Sir James Galway and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra will present an unusual premiere at Ravinia on July 8: a flute concerto inspired by traditional Irish music, written by Bill Whelan, the composer who created Riverdance in 1995.
The phenomenal popularity of Riverdance spawned a number of similar shows focused on Irish music and dancing, and helped to fuel the rising popularity of Irish music in the U.S.
In fact, Whelan is so closely identified with Riverdance that it is easy to forget that he did anything else. But Whelan has several film scores to his credit, including Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) starring Meryl Streep, and Some Mother's Son (1996) featuring Helen Mirren.
Whelan has also written Irish-influenced classical music. He wrote the Spirit of Mayo in 1993 for orchestra, the Irish choir Anúna and a corps of celtic drummers. And he recently completed a trilogy of pieces for the Irish Chamber Orchestra, included on his latest CD, The Connemara Suite.
Although there are thousands of traditional Irish songs and reels, classical music that is influenced by Irish folk music remains relatively rare.
Which may be why Galway chose Whelan to write his flute concerto.
Galway recently performed the world premiere of the work in Dublin, and will present the U.S. premiere during the CSO's first concert of the season at Ravinia on July 8.
"Let me tell you how this started up. I had the idea that we should definitely have somebody write the definitive Irish flute concerto," Galway said recently in a video interview.
"So I looked around, and then suddenly Bill's name came up. And I said to Jeanne, this is the guy."
"The piece is basically about our two home cities, about Belfast and about Limerick," Whelan has said. "And I've titled it Linen and Lace, linen being one of the industries which distinguished Belfast, and lacemaking, which distinguished Limerick over the years."
This idea gives form to the concerto, with the first part representing Belfast, where Galway was born, and the second part representing Limerick, Whelan's hometown. Both sections begin with snatches of well-known songs from each city: Belfast starts off with 'My Lagan Love', and Limerick begins with 'There Is an Isle.'
The CSO's July 8 program also holds another Irish-influenced work, Carolan Variations by Philip Hammond. Galway and his wife Jeanne Galway, also a flutist, will perform this set of variations on Irish harp melodies by Turlough Carolan (1670-1738).
The evening begins with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, and also includes Howard Shore's A Lord of the Rings Suite (which also contains Irish-influenced melodies.) The suite can be considered a preview of the full score to The Return of the King, which the CSO will perform during screenings of the movie on August 7 and 8.
More information about these and other CSO programs is available at Ravinia.org.
