Joycean scholar, David Norris, to present Classical Covies concert

Joycean scholar, David Norris, to present Classical Covies concert


Áine Ryan

CAMPAIGNER for the presidency and outgoing senator, David Norris is set to delight lovers of music and literature at a unique event to be hosted by Westport’s Classical Covies on Friday, March 18, next.
A renowned Joycean scholar, David Norris (pictured) will present the concert of music and songs referred to throughout James Joyce’s writings. 
“We are delighted to have pulled off something of a major coup in getting David Norris who, among his many other accomplishments, is one of the leading international Joycean scholars. Mr Norris will introduce the evening and do the commentary on each of the songs in his own inimitable way. He is a hugely entertaining and knowledgeable raconteur, so the characters that Joyce writes about will come to life through the songs he uses to flesh them out, said Liam Lyons.”     
Leading soprano, Virgina Kerr and baritone, Gavan Ring, will perform the programme of songs in the style of that period, along with Una Hunt on piano.
As well as writing such internationally acclaimed novels, such as Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Stanislaus Joyce was an accomplished tenor himself and had a lifelong passion for music.   
Classical Covie, Michael Murphy notes that ‘we have all experienced how a snatch of a song can be a powerful influence in calling up the past or colouring a person in reminiscence. This is precisely what Joyce does through the often oblique musical allusion which lurk within the texts of his celebrated modernist fiction’.
“This will be ‘Joyce without tears’, and an enjoyable way to approach him again. Who knows, many of us may be encourage to pick up on Ulysses from where we left off years ago,” Michael Murphy said.
The James Joyce Musical Evening, presented by David Norris, will take place at 8pm, on Friday March 18, in the Wyatt Hotel, Westport. Tickets €15.