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.
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