From the Munster express…
Ilse de Ziah
Christ Church Cathedral gave their Coffee Concert audience a special treat with cellist Ilse de Ziah, a Connecticut born but Australian educated performer who now lives in Cork and plays with the Cork Symphony Orchestra. Her programme Irish Airs to Australian Fair was crowd-pleasing and her unusual arrangements of familiar Irish tunes created an expressive journey of styles and influences.
Her opening Carrickfergus was cold and lonely and caught the “black as ink” mood as the drone sound caught the heart – “I would swim over the deepest ocean” and de Ziah has crisscrossed oceans to share and expand her talents. Buachaill ón Eirne was beautiful and she sang her own love song Driftwood with contemporary folk touches.
Her arrangements were ambitious and interesting and O’Carolan’s Fanny Power was a gem glistening with grace and sparkle. Her own contemporary composition the River seemed too complicated for a noon concert and she followed this with an Indian tabla-influenced piece that caught the humidity, thunder and downpour.
Amhrán na Leabhar was very mournful, but she finished off an excellent concert with a jazzy song Chicken and Fox.
Liam Murphy