Since their first special for public television in March 1999, the Irish Tenors have been thrilling audiences around the world with their concert performances of traditional Irish songs and music from other genres. On March 6, 2001, the tenors -- Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan and Finbar Wright -- taped their first-ever public television special produced on American soil, THE IRISH TENORS ELLIS ISLAND. Actor Martin Sheen hosts.
The concert was recorded before a live audience on New York's Ellis at the Registry Hall, where 12 million new arrivals were processed between 1892 to 1924. THE IRISH TENORS ELLIS ISLAND honors the millions of immigrants -- Irish and non-Irish alike -- who left their homes and families to come to this country. The special is rich with songs of longing and remembrance, music which would have been popular in the New York Irish neighborhoods of the early 1900s: drinking songs, Irish ballads and songs of country. There are also comedic songs, solemn songs, and songs of pathos.
The program opens with the tenors performing "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears," a contemporary song which tells the story of the first immigrant to cross the threshold at Ellis Island. The Irish Tenors also remember the thousands who set out from foreign shores but never reached Ellis Island with the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee." Other highlights include the familiar, time-honored 1913 classic "Danny Boy," sung in a new arrangement; "How Are Things In Glocca Mora," popularized in the musical "Finian's Rainbow;" "God Bless America;" and the traditional "Let There Be Peace," a song whose lyrics characterize the melting-pot ethnic mix of early immigrants: "Brothers all are we/Let me walk with my brother/In perfect harmony."
The Irish Tenors first came together in 1998 for a concert at the Royal Dublin Society Main Hall, from which came The Irish Tenors, their first public television special. The powerful performances of the Irish Tenors -- originally John McDermott, Anthony Kearns and Ronan Tynan -- took their self-titled CD to the top of the Billboard world music charts and created an enthusiastic following for their rich interpretation of traditional Irish songs. Finbar Wright joined the tenors for The Irish Tenors: Live From Belfast when John McDermott was unable to fully participate having suffered the loss of his mother shortly before the concert taping. Wright proved such a successful and popular addition that he has continued to tour and record with the Irish Tenors. As THE IRISH TENORS, Anthony Kearns, Ronan Tynan and Finbar Wright have sold more than 1.5 million albums, and the tenors' first two albums have been on the Billboard World Music Chart continuously for two years.
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Executive producer: Daniel Hart. Producer: Bill Hughes. Presenting station: WLIW New York. THE IRISH TENORS ELLIS ISLAND was produced in association with American Public Television. Distributed to public television stations nationwide by APT's Premium Service 12.