CONCERT PREVIEW
Lisa Kelly — The Voice of Ireland
With James Casto and John Maschinot. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. $35-$50. Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater, 201 McIntosh Trail, Peachtree City. 877-725-8849, www.ticketalternative.com.
In December 2011, Lisa Kelly took her final bow with Celtic Woman.
It happened to be on the Atlanta Symphony Hall stage, which is now an amusing footnote since shortly afterward, Kelly and her family put down roots in Peachtree City, about 40 minutes south of Atlanta.
Last year, Kelly opened the Lisa Kelly Voice Academy in her new home city, a successful venture that has not only witnessed growth, but morphed into teaching all ages of students about performance as well as singing — something Kelly perfected during her near-decade tenure with the internationally beloved Celtic Woman.
On Saturday, Kelly will make her solo concert debut at Peachtree City’s Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater (aka “The Fred”) with a show designed to not only showcase her vocal talents, but Irish culture as well.
“We’re trying to give people an experience they may not have necessarily had before,” said Kelly’s husband, Scott Porter, who will produce and direct the show, and, as a former member of Riverdance, perform a Celtic dance solo in it. “There will be classical music. There will be pop. There will be modern dancing and traditional dancing. The audience will get to experience all of these flavors. From the moment they arrive to the moment they leave, we want them to experience modern Ireland and get to meet Lisa for the first time.”
Kelly, a warm, engaging presence, says that teaching has increased her confidence as a performer and that the outpouring of support she’s received from fans around the world — Saturday’s audience will include devotees who have traveled from Germany, Japan and the Netherlands to see her — has reassured her.
“I genuinely thought I’d be worried and stressed,” she said with a light smile that suggests she’s perfectly at ease with her weekend duties.
Helping to alleviate Kelly’s concerns will be the presence of her pal and former Celtic Woman mate, Chloe Agnew, who also left the group last year, and Paul Byrom, known for his time in Irish singing group Celtic Thunder and his own solo work.
Kelly and Byrom have known each other for years, but this will be their first time performing together.
“We needed a guy as a foil and (one) with that classical voice,” Porter said. “And he has a lot of lady adoration.”
Kelly wants to keep the set list a surprise for fans, but does allow that she and Agnew will duet on a musical theater song and that many of the Celtic Woman fan favorites will receive their due, such as the Scottish ballad “Caledonia” and the group’s version of “You Raise Me Up.”
While Kelly is the focal point of the night, she'll be joined by a five-piece band steered by musical director and pianist Cheryl Rogers that includes percussionist James Casto (who will also open the show, along with Irish musician John Maschinot) and Irish fiddler Colin Farrell (no, ladies, not that Colin Farrell).
Three of the couple’s four children will make appearances: 11-year-old son Cian Porter will demonstrate his Irish dancing moves, while younger siblings Jack and Ellie will sing.
The students of the voice academy also will experience the professional spotlight. The plan is for the entire group — more than 120 singers aged 6 to 75 — to integrate into the show for three or four songs. As long as, of course, they make the cut.
“Just like any professional show, when we do our tech rehearsal, if it’s not good enough, it’s going to get pulled and they know that,” said Porter, adding with a smile, “so I’m the big bad wolf.”
Kelly is excited about the flexibility that her own show will allow — “Everything with Celtic Woman (shows) was very choreographed. But with this, if you start the song wrong, there’s nothing wrong with stopping and starting it again,” she said — and that renowned lighting designer Tom Kenny (his resume boasts lighting the Who, Lady Gaga and David Bowie, as well as scads of MTV and Nickelodeon awards shows) is handling the illumination of the concert.
“It’s never been about me as a star,” Kelly said of the upcoming event. “It was really to give back to the community and my fans.”
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