|
•
Bio •
•
CDs
•
Books
•
Concerts/Engagements
•
Photos
•
Contact
•
Copyright
TOP
TOP
|
Noirin
Ni Riain
Biography
PERFORMANCE
Noirin Ni Riain has performed extensively worldwide. Notable
events include an invitation in 1989 at an international peace gathering
in Coast Rica to introduce His Holiness, the XIV Dalia Lama in song to
an interfaith conference.
She has sung with the American composer, John Cage (1912-1992) and in
April, 1992, with the Schola Gregoriana of Notre Dame University, Indiana,
she performed the lead role, Anima, in the twelfth century morality
play by Hildegard Von Bingen ~ Ordo Virtutum.
For the pages six years, Noirin has been guest singer in the Winter and
Summer Solstice concerts at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New
York and is a featured soloist on a commercial recording of the events.
She will return to New York in December for another Winter Solstice.
She has represented Ireland at many international festivals including
four United Nations Summits: 1989 - Costa Rica, 1992 - Rio de Janeiro
(where she performed at the final session of the Religious and Spiritual
world leaders), 1995 - Copenhagen and Beijing, China, 1992 - Krakow, Poland
(The European Cultural Month) and 1994 - Lisbon, Portugal.
She has been selected twice by the Irish Government to perform in India
and has entertained visiting dignitaries on many occasions. Noirin visited
Bosnia and Croatia several times singing for various gatherings and in
Muslim and Christian refugee camps there and twice sand in war-torn Sarajevo
which to her was a very profound experience.
Noirin Ni Riain has given major recitals and workshops at many of the
leading Sacred music festivals worldwide notably Rotterdam, Bruges, Oxford,
Cardiff, Findhorn and Musica Sacra in Maastricht.
In 1994, Karlheinz Stockhausen, the German composer, was awarded an honorary
doctorate by the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. To mark this
occasion Noirin was invited to sing. It was here that she met the composer's
sons, Markus and Simon which led to a fruitful musical link ... culmination
in an EMI recording of their music in 1995 and a tour of Germany to launch
the CD.
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
Ms. Ni Riain studied music at University College, Cork,
where she graduated with a B.Mus. degree in 1972. She was awarded an M.A.
for her study of 'Traditional Religious Song in Irish' in 1980.
Other qualifications include: H.Dip. in Ed., Dip. Phil. NUI, and Dip.
C.M.S.M.
RECORDINGS
Joint Works
Caoineadh na Maighdine, (1979)
Good People All (1982)
Vox de nube (with the Benedictine monks of Glenstal Abbey) 1989)
Solo Works
Stor Amhran, (Ossian, 1991)
Soundings (Ossian, 1994)
Celtic Soul (Living Music USA, 1996)
Celtic Soul was produced by Paul Winter and has already been widely
acclaimed in American and Europe. Spotlighted by "Billboard Magazine"
(March 1996), it described Noirin as: "an artist who belongs at the
top of every world music fan's list."
Guest Performer
Sieben Psalmen (EMI) with Markus Stockhausen (Germany, 1995)
Winter Solstice with Paul Winter (Living Music, USA, 1996)
Illuminations - The Chant of Hildegard (Sony Classics, USA, 1996)
Recordings to Come
And to come ... Gregorian Chant Classics - Sing and meditate with Noirin
Ni Riain. This will be a book of transcriptions, translations and
meditations on 40 chants from the Gregorian/Plainchant tradition with
an accompanying CD recording of the forty chants sung by Noirin and the
student priests of St. Patrick's College, Thurles, Ireland.
BOOKS WRITTEN
Stor Amhran
Im Bim Baboro
Noirin has also written several articles on many aspects of women's songs
and the religious song tradition in Ireland.
INSTRUMENTS PLAYED
Indian drones (shruti boxes in Indian drones (Shruti Boxes)
in keys of G, F and E b. Indian harmonium (Surpeti).
REPERTOIRE (includes but not limited to)
Songs from the Irish tradition.
Gregorian chants
Hildegardian chants
Shaker songs and White Spirituals form America
other diverse songs such as:
Visionary music of the contemporary Swiss mystic Joa Bolendas
Hindi Bhajans of the 16th century Rajasthani Saint, Mira Bai
|
|
