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| Emmet Cahill |
The applause was thunderous, the audience in raptures, a
young man singing his heart out, so much talent and personality wrapped up in a
dimpled package. Here is a young singer on
a solo tour with hundreds of ardent fans making their way to see and hear Emmet
Cahill. He is an Irish tenor who has
performed with the renowned Irish singing group, Celtic Thunder, all over the
world. On Thursday night, he made his
second appearance in the West Palm Beach area, again accompanied on several numbers
by the Robert Sharon Chorale, the 84-voice-strong local community chorale.
Cahill is from Mullingar, County Westmeath, the same
setting of John Patrick Shanley’s play Outside Mullingar. Irish theatre is one of my favorite theatre experiences
so I was particularly intrigued by the opportunity to see the performer whose debut
album, Emmet Cahill's Ireland, went
to number one on the Billboard World Music chart.
He made his
Carnegie Hall debut in New York City recently and this fall he will sing in 75
cities across North America with Celtic Thunder on their 10th anniversary
"X" tour. But for now he is embarking
on a multi city tour as a soloist which will take him to nearly a score of
other US cities during the next two months. So expect to see him somewhere! He promises to return to the West Palm Beach
area sometime in the future as well.
Cahill played to a packed house and it’s no wonder. He is one of the most dynamic and personable,
not to mention immensely talented, singers I've seen. His program on Thursday naturally included several
Irish classics such as “Danny Boy”, “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, “An Irish
Lullaby” and “Wild Mountain Thyme.” “I
am very proud to be Irish,” explains Cahill. “I want people to feel a real
connection to the songs, as well as the people and the stories that they
represent. There has always been a
special relationship between the Irish and American people and I want to
further enrich that friendship.”
As his performance was in a religious setting, the Holy
Name of Jesus Catholic Church in West Palm Beach, and he has strong religious
roots beginning his singing career at his own local church in Mullingar, he
sang several moving hymns including a tearful, heartfelt performance of “Amazing
Grace.”
His tenor voice is strong but clear. He manages to bring forth so much emotion and
clarity with his voice, an instrument onto itself, with never an inaudible
word. Cahill can deconstruct a song to certain
simplicity so not one emotive moment is lost on the audience. It doesn’t hurt that his accompanist, Seamus
Brett, is an extraordinarily gifted pianist who knows how to showcase this
rising 27 year old star.
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| Seamus Brett Accompanies Emmet Cahill |
They even challenged the audience to suggest six or seven
songs which they would perform as unrehearsed requests and then extemporaneously
they strung together a medley of those songs.
One such request was “O Sole Mio." Enrico Caruso and Mario Lanza would have been
proud, maybe envious, of Cahill’s rendition which demonstrated his classical
vocal training at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin.
But Irish folk songs and liturgical hymns are not Cahill’s
only strengths. He is equally
comfortable with the Great American Songbook and Broadway. In fact he said that Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
work is among his favorites and to illustrate, he delivered a rendition of “Some
Enchanted Evening,” wringing out all the emotion and depth from that song. His rendition of “This is the Moment” from Jekyll and Hyde was thrilling. The nostalgic favorite “Moon River” was as
beautiful as those Irish folk songs.
He said that among the songs he first sang on stage as a
professional was “Bring Him Home” from Les
Miserables. He is much too young to
play Jean Valjean, but you wouldn’t know it from his masterly performance. I’ve never been able to hear that song – or
play it on the piano – without a tear in my eye, and his performance, with so
much emotion, brought the house down with yet another standing ovation. Clearly, so much of this young man’s future might
be directed into the oeuvre of Broadway and the Great American Songbook. He has the presence and that rare emotive gift
for those songs, while never having to desert his unique Irish folk roots.
His YouTube performance of “Bring Him Home” from a 2015
USA tour when he was only 24 years old, clearly presages his brilliant future. We look forward to seeing him again, soon. Thank you Emmet!
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