The 10th of April will be remembered as a defining date for British and Irish relations. Marking the first ever Irish State Visit to Britain, Republic of Ireland President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina Coyne were welcomed to Britain by Her Majesty the Queen with all the pomp and ceremony that Britain has become famous for.
Following on from the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s State Visit to Ireland in 2011, the national tour represents a strengthening of political and cultural relations between the two countries and marks a brighter future for all moving forward. Having visited the historic grounds of Windsor Castle earlier in the day, President Higgins was welcomed to the Royal Albert Hall to attend Ceiliuradh – meaning celebration, for an unforgettable evening of traditional Irish and British festivities.
Sound By Design were appointed by Irish production company South Wind Blows who specialise in producing music programmes for Irish radio and television – including one of the country’s top music events; Other Voices. Venturing across the Irish Sea to the heart of West London, South Wind Blows orchestrated this superb production which celebrated the versatility and creative artistry that Ireland has to offer, including music, dance, literature and performance. Featuring a line-up of some of Ireland’s most famous artists – and a very big surprise guest along the way, the sold-out Royal Albert Hall was a fitting venue to welcome President Higgins and mark this momentous occasion in British and Irish history.
Compere for the evening was presenter Dermot O’Leary who spoke of his proud Irish heritage as a young boy growing up in London. In his signature comedic style, the nation’s favourite presenter warmed the audience ready for a night of sensational performances. First on the bill, actress Fiona Shaw gave a stirring reading of The Song of Wandering Angus by WB Yeates, backed by the house band which featured a host of acclaimed Irish folk musicians. Following this, the audience were treated to a display of traditional Irish Dancing as the spine tingling sounds of Irish folk music swept up into the galleries.
One of the biggest draws of the evening was a beautiful duet between lead singer of The Frames; Glen Hansard and Lisa Hannigan who performed ‘Falling Slowly’ from the smash hit film; Once. As large swathes of the audience clung valiantly to their tears, it was time for the special surprise guest.
Amongst rapturous applause from the audience, none other than Elvis Costello took to the stage to perform a duet of his 1982 hit; ‘Ship Building’ with singer; Conor O’Brien. Costello went on to perform songs from his 30 year career, including ‘Tripwire’ and ‘What’s so funny ‘bout peace, love and understanding.’ Having kept his performance completely under wraps, the audience was clearly thrilled with the evening’s surprise guest appearance, adding a rock ‘n’ roll edge to the proceedings.
As well as celebrating the cultures and traditions embedded within Ireland, Ceiliuradh also illustrated that no one does a sing-along quite like the Irish. With a rousing rendition of ‘The Auld Triangle’, Glen Hansard led the ensemble which featured all of the performing artists. This iconic piece of Irish folk music – normally heard in old pubs in Dublin, now filled the vast confines of the Royal Albert Hall as the crowd sang along in unison.
To ensure that an eclectic production such as this runs seamlessly, having an experienced team of engineers is paramount. Busy operating behind the scenes, Sound By Design’s engineers Elaine Duffy, Matt Gush and Graham Colley took care of stage operations whilst engineers Rob Waite and Dan Ungaretti provided support at front-of-house and monitors respectively. For this concert, front-of-house engineer Chloe Nagle and monitors engineer Leon O’Neill took care of mixing duties, both operating on Sound By Design’s DiGiCo SD5 consoles and SD racks.
For the main PA system, project manager and lead sound designer Stephen Hughes selected to use the in-house Halo-C PA system flown in its left/ centre/ right concert formation. The outer line arrays comprised of 20 boxes of Halo-C loudspeakers with the central made up of 12. For the sound on-stage, a considerable system for the artists and house band was installed, including 24 d&b audiotechnik M4 wedges alongside 8 EM Acoustics 51 ultra-compact stage monitors for the choir and military band.
As this concert was being recorded and filmed for Irish Radio station RTE Radio 1 and RTE television, Sound By Design supplemented the close mic’d stage inputs by using 4 DPA 4006 microphones suspended above the stage, and Neumann KM184s and DPA 4011s on the front of stage and rear of arena. For this event, the broadcast teams were fed active splits rather than MADI splits from the stage racks in order to allow each department to maintain independent gain control of all microphones in use.
As lead audio supplier to the Royal Albert Hall, Sound By Design have had the privilege of working with a plethora of world renowned artists and the opportunities to be a part of momentous occasions such as Ceiliuradh. When making his speech to the audience, President Higgins encapsulated the atmosphere of the event, stating that:
“On a night like this, it is great to be Irish, and it is even better to share it in the company of our friends in Britain. May we all together, go on to celebrate all of the benefits and may future generations talk of this great evening; Ceiliuradh.”
Speaking about this event, Project Manager Stephen Hughes commented:
“This has been a real coming together of two nations – not just culturally and artistically, but in a technical capacity also. Both of our teams were simpatico in the way we worked, which was a real boon, and I’m certainly glad to have taken part in something so historical.”