The Whatley Center for the Performing Arts at Northeast Texas Community College is pleased to present a holiday performance by The Celtic Tenors Monday, Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. This festive show, sponsored by Cypress Bank, is sure to get you into the spirit of the season as they deliver some of your favorite holiday songs in their innovative style.
The Celtic Tenors have established themselves as the most successful classical crossover artists ever to emerge from Ireland. In 2000, following an impromptu audition at†EMI†in London, the Celtic Tenors were signed on the spot to an international record deal, a highly unusual event that was the talk of the music industry. The Celtic Tenors continue to re-invent the whole tenor idiom by pioneering a new style of cool never before seen on the classical stage and by breaking the traditional stuffy tenor mold.
?These are three phenomenal tenors who perform all over the world. We are so pleased to host artists of this caliber at the Whatley Center,? Carolyn Franks, Director of the Whatley Center, said.
The Celtic Tenors include Matthew Gilsenan, James Nelson and Daryl Simpson. Gilsenan began his classical training at the age of 10 and progressed to some of the great Irish and Scottish Teachers. Although he ventured into opera and classical singing, Matthew never lost his love for the music of his youth, in particular the vibrant contemporary Irish music which is his great source of inspiration.
Nelson has had more than 50 roles in opera and operetta. He is also part of an ongoing building project in Kenya, helping give AIDS orphans a second chance at life, building and upgrading their accommodation and education facilities, as well as teaching them music and performing in concerts with the kids.
Simpson developed his love of music during schooling at Omagh Academy, which then led him to study at Queen?s University, Royal Irish Academy of Music and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. His concert/oratorio performances include appearing with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, as well as the Zurich Kammer Orchestra.
Tickets for this are available for purchase online at www.whatleycenter.com or by calling the box office at 903-434-8181.
