Post by Stephany on Mar 14, 2007 11:28:20 GMT
Great new article from THE DAILY RECORD[/url].
Singer Hayley Westenra broadens her horizons with Celtic Woman
BY JIM BOHEN
DAILY RECORD
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
In her solo concerts, soprano Hayley Westenra favors what she calls "a candlelit atmosphere," often with a small group of musicians, perhaps a string quartet or a harp. It's very intimate.
But as a new member of the Irish group Celtic Woman she's part of a big "Riverdance"-style stage show with elaborate lights, staging and choreography, as well as a huge group of backing musicians.
"I love it," she said.
The 19-year-old singer from New Zealand spoke by phone from London a few days before joining the group on an American tour. Celtic Woman appears Friday and Saturday at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
"Working with a group of other singers is quite a different ballgame to doing a solo concert," she said. "It's definitely keeping me on my toes."
Fortunately for fans of Westenra's own music, while she's in New York she'll also perform a solo date Tuesday at Ulysses', an Irish pub in the Wall Street area. She's promoting her third internationally released album, known as "Treasure" elsewhere in the world, but "Celtic Treasure" here to tie in with the tour.
The album includes her take on folk songs such as "Scarborough Fair" and "The Water Is Wide," classical pieces such as "One Fine Day" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," and a few contemporary numbers.
"Each song is on the album for a personal reason. I've recorded songs that my Nanna taught me, as well as songs picked up in my travels, and I've written some of my own songs, which is a huge achievement for me," she said. Until now, "I haven't had the courage or the confidence to show my work to anyone. I really got my act together for this album. I teamed up with some other great writers as well."
Compared to her previous releases, "Pure" and "Odyssey," both multimillion-sellers abroad, the album seems to place less emphasis on the orchestral accompaniment and more on her voice.
"I was really keen for this album to reflect where I was at musically," she said. On tour she has found that "the really pared-down arrangements work the best and are the most effective. It's nice to have the orchestral swell, but the fans really appreciate it when you can hear my voice. I'm a big lyric person as well. I always want the story to ring out."
Celtic-country style
One change of pace is "Summer Fly," written by the American singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler and previously recorded by the Irish singer Maura O'Connell. Westenra does an uptempo sort of Celtic-country version featuring Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
"That's my mother and my sister's favorite," she said. "I recorded that with a group that I performed with in Nova Scotia last year. It was a real rootsy performance, if you know what I mean. There was a lot of ad libbing."
Westenra also appears on Celtic Woman's just-released third album, "A New Journey." The group of five Irish women -- four singers and a fiddler -- shot to fame on the basis of a PBS special and an album featuring familiar folk and folk-influenced songs cleverly arranged by musical director and composer David Downes.
That first album contained quite a few songs also in Westenra's repertoire --"Walking in the Air,""She Moves Through the Fair,""Danny Boy" and "May It Be" from "The Lord of the Rings." She was intrigued when she saw the group in concert, thinking "this is similar to what I'm doing, but it's quite a different take on it," she said. "Then out of the blue I got this call." The group's management asked her to join Celtic Woman for a concert filmed last August at Slane Castle in Ireland for the group's new TV special and DVD.
On tour Westenra, whose family has Irish roots, is alternating shows with one of the group's other singers, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, for several weeks at a time. The other members are vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon and Lisa Kelly, and violinist Máiréad Nesbitt.
"They're all very individual; they have their own voice, their own style. All these kind of different strands are woven together," she said.
"The music is fantastic. We've got great lights, we've got percussion, it's a big sound. It's a real kind of feast for the ears and the eyes."
One aspect of her solo tours she hopes to keep up: Westenra usually spends time after shows meeting fans, signing autographs and having her picture taken with them.
"I hope I'm going to have the opportunity to do that after my Celtic Woman shows," she said. "It kind of rounds off the evening for me, and I think the fans appreciate it as well. It's just nice to make that connection with people."
BY JIM BOHEN
DAILY RECORD
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
In her solo concerts, soprano Hayley Westenra favors what she calls "a candlelit atmosphere," often with a small group of musicians, perhaps a string quartet or a harp. It's very intimate.
But as a new member of the Irish group Celtic Woman she's part of a big "Riverdance"-style stage show with elaborate lights, staging and choreography, as well as a huge group of backing musicians.
"I love it," she said.
The 19-year-old singer from New Zealand spoke by phone from London a few days before joining the group on an American tour. Celtic Woman appears Friday and Saturday at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
"Working with a group of other singers is quite a different ballgame to doing a solo concert," she said. "It's definitely keeping me on my toes."
Fortunately for fans of Westenra's own music, while she's in New York she'll also perform a solo date Tuesday at Ulysses', an Irish pub in the Wall Street area. She's promoting her third internationally released album, known as "Treasure" elsewhere in the world, but "Celtic Treasure" here to tie in with the tour.
The album includes her take on folk songs such as "Scarborough Fair" and "The Water Is Wide," classical pieces such as "One Fine Day" from Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," and a few contemporary numbers.
"Each song is on the album for a personal reason. I've recorded songs that my Nanna taught me, as well as songs picked up in my travels, and I've written some of my own songs, which is a huge achievement for me," she said. Until now, "I haven't had the courage or the confidence to show my work to anyone. I really got my act together for this album. I teamed up with some other great writers as well."
Compared to her previous releases, "Pure" and "Odyssey," both multimillion-sellers abroad, the album seems to place less emphasis on the orchestral accompaniment and more on her voice.
"I was really keen for this album to reflect where I was at musically," she said. On tour she has found that "the really pared-down arrangements work the best and are the most effective. It's nice to have the orchestral swell, but the fans really appreciate it when you can hear my voice. I'm a big lyric person as well. I always want the story to ring out."
Celtic-country style
One change of pace is "Summer Fly," written by the American singer-songwriter Cheryl Wheeler and previously recorded by the Irish singer Maura O'Connell. Westenra does an uptempo sort of Celtic-country version featuring Canadian fiddler Natalie MacMaster.
"That's my mother and my sister's favorite," she said. "I recorded that with a group that I performed with in Nova Scotia last year. It was a real rootsy performance, if you know what I mean. There was a lot of ad libbing."
Westenra also appears on Celtic Woman's just-released third album, "A New Journey." The group of five Irish women -- four singers and a fiddler -- shot to fame on the basis of a PBS special and an album featuring familiar folk and folk-influenced songs cleverly arranged by musical director and composer David Downes.
That first album contained quite a few songs also in Westenra's repertoire --"Walking in the Air,""She Moves Through the Fair,""Danny Boy" and "May It Be" from "The Lord of the Rings." She was intrigued when she saw the group in concert, thinking "this is similar to what I'm doing, but it's quite a different take on it," she said. "Then out of the blue I got this call." The group's management asked her to join Celtic Woman for a concert filmed last August at Slane Castle in Ireland for the group's new TV special and DVD.
On tour Westenra, whose family has Irish roots, is alternating shows with one of the group's other singers, Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, for several weeks at a time. The other members are vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon and Lisa Kelly, and violinist Máiréad Nesbitt.
"They're all very individual; they have their own voice, their own style. All these kind of different strands are woven together," she said.
"The music is fantastic. We've got great lights, we've got percussion, it's a big sound. It's a real kind of feast for the ears and the eyes."
One aspect of her solo tours she hopes to keep up: Westenra usually spends time after shows meeting fans, signing autographs and having her picture taken with them.
"I hope I'm going to have the opportunity to do that after my Celtic Woman shows," she said. "It kind of rounds off the evening for me, and I think the fans appreciate it as well. It's just nice to make that connection with people."
