Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras might have put the "three tenors" moniker on the map, but over the past four years three Irishmen have been busy carving their own niche in the market of popular world music meets classical opera.
This weekend Anthony Norton, Ciaran Nagle and Paul Byrom will be treating local audiences to their take on the "three tenors" theme, which sees them wowing audiences with surging classical anthems one minute and wooing them with more down-to-earth and time-honored tunes from the Emerald Isle the next.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KHAM
The Three Irish Tenors, as they are collectively known, will be bringing their imaginative and highly varied repertoire of operatic arias, traditional Irish ballads and the odd popular folk tune or two to stages in Chungli, Kaohsiung and Taipei from tomorrow through Monday.
The combined talents of Norton, Nagle and Byrom and their well-crafted and non-mainstream opera performances have been lauded by audiences from Tipperary to Tallahassee since they first stepped out together in 2001.
While none of the Three Irish Tenors -- who should not be confused with the other tenors from Ireland who go by the name the Irish Tenors -- have reached the same international standing as the original three tenors, the crooning Irishmen did enjoy moderate individual success before joining forces.
Along with numerous performances as a member of Opera Ireland, Nagle also toured extensively with the foot tapping Irish dance troupe, Riverdance. Norton, who was a soloist at the La Scala in Milan before joining the group, enjoyed success as a member of the Scottish Opera and Opera Ireland. And Byrom, who was awarded the John McCormick Tenor of the Year in 2001, has released several solo albums and once sang the national anthem at the All Ireland Football Final in Corke in front of 70,000 people.
For the their Taiwan shows the trio will be performing a mixed bag of tunes and treating audiences to very varied programs. The Three Irish Tenors sets will include popular Irish melodies like The Hills of Donegal, as well as selection of more opera-oriented numbers such as O Sole Mio and Nessun Dorma. Jacqueline Whelan, one of Ireland's leading sopranos will be accompanying the tenors in Taiwan this weekend.
Performance notes:
What: The Three Irish Tenors
Where: They will perform at the Chungli Arts Center (
When: All performances begin at 7:30pm.
Tickets: From NT$400 to NT$3,000 and are available from ERA Ticketing outlets nationwide or direct from the ticketing offices of the respective venues.
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