Celtic Thunder's VOYAGE TOUR Arrives at the Benedum Center, 9/30

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents the award-winning group, Celtic Thunder, at the Benedum Center in Pittsburgh, PA on Sunday, September 30, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. For information: visit www.Trustarts.org, call (412) 456-6666, or in person at Theater Square Box Office, 655 Penn Avenue. This event is part of the Cohen & Grigsby Trust Presents series.

Celtic Thunder is an award-winning performance group featuring Celtic male vocalists: Keith Harkin (age 20, Derry, Northern Ireland), Ryan Kelly (age 28, Moy in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland), George Donaldson (age 39, Glasgow, Scotland), Emmet Cahill (age 21, Mullingar in County Westmeath, Ireland), Neil Byrne (age 32, Dublin, Ireland), and Daniel Furlong (age 13, Taghmon in County Wexford, Ireland). The group’s performance is a celebration of Celtic heritage and men—their loves, attitudes, individuality, power and strength, throughout life’s journey.

From rousing ensemble numbers to solos showcasing each members’ vocal style and personality, Celtic Thunder performs powerful ballads, popular hits, and heartwarming songs of love and loss from across the Celtic music spectrum—Irish, Scottish, traditional and contemporary. Celtic Thunder was formed when creator/producer ShaRon Browne teamed up with legendary Irish composer Phil Coulter (Elvis Presley’s My Boy, Sandie Shaw’s Puppet on a String, and the now-classic Irish ballad The Town I Loved So Well), to audition men from all over Ireland and Scotland for the group. Their first album included an eclectic mix of music with traditional songs, pop classics and Coulter originals, accompanied by The Celtic Concert Orchestra, a full band, bagpipes and monks. Since then, Celtic Thunder has produced six more albums including VOYAGE and was recently hailed as Billboard’s Top World Music Artist along with numerous other accolades.

The new show, VOYAGE, follows the incredible success of Heritage and takes the audience on a journey through varying styles of Celtic and Irish music including both old, traditional standards like Lagan Love and Maid of Culmore and contemporary, modern songs such as Past The Point of Rescue, Ride On and All Day Long. Lively ensembles such as Galway Girl, a tribute to the Clancy Brothers in the Clancy Brother Medley, soulful ballads in Scorn Not His Simplicity and Kindred Spirits, and beloved Irish Party songs, Seven Drunken Nights and My Irish Molly-O run the gamut of Irish music. The ensemble members are also featured in powerful solo performances such as Emmet Cahill’s My Irish Molly-O, Ryan Kelly’s take on the Garth Brook hit Friends In Low Places, and George Donaldson’s version of the much-loved ballad Cat’s In The Cradle. VOYAGE is also the first Celtic Thunder show where all vocalists will pick up a different instrument including the guitar and the tin whistle. Audiences everywhere are sure to delight in their performance.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit organization whose mission is the cultural and economic development of Pittsburgh’s 14-block Cultural District through public and private support. The Trust presents and encourages diverse performing and visual arts programs within the District, and is an impetus for additional development in downtown Pittsburgh. In addition to the Trust Presents series, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents the PNC Broadway Across America-Pittsburgh series, Pittsburgh Dance Council, Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater and Children’s Festival, CD Live, JazzLive, First Night Pittsburgh, Gallery Crawl, and Three Rivers Arts Festival, among other Cultural District and arts events. The Trust owns Theater Square and the Cabaret at Theater Square; James E Rohr Building & Arts Education Center; the Benedum Center for the Performing Arts; Byham, O’Reilly, and Harris Theaters; visual arts galleries: Wood Street Galleries, at 601 Wood Street; SPACE, at 812 Liberty Avenue and 937 Liberty: a multipurpose performance and exhibit space, among other downtown arts facilities. www.TrustArts.org

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