Association gears up for St Pat’s Day concert

TO commemorate St Patrick, the saint who brought Christianity to Ireland, the Central Victorian Irish Association will again be putting on a show, An Emerald Hour of Irish Music, Culture and Song.

This year, director and accompanist John Clancy said the group had received funding from the City of Greater Bendigo’s Community Grants Program to assist with the production, and there will be several new performers in the program.

The concert will include Irish art songs and traditional and modern Irish ballads.

Performers in An Emerald Hour of Irish Music, Culture and Song include harpist Allan Evans, fiddle and concertina player Ruth Boylan, Celtic harpist Meryl Wilkinson, Irish tenor Frederick Kelly, fiddle player Emily Calder, and other musicians on the Irish piccolo and bodhran.

The O’Shea Ryan Irish Dancers will also feature, who’s widely beloved and respected teacher Geraldine Ryan passed away at 93 years.

“She was teaching in Bendigo and in other areas; Echuca and Albury, up until a few months before she died. Amazing lady,” said Clancy.

From Kilkenny in Ireland, Clancy undertook Latin American studies at university and spent some time living in South America.

He said one of his most favourite St Patrick’s Day events he ever attended was in Buenos Aires in Argentina in 2016.

“That’s one of the best Irish concerts I’ve ever been to,” he said. “You mightn’t think it, a country in South America.”

The concert will be on Saturday 16 March from 12.30pm at the Bendigo Library and entry is free, although Mr Clancy said donations to the association are welcome.