Moment of music Joy: Brian Byrne & RTE Orchestra at the National Concert Hall, Dublin (2012)

I wanted to share a night full of music with my mum who is visting from Spain & my husband,so what a better way than going to a concert at the National Concert Hall in Dublin?. I was checking the coming performances and I chose the one from Saturday night ( the10th of March), mainly due to the fact that one of our favorite groups were part of the repertoire of the night: The Coronas. I did not know the director of the orchestra for the night, Brian Byrne (I know I'm an ignorant, he is quite a well-known composer and director), nor I did the rest of the artists of the night: Claire Martin (vocals) & Nigel Hitchcock (saxophone). The magic of the night was a blend of different styles of music, all in a few hours, surrounded by at least 70 members of the RTE orchestra. All started with some classical touches composed by Brian Byrne: Queen's Fanfare and then opening title of Albert Nobbs, Fantasy store & Hubert/ Albert Fix Boiler. This was followed by a colorful and happy Polka and a Waltz played mainly by one violinist and a flute player along with the orchestra, you felt like dancing on the stage! The end of the first interval came with a saxophone concerto played by magnificent Nigel Hitchcock! I can assure you that I had not seen anything like him before in my life, what ability to play saxo so quickly and in tune! Among the performances,the brilliant director, composer and also musician: Brian Byrne, played some Irish jokes about the orchestra and even some cousins that he said that had in the audience and made us all laugh. Brian was able to direct the orchestra and to play piano in a superb way at the same time, of course without stopping smiling!

After a short 10 to 15 break, we became excited because it was the time to see "The Coronas" live with the RTE orchestra, what a moment! The singer, Danny was excited to play with them, you could see it on his face, he is so humble and transparent! They played 3 songs "Closer To you", "Mark my words" and Danny's version of "Lakes of Pontchartrain (see the below video to listen to it)", to me the last one was my favorite, Danny has such a clean and different voice from anybodyelse that every song he sings it 's made unique. When he was not singing he was looking back at the orchestra, it must have been a beautiful moment to see 18 violinist playing along their songs. We enjoyed it with them, so much! The director introduced them saying that he knows that they will be "the U2 of the XXIth century" due to their talent, I'm also sure they will be!! Well, after the Coronas finished another big surprise was awaiting for us, at least for me, getting to know and listen to UK Jazz singer Claire Martin was the surprise of the night. What a voice and talent!! She made me feel every note of every song she sang! Beautiful! The songs she sang: "Get Happy","Windmills of your mind"."How about me","I get along without you ver well",I keep going back to Joes""God give me strength" (I loved this one!). Such a beautiful night ended with Jazz with the Saxo Nigel and Bryan Byrne  playing piano improvising with the rest of the orchestra! What a way of ending the concert!

Yesterday night will be a night to remember , not only because of all that I have explained above but also because we had the chance to meet personally &  had a photo taken with Danny (The Coronas' singer!)!! Yes!! He was seated among the public with his girlfriend after his performance and some fans like us couldn't avoid asking Danny for a photo! My husband said: "We are your fans, Can I take a photo of you with my wife?". Danny said"Sure, Nice to meet you guys, thanx " (Gee , he is much taller and handsome than I expected!! What a pity he has a beautiful blonde girlfriend (check my photo, she is in the background) and that I also have a beautiful husband, otherwise..). I wanted to tell Danny so many things but I was lost for words,I really felt like a teenager again!!! Although I look horrible I want to share the photo with you!

Thanx National concert hall for making us all happy !! We all enjoyed the night!! This was my "Mother's day present and I'm very pleased to see that she enjoyed a different concert from the ones she usually goes to.