‘You’ve got to get the right start’

Note: I haven't updated this blog in... far too long. But what better way to reintroduce it than by sharing an article I wrote about Anthony Kearns's upcoming concert in Needham, Mass.?

Tenor Anthony Kearns to sing benefit concert for
St. Joseph’s Parish Schools

By Melissa A. Lynch

“Never has education been more important than it is now,” tenor Anthony Kearns says. 

Kearns, a founding member of The Irish Tenors, will perform a benefit concert for St. Joseph Parish Schools on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. in St. Joseph Church.

St. Joseph’s has been educating students since 1954, when the Sisters of Charity began teaching at the elementary school. The Monsignor James J. Haddad Middle School opened in 1996 and expanded the parish’s reach, bringing with it a mission of encouraging students “to think for themselves, not just for today, but for a lifetime as they develop an awareness of their place in society.”

Both schools share the charge of educating the whole student: mind, body and spirit.

The money raised by the concert will be used to support the general operating budget of the schools, according to Liz O’Connell, the concert’s organizer.

O’Connell says the parish is excited to have Kearns sing in the upper church, where they have a new Yamaha baby grand piano. 

Tickets for the concert ($35), as well as for a meet-and-greet event with Kearns ($50, including the concert), are available at the St. Joseph’s rectory and online at www.saintjoes.com.

Kearns, recognized in 2010 by the Irish Music Association as the best Irish Tenor in the U.S., U.K., and the European Union, has a number of operatic roles to his credit, along with his 13-year, ongoing association with The Irish Tenors. He sang the title role of Faust, Don Jose in Carmen and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, all in Ireland; and, in the U.S., Romeo in Romeo & Juliet: Then and Now, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Faust, all for Opera Naples in Florida, and Alfred in Die Fledermaus in Colorado.

Earlier this year, he sang at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library at a celebration of the Kennedy family’s roots in Ireland (Enjoy that concert in its entirety here). “I’ve never heard a better Irish Tenor voice,” the late president’s sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, had previously remarked upon hearing Kearns sing a tribute to her brother at an event in Ireland. 

The Nashville Scene called Kearns “a superb singer, possessing a lyrical, virile, disciplined voice; he is a confident, compelling performer.” And critic Peter Landsdowne wrote, “He may well become the Tenor of our Times.”

The St. Joseph’s concert is one of several benefits scheduled during Kearns’s fall tour of the United States. He says he enjoys being able to give back to the community like this. “If we can help on our way, we will. We’ve all been helped in some shape or form along our path in life.” 

Kearns, who hails from a small village in County Wexford, Ireland, knows the value of education. 

“There’s no guarantee in the world we live in today of work at any level, and that’s the scary thing,” he says, “with the current climate and the way the world has gone, and the economies.”

Historically, Irish Catholics had to fight for their own educations, so they understand its importance. “Catholics were held down [in Ireland], and they had to practice their faith privately,” Kearns explains. Catholic children were not allowed to attend regular schools.

“Kids were educated in what was known as hedge schools – literally, that was what it was, a hedge somewhere in a field that the kids sat under while the teacher taught them,” Kearns says. “So education is very important in Ireland, and people never forgot it. The Irish have done very well around the globe; their education system is very, very good. People get a good standard of education from a very early age — they’re exposed to music and languages and everything else; these are the tools that will carry them through life.”

“You’ve got to get the right start,” he adds. “If you don’t have the right foundation, you can’t build the house.” 

For more information, visit anthonykearns.net.