Mary McParlan, one of Ireland’s finest folk singers and a staff member of NUI Galway, will be starting 2013 in New York, following being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship.
Mary was awarded the prestigious scholarship to Lehman College City University of New York, where she will spend the next four months.
Fulbright Awards are presented on annually to Irish students, scholars, and professionals to undertake postgraduate study and research at higher education, cultural, and related institutions in the US.
As part of her scholarship Mary will teach a module on Irish traditional women singers’ and songs since the 1950s and also give lectures on Irish contemporary playwrights and plays.
She also plans to give performances at University of Notre Dame, Boston College, the Irish Arts Centre in New York, and at Glucksman Ireland House.
Mary also recently released two new songs for download on her website, www.marymcpartlan.com ‘When I Was A Young Girl’, a version of the ballad ‘St James’s Hospital’, is a blues lament for the late poet Pearse Hutchinson, recorded at his family home in Rathgar in Dublin. It will be featured on Mary’s new album which she plans to begin recording in New York this year.
Mary has also re-recorded, ‘Victor Jara’, a ballad written by English poet Adrian Mitchell, about the celebrated Chilean singer. This new version features Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins, and was recorded at the Mermaid Theatre in Bray, County Wicklow.
