Renowned Irish tenor Ronan Tynan teams with the Festival Orchestra to open the 2008 Belleayre Music Festival on Saturday, July 5 at 8 p.m. A gala fireworks display follows the concert. Tynan is best known as a member of the Three Irish Tenors. He left the group in 2004 to go solo. The Belleayre concert program features a memorable mix of traditional classics, Irish melodies and Broadway and pop favorites, including, of course, music appropriate to the Fourth of July weekend celebration.
At the personal invitation of Nancy Reagan, he performed "Amazing Grace" and "Ave Maria" at the 2004 state funeral of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan at the Washington National Cathedral, which was viewed by an international television audience of more than 35 million. He has also is well known to New Yorkers for his performances of "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch at Yankee Stadium and for singing at numerous benefits and memorial services for New York City firefighters and police officers killed on September 11, 2001.
In addition to a glorious, inspiring voice, Tynan's personal story is an inspration, as well. Following a car accident when he was 20, Tynan's legs had to be amputated below the knee. Within a year, he was winning gold medals in the Paralympics. Between 1981 and 1984, he earned 18 gold medals and 14 world records - nine of which he still holds.
The Bellayre Music Festival has conceerts all summer. The schedule includes legendary Beach Boy Brian Wilson - The Hits Tour, on Saturday, July 12.
Summer music concerts by international stars. Definitely a reason to visit the Hudson Valley.
