USD Music Department Hosts Series Dedicated to Ireland

The University of San Diego's Music Department is globally minded when it comes to showcasing its wide array of music performances. It began the 2018-19 season with a Spanish concert, routinely has Gamelan and Mariachi Ensembles and, of course, classical music numbers that span the globe.

This week, the Music Department will be fixated on Ireland and Irish music as the campus will host three events, one each on Nov. 5, 6 and 8 for its "Classics Out of Ireland" series.

On Monday at 7 p.m. in Founders Chapel, Ireland's leading classical guitarist, John Feeley, and Marianne Pfau, a USD professor of music history and an international musician on baroque oboe and recorder, will perform a concert consisting of sacred masterpieces by Bach, Handel, Guiliani, Carolan and Boydell, with select Irish songs and hymns.

Feeley, who is considered Ireland's leading classical guitarist, is a worldwide performer, highly regarded for his work with Irish composers and for his arrangements and recordings of music for guitar.

This free event is first come, first served seating, is open to the public and it is a program done in collaboration with the Angelus: Sacred Early Music.

Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. in USD's Humanities Center (Serra Hall 200), the program JoyceSong: The Irish Songs of James Joyce will have Feeley on guitar and vocalist Fran O'Rourke, emeritus professor of philosophy at University College Dublin, perform James Joyce songs.

O'Rourke's forte is ancient, medieval and contemporary philosophy and she has written and lectured on the philosophical aspects of the work of James Joyce and on Joyce's use of traditional Irish song. O'Rourke has performed these songs worldwide.

This event is free to attend and is open to the public.

The final Ireland-connected event of the week takes place Thursday, Nov. 8, also in the Humanities Center. O'Rourke will give an illustrated lecture on "The Three Aristotles of James Joyce." O'Rourke will explore the importance of Aristotle in the writings of James Joyce.

This free event, which is open to the public, is a program that is done in collaboration with USD's Values Institute.