Charlie Lennon: 1996 Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School Tea n' Talk

Charlie Lennon: 1996 Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School Tea n' Talk

Charlie Lennon appeared at the 1996 Milwaukee Irish Fest for the North American debut of his "Island Wedding" concert suite. He also taught at the Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School the week before, and he contributed to the Summer School's Tea n' Talk series of interview/discussion sessions on August 12th. During this session, Lennon discusses his process behind and inspiration for composing "Island Wedding."

0:00 Nancy Walczyk introduction, talks about performance times of Island Wedding at 1996 Milwaukee Irish Fest

0:26 Charlie Lennon describes ensemble for Island Wedding and story of behind Island Wedding

2:48 Experiment in bringing together two types of approaches to music: classical and traditional Irish

4:50 Language problem between the two groups

7:26 Is the orchestra local?

8:10 What role to give traditional musicians and what role to give orchestra

10:49 Did you write new tunes or use traditional tunes?

13:55 How big is the orchestra?

15:25 Island Wedding premiere at Ulster Proms in Belfast and recording with related television program

16:13 Reason of importance behind the wedding theme

17:14 Singing in the piece: one in Sean-nós style and one in English

21:15 Did you attempt to make the music sound “Irish” and use Irish modalities?

22:50 Were you influenced by Seán Ó Riada?

23:40 Charlie Lennon’s musical background

25:55 Are there other composers working in this mixed medium?

27:27 How in Ireland classical music/musicians and Irish music/musicians wouldn’t overlap

32:36 Dynamics of an Irish session

33:46 “The Moving Pint”

From the Irish Fest Summer School Collection at the Ward Irish Music Archives. IFSS VH 00-007.