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Get an early start on celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish Tenors, the award-winning trio of mellifluous melody-makers who will finally be making their Hawaii debut this Friday at Hawaii Theatre.
The group’s heartfelt, passionate presentation of classic Celtic songs and folk ballads, Broadway standards, film-score melodies and other popular tunes has resonated with audiences for 25 years, with five hit specials on PBS, dozens of performances at stadiums and arenas around the world, and a slew of popular albums. Individually and as a group, they’ve performed before presidents and popes and with crossover pop stars such as Hayley Westenra and Andrea Bocelli.
The three singers — original members Anthony Kearns and Dr. Ronan Tynan, along with the 2019 addition of Declan Kelly — will be performing with the full, 64-member strong Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra, a combination that the singers said should provide a spine-tingling sonic experience.
“It’s great to get to Hawaii, to perform with a massive symphony,” said Tynan in a conference call with Kearns during a Florida tour stop.
“That will be some sound,” Kearns said. “Primarily, we work with a 47-piece orchestra, but when we work on tour, 30 pieces is a comfortable number for the arrangements. But we have superb arrangements (by) David Cullen, who arranged ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and some other musicals by (Andrew) Lloyd Webber. (The audience) will leap from their chairs when they hear these wonderful arrangements.”
Singing is an integral part of Irish culture, passed down over time and over long distances by emigrants and travelers, Kearns said.
“Way back, centuries ago, that was how people communicated, with music,” he said. “The language itself is musical, so it’s all connected — the Irish language, the Irish music. People traveled to other people’s homes before there were public places to visit, and you shared your stories, you shared your music, you shared your dancing. It was their way of communicating, and that’s what we’ve carried to the four corners of the Earth.”
It helps that the Irish music that is their mainstay is so easy on the ears, Tynan said.
“Our music doesn’t get old,” he said. “It has a sweetness about it that attracts people from around the world. … We’re steeped in history and we tell our life story through song and ballad. We create beautiful love stories through history and we tell them through song. And I think people feel a great deal of authenticity and truth to what we have.”
Kearns grew up in a musical family and competed in many traditional song contests as a youth and teenager. He was planning to go into the hospitality industry but won several competitions, eventually winning a national contest that got him training with a renowned Irish opera singer and vocal coach, Victoria Dunne.
“That was the break I needed,” he said. “Instead of just doing Irish competitions, or country music, or all sort of off-talent (styles), I struck upon the one that suited me best.”
Tynan also grew up surrounded by music, with the recordings of the singing actors such as Mario Lanza and Nelson Eddy constantly playing in his home. He also sang while working alongside his father, a farmer.
“Half the time my father’d make up the words, but that was fine because we knew no different,” he said.
Tynan also sang in contests as a youth, but initially went into medicine to become an orthopedist specializing in sports injuries. He had been born with a condition that caused his legs to be underdeveloped, and after a car accident his legs had to be amputated below the knee. Aided by prosthetic limbs, he went on to win several medals at the Paralympics. His father eventually encouraged him to use his talents in music, and he also studied with Dunne.
During the height of the pandemic, both singers found a need for their particular talents. Tynan took a battery of medical exams and went back to work as a doctor, helping with Ireland’s vaccination program and with special needs children.
“It was an amazing experience,” he said. “You learned how fortunate you are and you learned how amazing parents of special children are, their unconditional love for their children.”
Meanwhile, Kearns was contracted by the government to sing at senior citizens’ nursing homes, creating touching scenarios worthy of Hollywood, Broadway or Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. “We were outside singing in. They’d open up the windows, and we’d be outside singing in to them,” he said. “And (it was) in middle of winter. They’d be wrapped in gloves and scarves and masks, and we’re singing in the windows to these people inside. There’s old couples, sitting inside holding hands in their armchairs listening.
“It was a great reward, because people in the nursing homes would never get that as a rule.”
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The Irish Tenors
25th anniversary tour
>> Where: Hawaii Theatre Center
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday
>> Cost: $75-$105
>> Info: 808-528-0506 or hawaiitheatre.com
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