, the orchestra was in it’s usual formal dress, but were clearly rather unbuttoned. When Ms. Ivers come on stage with her band, she happily invited us to be comfy and informal, because they intended to “make Severance Hall feel like a big ol’ Irish Pub.” And they did, but it was entirely the nicest kind of big ol’ Irish Pub, you understand!

The first piece was the traditional Planxty Loftus Jones. To the Irish, that is. The non-Irish might think it was a medley of Oh, Holy Night—with a celtic twist—followed by Joy to the World, in a toe-tapping happy Irish arrangement featuring Immigrant Soul and the full orchestra, Ms. Ivers providing a fiddle obbligato over all. At times, her band sounded like a huge organ, especially when bassist Leo Traversa used a bow on electric bass. Neat! The other members of Immigrant Soul are Tommy McDonnell (lead vocals, harmonica, percussion); Buddy Connolly (accordion, whistles), and Greg Anderson (acoustic guitar, bouzouki, backing vocals).

Throughout the evening, Ms. Ivers conversed with the audience, encouraging feedback and offering comic lines. Some of these prompted so much laughter I was unable to write my notes so they could be read later. One such remark was her definition of the button box played by Mr. Connolly—‘a combination of an accordian and a typewriter!’

Another was during her announcement of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, to be performed in a ‘jigified’ version. Tommy supplied the vocals, as he did on several of the selections. For the Bygone Days medley, he also wielded the bodhran, while she sang harmony. In Ireland, December 26 is known as Wren Day, and young lads go around begging a penny to bury the wren. Even though it was somewhat of a lament, she kept busy, moving all around the front of stage, hopping and skipping around the drumset, playing bird calls on the fiddle. This was the first number in which the young dancers appeared, well-coordinated in really fast footwork!

The Holly Tree was another traditional selection in which the audience sang along with Tommy, and then with the orchestra, while Ms. Ivers turned to the tenor banjo. In addition, Tommy showed off his conducting abilities with the audience, cueing them for loud or soft passages, carefully coordinated with the orchestra by Mr. Muñoz. The young dancers returned for the final number on the first half—another traditional medley: The Wexford Carol.

The second half was more of the same, yet totally different! As at the beginning, the orchestra opened--with Leroy Anderson’s marvelous A Christmas Festival, in a gorgeous, bright and joyful rendition! As we’d already noticed, traditions vary. This time it was the ultra-famous Canon by Pachelbel, in a traditional arrangement. It was really a violin duet, with concertmaster Jung-Min Amy Lee playing the classical version along with Ms. Ivers’ Irish version. It traveled well, going off into a brief Czárdás, then turning into a hootenanny! Who knew?

Mrs. Fogarty’s Christmas Cake – an ode to the ubiquitous fruitcake – with Tommy on comedy and whistle was followed by a mini-concerto featuring Ms. Ivers in her more traditional solo role of tunes from Riverdance. Another medley followed, this time it was Christmas Time is Here, which included A Charley Brown Christmas with Tommy, Do You Hear What I Hear – a very uptempo, extended violin duet featuring Ms. Ivers first with the acoustic (but amplified) guitar, then the accordian, after which she danced her way down from the stage onto the floor at the front of the house, in front of the stage. And again, the young dancers appeared with different steps.

After thunderous applause for all concerned, an encore was presented. This was a truly joyful and rousing rendition of May the Circle be Unbroken performed by everyone, Joy to the World with Tommy doing some great scat singing, and with manager Brian Mulligan at the drumset, the whole thing morphed into Handel’s ''Hallelujah Chorus', with dancers and all!

If this is how the Irish celebrate Christmas, I’m glad I’m Irish! ‘Nollaig shona daoibh’ to all!

From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz artswriterATroadrunner.com
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