- This event has passed.
Irish Jazz Singer Christine Tobin
October 18, 2013 @ 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Free
Performance of her award-winning settings of poems by W.B. Yeats next in Fund for Irish Studies Series
Jazz singer and composer Christine Tobin will give a performance of “Sailing to Byzantium,” her award-winning musical settings of poems by W.B. Yeats, on Friday, October 18, at 4:30 p.m. in the Frist Theatre at the Frist Campus Center. The performance is part of a series presented by Princeton University’s Fund for Irish Studies. The event is free and open to the public.
Christine Tobin is an award-winning Irish songwriter and composer based in the U.K., where The Guardian has described her as “a jewel of the London jazz scene, streets ahead of the pack.” Having recorded seven albums for Babel, one of the U.K.’s most dynamic and creative Indie labels, she is the recipient of several awards and accolades that praise her skills as a writer and arranger. In 2008 she was named Best Vocalist at the BBC Jazz Awards and in December 2012 she won a British Composer Award for “Sailing to Byzantium.” She was also shortlisted for two Parliamentary Jazz Awards this year – “Musician of the Year” and “Album of the Year.”
[quote style=”boxed” float=”right”]Hear Tobin perform Carole King’s classic, “So Far Away,” in this video with accompanist Liam Noble:
[/quote]
Tobin’s versatility and musical integrity have won her invitations to record and work with a long list of artists that includes, among others, Billy Childs and Django Bates. She works regularly in the U.K. and international contemporary music scene, performing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London and recently to sell-out audiences at the Rochester International Jazz Festival in the U.S. She has also presented special features for BBC Radio 3’s cutting edge program Jazz on 3 and was a regular on Alyn Shipton’s Jazz Library during its long run on BBC Radio 3.
“Sailing to Byzantium” is her latest work and an “unqualified masterpiece,” according to Jazzwise Magazine. It is a work that brings to life the lyrical magic of poetry through a sensitive setting of twelve poems by Yeats. The poems range from his earlier works to his final collection, featuring some of his best-loved poems, including “When You Are Old” and “The Wild Swans at Coole.”
Information on the full 2013-2014 Fund for Irish Studies series can be found at fisprinceton.wpengine.com. Upcoming lectures scheduled in the series include:
- Philip King on “The Irish Song Lyric from Tom Moore to Christy Moore,” November 8
- Tony Award-winning playwright Enda Walsh in conversation with Senior Lecturer in Theater and Lewis Center Chair Michael Cadden, November 15
To learn more about the over 100 events presented each year by the Lewis Center for the Arts, visit princeton.edu/arts.
Link to photo: https://lca.sharefile.com/d/sf9437bd12e941cea
Photo caption: Christine Tobin, an Irish jazz singer, will perform her award-winning settings of poems by W.B. Yeats as part of a series presented by the Fund for Irish Studies at Princeton
Photo credit: Photo by Bob Barkany
