Written by Elliott Coombes
Emmet Cahill, lead singer of Irish singing group Celtic Thunder, and his accompanying pianist Seamus Brett performed a concert called “An Irish Christmas” concert Dec. 2 as a part of the Arts and Life performance series. Cahill, who hails from Mullingar, Ireland, has a reputation as a world-acclaimed tenor whose recent success includes a sold-out debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
During the concert, Cahill sang a mix of Christmas carols and traditional Irish songs, featuring songs such as “1915,” a song celebrating the Christmas day of World War I where a cease-fire was held, and “Silent Night” was sung. Cahill appropriately followed this up with his own rendition of “Silent Night,” singing one verse in Irish.
“Everything he sang sounded good,” professor of music and director of piano studies Dr. Scott Carrell said. “Every note — low high middle — he was very expressive … He and the pianist, their interaction was just phenomenal.”
Despite the number of other events that occurred the same weekend, the concert had a large audience. The total crowd was made of about 600, one of the biggest turnouts for Arts and Life in some time. According to Dr. Walls, director of the Arts and Life series, Cahill sold more CDs at his concert than any other performer in recent memory.
“We’re already working on trying to get him to come again,” Walls said. “We sold more tickets to that than to any event in a very long time.”
Senior Shannon Keyser, who attended the event, said she did not know what to expect before the concert but she ended up enjoying the performance, calling it “extremely impressive.”
“If Harding is looking at inviting him back again, they should definitely do that,” Keyser said.
