An abridged concert version of an original musical inspired by the world’s most beloved Irish ballad by Lisa Forget and Chris Barillaro
Danny Boy brings to life the famous Irish ballad by bringing together elements that have endeared the Irish people and their vibrant culture to the world. Through music, dance, humour, memorable characters, and a light sprinkling of fairy dust, Danny Boy’s love story, set at the dawn of World War I, bridges the gap between Ireland and Canada when folklore and traditions were like rays of hope in the shadow of dark times.
Danny Boy
Book/lyrics by Lisa Forget
Music by Lisa Forget and Chris Barillaro
Arrangements by Chris Barillaro
Chris Barillaro is a Montreal-based music director, pianist, orchestrator, actor, singer, magician, and graduate of McGill University (B.A. in music and theatre). Over the past two decades, Chris has had the honour of helping to develop many new musicals—in both of Canada’s official languages—as an MD and/or orchestrator/arranger. He’s also had the pleasure of performing at many beautiful theatres across the country including Place des Arts, The National Arts Centre, The Confederation Centre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, The Capitol, Globe Theatre, The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, and The Centaur Theatre. In 2018, Chris received a Félix at the Gala ADISQ in the category of “Spectacle: Interprète” for Demain matin, Montréal m’attend and in 2019, Chris received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding music direction for Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Lisa Forget has performed across the country in original Canadian productions of Les Misérables, Napoleon and Jeanne LaPucelle, The Great American Trailer Park Musical/Ma Femme, Ma Blonde et Ma Roulotte, Nunsense 2, Jeanne, Clockwork Orange, Chess in Concert and featured on cast recordings of Napoleon and Jeanne. Working with lyricists/composers in Montreal, Toronto and New York, Lisa has lent her voice in the development of new musical theatre works. For many years, Lisa has been assistant director of the St. Gabriel’s Parish choir and has been in demand as soloist for ceremonial occasions. She has also had the pleasure of producing and performing in cabarets and concert events, bringing together seasoned professionals and new talent to benefit local charities, foundations, hospitals, and community groups including the United Irish Societies, The St. Patrick’s Society and the Erin Sports Assn.
Chris Barillaro
Jayden Burrows
Elissa Dresdner
Lisa Forget
Alexandre Iannuzzi
Pierre Lenoir
Kathleen McAuliffe
Jonathan Patterson
Jonathan Vanderzon
Devon Wilkinson
Jérôme Aan de Wiel, PhD discusses his rediscovery of a long-forgotten chapter in Irish history and Ireland’s international relations.
Ireland’s Helping Hand to Europe: Combatting Hunger from Normandy to Tirana, 1945-1950
“Welcoming the Stranger?: From Rudolph Bloom to Ukrainians in Ireland Since 2022”
Kerry McElroy, PhD Concordia and international investigative journalist (Kyiv Post, The Independent), discusses Ireland’s ongoing response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the reception of refugees from Ukraine and the nation’s changing understanding of identity and immigrants over the last decade.
Montreal’s oldest Irish pub offers beers on tap and an extensive menu of hearty dishes.
Led by sacristan, Alexander Ferrant, PhD
Learn about the importance of this institution beyond its magnificent architecture and religious significance including the story of Darcy McGee, Canada’s only political martyr.
Donations to St. Patrick’s welcome.
The Future Tense, a documentary film by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy in conjunction with CinéGael.
In this fiercely personal documentary, two award-winning filmmakers explore the themes of connection and belonging.
When two Irish filmmakers travel home from London with their daughter, they reflect on their relation to Ireland,and their adopted home, England. They explore their own experiences in ageing, parenting, and mental illness, along with the brutal history that lies beneath Ireland’s heavy earth.
June 16 is BLOOMSDAY, the day made famous in James Joyce’s groundbreaking novel, Ulysses. Festival Bloomsday Montreal brings the book to riotous, ribald life in the Westmount Room with dramatized readings by fan favourites, Clive Brewer, Ellen Rubin, Ann Elbourne, and others. Molly Bloom’s lubricious nighttime musings, read by Kathleen Fee accompanied by the sweet Irish harmonies of Gráinne, bring the event to a close.
