All Changed, Changed Utterly: A Decade in Words and Music
The Maynooth University Decade of Commemorations Committee and the Maynooth University Faculty of Arts, Celtic Studies and Philosophy present, in collaboration with the Maynooth University Research Week 2023, “All Changed, Changed Utterly: A Decade in Words and Music”, a two-hour gala concert celebrating the literature and music that inspired, accompanied, chronicled, and reflected upon the transformative world events that took place between 1912 and 1923. Obscure artistic achievements will be rediscovered, iconic artistic achievements will be reappraised, and the audience will be invited to ruminate on the vital role of the Arts in shaping both the historical events themselves and, one hundred years later, our modern perspective on those events.
Chapters from the decade of commemorations that will feature throughout the concert include the sinking of RMS Titanic, World War One and its immediate aftermath, the arrival of the Roaring Twenties, the achievement of women’s suffrage, the Gaelic Revival and the rise of cultural nationalism, the Irish revolutionary period encompassing the Easter Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War and the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
The event will be as insightful as it is entertaining and will showcase the musical and dramatic talents of members of our Maynooth University community and specially invited guest alumni performers, including our much-celebrated Maynooth University Chamber Choir, conducted by Dr Michael Dawson, and sean-nós singing sisters Étáin and Máire Ní Churraoin performing in their greatly admired duo, An Chéad Ghlúin Eile.
The concert will feature dramatic readings from the work of authors including WB Yeats, Augusta Gregory, JM Synge, Francis Ledwidge, Vera Brittain, TS Eliot, Muriel Spark, Seán O’Casey, James Joyce, Pádraic Ó Conaire, Peadar Ó Laoghaire, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Elizabeth Bowen and Eva Gore-Booth. It will also feature performances of songs including “She Moved Through the Fair”, “Fáinne Geal an Lae”, “Óró Sé do Bheatha Abhaile”, “It’s A Long Way to Tipperary”, “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag”, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, “The Foggy Dew”, “Grace”, “Casadh an tSúgáin”, “Siúil, a Rúin” and “Love’s Old Sweet Song”.
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