GALWAY TENOR Frank Naughton launches his new album, Come What May, at the Town Hall next week with three gala concerts.
With an eight-piece orchestra and musical direction by Morgan Cooke, this lavish production, will feature a tribute to the great tenor Pavarotti. Special guests include Delia Boyce (soprano ), Lucia Evans, and Pat Naughton (baritone ). It promises to be a wonderful evening of operatic classics and musical showstoppers.
Come What May is Frank’s third album to date and, meeting up ahead of its Town Hall launch, he readily declared his satisfaction with how well the album has turned out.
“My first album was The Power Within – in 2003 - and that did really well; it was a chart-topper in Zhivago’s,” he recalls. “A couple of years later I released Ovation which did OK but in retrospect I think I put it together too quickly, I did it in about six weeks whereas with the first album I put in nine months’ hard slog.
“So this time round I was determined not to rush the album. I’ve spent nearly 11 months on Come What May and I think the results have justified the amount of time spent working on it.”
Frank expands on the new album’s appeal; “There are a lot of differences with this album compared to the other two. This time we’ve gone for all live musicians and I think when you listen to the album you notice that extra bit of quality which that brings.
“I’m really pleased with how it sounds. The first song we did was ‘You Raise Me Up’, then ‘Nessun Dorma’ then ‘Caro Mio Ben’ and when I listened back to those three it gave me great encouragement to move on with the rest of the album, to not be afraid to spend the money, and the results speak for themselves.”
The choice of material on the album reflects Frank’s own musical tastes and there are also a number of guest appearances.
“I wanted a mix of the commercial songs and that lovely operatic stuff which I really love,” he declares. “I do ‘Come What May’ with Lucia Evans and I’m really pleased with how that’s turned out, we’ve known each other for years but have never sung together before.
“I also do ‘Panis Angelicus’ as a duet with Delia Boyce and we’ve sung together often before. I wanted to have a choir involved so I did Mozart’s ‘Ave Verum’ with the Galway Choral Association Chamber Choir – I think that’s a highlight of the album, the choir did a terrific job on it.
“Another personal favourite is ‘Una Furtiva Lagrima’; I think that’s really the anthem of what I’m saying on the album about real live music - when people listen to it they’ll hear that.”
Many of the guest artists who feature on the album will be joining Frank for his performances at the Town Hall – and there will also be guest turns from his brother, baritone Pat Naughton, and – all going well – his son Mark who’s due over from London.
Frank Naughton plays three nights at the Town Hall from Thursday November 20 to Saturday 22 inclusive at 8pm nightly, with proceeds from the opening night going to Cancer Care West.
Tickets for the Thursday night are €30 and are €25 for Friday and Saturday. Come What May will be available in the shops from next week.
For tickets contact the Town Hall on 091 - 569777.
