Bill Whelan Riverdance 25th Anniversary: Music From the Show 2LP

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Celebrated around the world for its Grammy-Award winning score, thrilling energy, and passion of its Irish and international dance, this release is the powerful and stirring reinterpretation of Bill Whelan's mesmerizing soundtrack to Riverdance.

Twenty-five years on, composer Bill Whelan went back into the studio to re-record the soundtrack to the show. He says "The music has moved into a very different position from when we first recorded it. A lot of the players on the original recording would have only heard the music a day or two before whereas in this case, the music has almost been in the ether for a lot of the musicians, many of whom weren't even born when I first wrote the score. As a result, these players come to this recording with a unique virtuosity - distinguished with both a familiarity and an energetic freshness".

Riverdance 25th Anniversary: Music From The Show features many of the world's finest young musicians including: Mark Alfred who injects a different kind of excitement to this album with his drumming, world renowned Mandolin player Avi Avital, traditional and classically trained Fiddle player Zoe Conway, award winning multi-instrumentalist Tara Howley (Uilleann Pipes & Low Whistle), emerging Spanish Guitarist Amos Lora, two time All Ireland Fiddle Champion Pat Mangan, International soloists Emma McPhilemy and Emma Frampton (Soprano Sax), Damien Mullane (Accordion), finest Eastern European musicians Nedyalko Nedyalkov (Gadulka) and Peyo Peev (Kaval), teenage sensation Haley Richardson on Fiddle, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and singers Lynn Hilary and Múireann Nic Amhlaoibh who makes her Riverdance debut with a stirring performance of the show's principle song Lift The Wings.

Riverdance began its journey as the interval act in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. This electrifying and innovative seven-minute dance piece was then developed into a full-length stage show by Producer Moya Doherty, Composer Bill Whelan, and Director John McColgan. With its fusion of Irish and International music and dance, the show broke all box office records during its world premiere run in Dublin in early 1995. When the show transferred to London, the reaction was unprecedented. There followed a hugely successful tour starting in New York in March 1996, where 8 sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall heralded the start of two decades of touring by Riverdance companies throughout North America.