If you're Bill Whelan, Grammy Award-winning composer of the wildly successful "Riverdance," what could you possibly do for an encore?
As it turns out, Whelan is writing an opera. He has teamed with Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish poet Paul Muldoon (whose archives are at Emory University), to write a work commissioned by New York's Metropolitan Opera.
It's too early to say whether the opera will be strongly inspired by Irish folk music, as in the case of "Riverdance," he said in an interview.
"Broadly speaking, it will sound as if it was written by an Irish composer," said Whelan, whose background includes everything from writing movie scores and large-scale orchestral works to producing recordings for U2 and Van Morrison.
Whelan will be in Atlanta Tuesday to speak about his work to the Atlanta chapter of the Irish Chamber of Commerce. He also plans to attend the opening night of the "Riverdance" farewell tour at The Fox Theatre .
As millions of people know by now, the all-dance, no-dialogue "Riverdance" is a phenomenon of historic proportions. The production has grossed at least $1 billion so far and been seen live by more than 21 million people. Thirteen years after its debut in Dublin, three companies are still touring it. The show is credited with not only revitalizing the folkloric art of Irish step dancing, but also reinvigorating Irish pride.
Along with the peace process in Northern Ireland and Ireland's economic surge — known as the "Celtic Tiger" — the show "has been a hugely important part of a transformation of the image of Ireland in the last 20 years," said Niall O'Dowd, founder of Irish America Magazine and the Irish Voice newspaper.
But there's also the feeling that Whelan is destined for greater artistic accomplishments — that he could become essentially the first Irish composer to incorporate folk music into classical music as successfully as Tchaikovsky or Edvard Grieg, said Jim Flannery, director of the W.B. Yeats Foundation at Emory, who has known Whelan since they both worked with the Yeats International Theatre Festival in Ireland in the early 1990s.
"The dancing and the showbiz elements of 'Riverdance' have overwhelmed the beauty and incredible versatility of the music itself," said Flannery.
Whelan is a fairly frequent visitor to Atlanta, going back to an early '90s scouting trip for gospel choirs for the first version of "Riverdance." The original "Riverdance" contained two gospel songs written, like everything else, by Whelan and performed by Rev. James Bignon's Deliverance Ensemble from Atlanta. The songs, which explored the common feelings of displacement that Irish and African people felt in the New World, were dropped in later versions of the show, replaced by Irish music.
Whelan also appeared in the most recent Atlanta Celtic Christmas Concert at Emory, presenting a choral piece based on a 7th century Irish poem.
IF YOU GO
"Riverdance" The Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. NE. May 13-18. $25 to $62. Tickets available at The Fox Theatre box office, Ticketmaster outlets or by calling 404-817-8700.
Bill Whelan. Irish Chamber of Commerce - USA, Atlanta chapter luncheon. World Trade Center, 303 Peachtree St. NE. Lower lobby, Suite 100. Today at 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. $25 for members, $30 for nonmembers. Tickets may be bought at the door starting at 11:30 a.m. or online at Irish Chamber of Commerce.
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