 LITERARY
Irish Arts Center
in association with
River Music
Glucksman Ireland House – New York
University
American Irish Historical Society
Consulate General of Ireland
and
Consulate General of Canada
present
A Terrible Beauty
A Live Performance Inspired by the Novel
The
Law of Dreams by Peter Behrens
  Music
by Grammy Award-winning composer Paul Sullivan
Featuring
Peter Behrens, narrator
Paul Sullivan, piano
John Keating, actor
Rosie Upton, soprano
New York Premiere
May 21-23 | Friday - Saturday 8 pm, Sunday
3 pm
4th show added Saturday, May 22 at 2pm.
"An event of uncommon depth and artistry...wrapping the tragedy
of the Irish Famine and emigration in stunning music, evocative readings and
incomparable songs and slides."
—Ellsworth
American
A Terrible Beauty is a moving and engaging one-hour performance
of literature and music, based on Peter Behrens’ novel The Law
of Dreams, winner of the 2006 Governor General’s Literary Award for
fiction, with music by Grammy Award-winning composer Paul Sullivan.
Peter Behrens’ novel tells the story of a young man’s Homeric
passage from innocence to experience during the Irish Famine of 1847. In A
Terrible Beauty, an actor brings to life scenes from the book, accompanied
by emigrant ballads and songs inspired by the text, woven together with Behrens’ narration,
against the backdrop of striking visual imagery inspired by the famine.
Peter Behrens won the 2006 Governor General’s Literary Award
for fiction for The Law of Dreams, his first novel. Paul Sullivan has
been featured with the Paul Winter Consort, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the
Boston Pops, as well as Benny Goodman and other jazz masters. His thirteen albums
have sold over 300,000 copies worldwide.
On The Law of Dreams:
“absorbing, unsparing and beautifully written…A
masterly novel”
—The New York Times
"Superb. An emotional epic done in shadow-show, a lucid dream
of the past, bearing echoes of Melville and Ondaatje, conveying scents and shimmers
of a vanished world under the skin of our own."
— Jonathan
Lethem
"A beautifully written, poetically inspired tale of
heroism, love, and the triumph of the human spirit….Behrens is a superb
storyteller…I envy you this journey." —Malachy McCourt |
Admission: $28 general sale/ $23 members
To buy click
here or call 212 868-4444
IAC members at all levels may book directly
through Irish Arts Center and avoid ticket processing fees. Call 212-757-3318
ext. 204 10 am - 6 pm Monday through Friday.
Click here for Literary Archive
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