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WATCH: ‘We are all Irish’ – UL virtual celebration of St Patrick’s Day

UL virtual celebration: John Nutekpor – Voice and Percussion – Ghana and Nicolle Figueroa – Voice and Bodhrán – Mexico
 
WATCH: ‘We are all Irish’ – UL virtual celebration of St Patrick’s Day
 
 
Despite the worldwide disruption to St Patrick’s Day amid the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, University of Limerick is still virtually celebrating the spirit of the day with a stunning new video. With many millions of people across the world unable to attend St Patrick’s Day parades, UL has released a UL virtual celebration video that marks the occasion in a digital sense.

The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance and the International Education Division at UL have collaborated with international and Irish students to mark St Patrick’s Day with a beautiful rendition of the song ‘Mo Ghile Mear’, in a UL virtual celebration that celebrates the global nature of Irish culture, music and spirit.

Mexican composer Oscar Mascarenas, a lecturer at the Irish World Academy, arranged the Irish traditional song, which is performed by international vocalists singing as Gaeilge.

Filmed at UL, which recently won the award for Best Student Campus in Ireland for the second year running, the UL virtual celebration video celebrates the music and culture that connects us – and on the one day, March 17, that we are all connected.

“With everything that is happening across the world right now, it is more important than ever to focus on what connects us, like culture, music and spirit. On March 17, we are all connected, we are all Irish,” said Dr Sandra Joyce, Director of the Irish World Academy at UL.


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“The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance is delighted to work with the International Education Division to celebrate the diversity of the UL campus community in this musical arrangement of an Irish language song for St Patrick’s Day.

UL virtual celebration

UL student Elizabeth Heard Hewitt from the USA

“The Academy has graduated students from over 50 countries and we are very proud of our global community. We are also pleased to present an Irish language song which is such an important part of the Irish tradition, Mo Ghile Mear – this was selected and arranged by our colleague from Mexico, Dr Oscar Mascarenas.

“All soloists and instrumentalists are from outside of Ireland, from countries such as the US, Mexico, China, Ghana and Estonia. They work very well with our talented choir of undergraduate singers from Ireland.

“We wish everyone a very happy St Patrick’s Day and hope you enjoy this snapshot of our beautiful campus and talented students,” she added.

Credits:

Óscar Mascareñas, Artistic Direction (Music) and Musical Arrangement

Elizabeth Heard Hewitt – Voice – USA

Nicolle Figueroa – Voice and Bodhrán – Mexico

John Nutekpor – Voice and Percussion – Ghana

Simon Pfisterer – Uilleann Pipes – Germany

Zohra Coday – Concertina – USA

Jialin Chu – Flute and Tin Whistle – China

Jinfu Huang – Piano – China

Anna Eggersberger – Harp – Germany

Hains Tooming – Violin – Estonia

Noemi Szentimrei – Violin – Hungary

Anna Gioria – Viola – Italy

Adrian Ivicevic – Cello – Croatia

Choir – all from Ireland – Abigail Simon, Sinead Butler, Tara Dillon, Ruth O’Malley, Anna O’Toole, Linda Walsh, Hannah Wright, Shauna Duffy, Sinead Toomey, Sarah Bergin, Makaela Crowley, Annmarie Carew

About University of Limerick:

The University of Limerick is an independent, internationally focused university with 16,500 students and 1,700 staff. It is a young, energetic and enterprising university with a proud record of innovation in education and excellence in research and scholarship.

About the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance:

The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance is the centre of academic and performance excellence housed at University of Limerick, Ireland. The Academy has a strong international presence with students from over 40 countries studying there. 

With a faculty of excellent performers, academics and industry professionals the experience of studying at the Irish World Academy second to none. It offers a suite of taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in musicians dance-related subject areas and its research is at the forefront of these fields of enquiry worldwide.

For more information about the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, click here.

For more information about UL, click here.

For more UL stories, click here.

Richard is a presenter, producer, songwriter and actor. He was named the Limerick Person of the Year (2011) and won an online award at the Metro Éireann Media and Multicultural Awards (2011) for promoting multi-culturalism online. Richard says that the ilovelimerick.com concept is very much a community driven project that aims to document life in Limerick. So, that in 20 years time people can look back and remember the events that were making the headlines.