11:00 am-4:30 pm with a break for lunch. Tea and coffee will be served.
Evoking the immigrant experience in words and music from the Emerald Isle.
In this lively hour-long entertainment, two veteran performers use their own backgrounds and long friendship as a springboard to explore musical, historical, and literary links between Ireland and Quebec.
Kathleen McAuliffe hails from Dublin, Kathleen Fee is 7th generation Canadian with deep roots in Galway, and accompanist, Natalia Davidova, was born and raised in the central Asian country of Uzbekistan.
You’ll hum along to old favourites like The Black Velvet Band and Galway Bay, tap your toes to more recent tunes like The Dublin Saunter or Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears, and feast your ears on readings from great writers including, of course, Joyce himself.
40% of Quebeckers have some Irish heritage. Vast numbers of Irish women, men, and children fled misery, oppression, and starvation in their homeland arriving in Canada with nothing but their faith, their strength, their ingenuity, their music, and the gift of the gab.
Come and delve into your own connections and inquire into where your heart belongs.
Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Kathleen showed early promise as an actor and producer by roping the neighbourhood kids into putting on plays in her garage.
She studied singing from an early age right through her secondary years in boarding school in Kilcullen, County Kildare and later in Dublin. Kathleen performed in many community theatre productions and made her professional debut at the fabled Gaiety Theatre.
She joined the Bunratty Castle Singers and worked in all three of the medieval Castles: Bunratty, Knappogue, and Dunguaire for four wonderful years.
The search for adventure drew her across the Atlantic to Montreal’s own historic banquet, Le Festin du Gouverneur, where she sang for over 30 years.
She has won plaudits, awards, and legions of fans for performances at Centaur Theatre, the Saidye Bronfman Centre (now the Segal Centre), Hudson Village Theatre, among many other venues near and far, and starred in an Oscar nominated short film, First Winter.
Kathleen loves to travel, especially connecting with family members who are, as all Irish, scattered to the four corners of the world, from Ireland to New Zealand and Australia, to Spain and beyond.
She is delighted to be sharing the music she loves in the company of two dear friends.
Kathleen was born and raised in Ottawa where she attended La Maison Jeanne d’Arc, a bilingual convent day school. Her first leading role, age seven, was the Wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, foreshadowing a long career as a character voice specialist.
Professional training includes the Banff School of Fine Arts, Stratford Festival apprenticeship program, École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and Tom Todoroff workshops.
She has appeared on stages from Vancouver to Halifax, in films, TV shows, and countless television and radio commercials. In the 1970s she was the advertising spokesperson for the Royal Bank of Canada as Mary, the friendly teller. She later earned a Certificate in Translation from McGill which led to her expanding her capacities in post-production beyond acting and voice direction to script translation and adaptation.
She continues working as a character actor, narrator, and voice director in documentaries and animated films.
Her association with Festival Bloomsday Montreal began in its first year, 2011, when she was asked to perform Molly Bloom’s reverie-chapter 18 of James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses-now an annual tradition on June 16th. She later joined the board and was subsequently named Artistic Director. In that capacity she strives to bring intriguing, original, Irish themed events to a wider audience. Just like today.
Natalia graduated in piano performance from the Musical College of HAMZA, Uzbekistan in Tashkent. In 1992, she emigrated to Montreal with her husband and young son.
While learning both French and English (she grew up speaking Russian and Uzbek) Natalia freelanced as a rehearsal pianist and accompanist, eventually finding a home for her exceptional versatility at Le Festin du Gouverneur, where she kept the music going for almost three decades.
She is in demand for weddings and other ceremonies at parishes in and around Montreal including Saint Thomas More, Saint Jean Brébeuf, Missione Madre Dei Cristiani, and Saint Willibrord’s.