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Québec Celtic Festival 
The Palais Montcalm resonated with the most enchanting Celtic music the evening of September 17. A beautiful soprano voice soared, accompanied by the glorious range of voices from a choir. This concert featuring our Celtic Songbird, Méav, with the Les Rhapsodes choir was the culmination to Québec's week-long Celtic Festival, now in its fifth year.
Les Rhapsodes, a choir of 70 singers, is well known in Québec for covering many aspects of choral music - from the Renaissance to twentieth-century music. It was an honor for Méav to be able to sing and join this majestic choir in celebrating the Celtic heritage of the people of Québec.
Méav was joined by her band members (Una, Conor and Shea) for performances of traditional and contemporary Celtic music, arranged for this special concert by Les Rhapsodes' artistic and musical director David Rompré.
"The trip to Québec city was a real pleasure. The Palais Montcalm has a lovely natural acoustic and the audience were really responsive and warm. We had a full house and standing ovations which felt fantastic. Thank you for sending the beautiful bouquet! Some of my favorite moments in the concert include walking in through dry ice and candlelight with the fantastic choir Les Rhapsodes creating low atmospheric drones to accompany the first song, then later hearing them relish getting their tongues around a really lively version of Dúlamán! I had my trusty musicians Una, Conor and Shea with me again and they charmed the crowd, especially when they chatted in French. We also had Major Alan Stairs join us on the bagpipes which gave the concert a really festive flavour and beautifully introduced the Scottish songs. We had the luxury of some free time to explore the charming historic city center and taste the local cuisine which featured lots of maple syrup!"
CBC Radio One
The Celtic Superstar Meav was interviewed by Rachel Solomon for the "Breakaway" with Jacquie Czernin's radio show on CBC Radio One. Rachel caught up with Meav on the steps of Palais Montcalm that morning before the Celtic Festival Concert. Rachel also joined Meav and Les Rhapsodes at the Quebec High School during their first rehearsal the day before. Meav gave us a copy of this lovely interview of herself, the musical director David Rompre and Les Rhapsodes. This brilliant interview was aired on Sept 17 at 5:30 pm on the Canadian Radio Station. We are pleased to have the copy of this interview for all the Meav fans to hear through our newsletter. Please CLICK HERE to hear the full interview and the song "Dulaman" at the end of the clip.
at Québec High School
(Top photo: Méav & Sandy HarlowBottom photo: Méav & Marie-France ----- @ Breakfast Sept. 2 Nashville, TN)
"A special thank you to Marie-France, Beth and Sandy and to everyone at the forum for a great five years - long may it continue!" ---- Méav
CelticMeav.com, the Official Méav fan website, is 5 years old!
We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone, and grateful to have been here with Méav all these years, to share her many career successes through our website. Sharing Méav's unforgettable and often life-changing music with the world is truly the heart and soul of our website. Thank you, dear readers, for being with us all these years! We are pleased to announce our yearly anniversary contest giveaway. For the complete details on how to enter, please CLICK HERE.
filming in Nashville: Méav in Orla's Celtic Christmas Special White tree branches wrapped in lights were peeking from behind frosted windows, all decked out with red drapes and a beautiful Christmas wreath. Golden picture frames hung on a lighted wall, which during the course of the evening changed colors and twinkled with stars. Put together, this well-designed set gave the feeling of being in someone's living room all decorated for the holidays. This cozy ambiance onstage worked its magic on an eager and excited audience as they took their seats to await the beginning of one very special PBS Christmas show filming.
This was Orla's first solo Christmas show filmed for PBS, and it was a dream come true for so many fans to have the opportunity to participate in the filming. Orla's guests for this special included the American Idol sensation David Archuleta, country music star Mark Wills, the Irish group Anúna, and our Celtic Songbird, Méav.
It was interesting to watch how the PBS shows are filmed before the final cut of the DVD is shown during the PBS pledge drive in the coming weeks. Seeing how the stage props move, watching how the lighting changes, how different camera movement and angle-shots are made, and to observe how the director cues the audience is indeed a fun experience. (The show's marvelous director was Dennis Rosenblatt.) There are so many things going on while filming a live concert that never appear on the final cut. It was an unforgettable experience to be there with Orla and Méav during this shoot. One of the most memorable moments of the show was when Méav joined Orla in singing "Do you Hear what I Hear." Méav began to sing as she slowly emerged from a cloud of smoke and the spotlight revealed her angelic figure. The audience was quite taken by her voice and beauty. Words cannot perfectly describe that moment when the audience rose to give these two talented ladies a standing ovation. This was something no director in any filming could ever cue. The warm and loving applause was amazing to experience! Méav and Orla nodded and smiled at the audience in gratitude. This beautiful standing ovation truly energized the performance during rest of the show! Méav's distinct soprano voice soared as she sang one of her favorite Christmas songs, "O Holy Night," accompanied by Orla playing harp. Another highlight was the new song entitled "Bells of Christmas," which Orla sang that night.
Here is the list of songs performed that evening*:
Ding Dong Merrily on High After watching the artists enjoy singing the last song of the show, the director announced that a second run-through of the entire show would begin after a brief intermission, and anyone who wished to stay to see the show again was welcome to do so. What a double treat! Who could say no to that?! Everyone who stayed for that second filming was also treated to an impromptu meet and greet by Orla, David and Méav. The fans enjoyed this opportunity to meet their favorites - and for so many of Méav's devotees, this was the first time they were able to see Méav again after leaving Celtic Woman.
Méav fondly shared with us her wonderful experience in Nashville:
"It was great to meet so many of you in Nashville - thank you so much for making the journey and thanks also to the background helpers who made it all possible.
Orla was of course a joy to work with and she had a great team too. I knew everything was going to run smoothly when we found ourselves ahead of schedule during rehearsals - that never happens! I look forward to seeing the end result on PBS with all your smiling faces in the audience!" Orla's Celtic Christmas Special will be shown on your local PBS stations starting November 25th and running through Christmas. Please check your local PBS stations for the exact schedule in your area. The DVD will also be available for purchase before Christmas, just in time for all your holiday shopping. It makes a wonderful addition to your Christmas DVD collection! *We would like to thank John Mann, and Mike for writing down the songs performed that night.
Related Links and Credits : www.meav.com www.palaismontcalm.ca www.lesrhapsodes.com www.lesproductionscibles.com www.cbc.ca/breakaway CBC Breakaway Facebook page www.orlafallon.com Quebec High School |
Méav shared exclusively with The Lark her thoughts on performing with a world renowned Canadian choir and her marvelous time in Québec:
