This trip features some of the oldest repositories of Gaelic culture in Ireland, the most magnificent music you are ever likely to hear, and some of the most rugged and beautiful scenic vistas imaginable. Don't miss the opportunity to explore the Emerald Isle with Irish musician and dancer Johnny Morrissey and Tina Spencer Dreisbach '67, chair of the Hiram music department. Tina has taught Irish studies for several years and leads a popular Hiram Study Abroad program to Ireland.
The trip will center on four regions of Ireland: Dublin, Derry, Tory Island, and Ennis in County Clare. We will visit the majestic pre-Celtic, Celtic, and Christian monuments that dot the Irish countryside, visit five-thousand-year-old dolmens, standing stones, passage tombs and cairns, and walk to ring forts, round towers, high crosses and holy wells. We will explore abbeys and castles in their magnificent natural settings and learn about the historical context in which they flourished and changed. We will visit communities where the Celtic language is still used by native speakers - a culture that has endured despite ravages of colonialism, famine and emigration. We will visit towns and cities with splendid architecture and artifacts. Above all, we will experience the unmatchable music, dance and poetry of Ireland among the hills made famous by Yeats and the ancient woods, peat bogs and drumlins where fairies become believable. The group will attend a play, meet musicians, dancers, and storytellers, experience two great cities, Derry and Dublin, and spend two days on remote Tory Island off the coast of County Donegal.
The trip is offered in conjunction with Mick Moloney's Irish Folklore Tours, Biddeford, Maine. Dr. Moloney is a renowned musician and educator and Professor of Irish Studies at New York University.
Price includes ($3,900) comfortable hotel accommodations; first and last night receptions; all breakfasts; 7 dinners; all admissions and excursions including Abbey Theatre; lectures, guest musicians, concerts, and dance instruction; motor coach transportation throughout Ireland and ferry to Tory Island. Airport transfers also included, timed to principal Aer Lingus flights to and from U.S. Overseas airline travel, at additional cost, can be booked through William Durkin of Irish Folklore Tours / Hemisphere Travel.
A deposit of $500 will required by the February 15, 2010 deadline.
TENTATIVE ITINERARY
Day 1 – Overnight flight to Dublin
Day 2 – Meet bus, visit monastery and high cross at Monasterboice, check into hotel in city. Free time, group dinner and reception, concert by local musicians
Day 3 – Walking tour of Dublin a.m. Group visit to National Museum and Book of Kells at Trinity College. Free time until evening play at Abbey Theatre.
Day 4 – Head north to Stone Age megalithic tombs in Newgrange. Next stop is Patrick Kavanagh Center in small village of Innishkeen, County Monaghan, with guided tour of sites that inspired Kavanagh, the “people's poet.” Afternoon drive through mountains to Armagh, pre-Christian Celtic ritual center of Ireland converted to monastery by St. Patrick in 5th century. Group dinner and concert by famed Armagh Rhymers.
Day 5 – Visit St. Patrick's Cathedral, followed by free time. After lunch travel to Ulster American Folk Park in County Tyrone, which portrays migration from North Ireland to the U.S., particularly the Southern Appalachians. Late afternoon arrival and free time in Derry, one of the oldest walled cities in Europe. Dinner followed by traditional music and dance.
Day 6 – After breakfast visit Tower Museum, voted Best in Ireland for last five years, for study of complex Derry history. Walk on city walls with Roy Arbuckle, local Ulster Presbyterian activist (and well known singer) and learn about symbolic importance of Derry for both Republicans and Loyalists. Afternoon visit to nearby ancient fort Grianan of Aileach.
Day 7 – Leave Northern Ireland and head west to the picturesque coastal village of Bunbeg in County Donegal and take ferry to Tory Island. Tory is Gaelic speaking and has a wealth of historical and archeological treasures. It is also a nature preserve, home to almost extinct birds like the corncrake. The coastal cliffs are spectacular. Check into the only hotel on Tory and enjoy music and dancing with locals until the wee hours.
Day 8 – Lecture on history and culture of the island, followed by extended walk with the King of Tory, Patsy Dan Rogers. Tory has one of the oldest monarchies in Western Europe and a unique cooperative system of land use; in modern times the King is politician, island manager, and head of public relations (as well as musician and visual artist). The Tory School of Primitive Painters is renowned in European art circles and we will tour Patsy Dan's studio. More traditional music and dancing in hotel pub.
Day 9 – Return to mainland by lunchtime. Travel southwest through County Sligo to Yeats' grave at the foot of Ben Bulben. Discussion of literary associations with local mythology. Dinner and hotel in Ennis, capital of County Clare. Ennis is a quiet rural town and regional cultural center. Free evening for nightlife in local pubs.
Day 10 – Visit local sites: monastery at Dysert, shiela na gig (female fertility symbol) in Kilnaboy and Kilfenora Cathedral with famed high crosses. Lunch in “music town” of Doolin, then drive up coast to the Burren geological area. Return to Ennis via the Poulnabroune Stone Age dolmen (portal tomb). Final reception, dinner, and special concert featuring the All Ireland Champion Mulcahy Family.
Day 11 – Travel to U.S.
About Johnny Morrissey
Johnny Morrissey, a native of County Tipperary, is an accomplished musician and specialist in Irish history and culture. In addition, he is one of Ireland's top teachers of set dancing. His life has been devoted to study of Irish music, dance, history, archeology, folklore and verbal art. He has worked many years in Irish traditional music as performer and instructor and presently plays concertina in several bands in the Dublin area. He is a native of County Tipperary.
About Tina Dreisbach
Tina Spencer Dreisbach '67, Associate Professor of Music at Hiram, holds a Ph.D. in Musicology/Early Music Performance Practice at Case Western Reserve University, where she specialized in Baroque music. At Hiram she teaches European and American music history including jazz and popular styles, gender studies, world music, and Irish studies. She also teaches writing in the First Year Program and shares several interdisciplinary classes with colleagues from the Art, History, and English departments. She directs off campus programs in New Orleans and Ireland. Her interest in Asian Music led to study at the New England Conservatory, San Diego State University and workshops in Hawaii (through the Japan Studies Association); Bali and Java, Indonesia (through the Center for World Music); and China (through the East West Center).
She plays baroque flute in the Cleveland-based Ensemble Lautenkonzert and the Dreisbach Baroque Ensemble, and Irish flute in the Celtic group Top o' the Hill. Tina lives on Dean Street in Hiram with her husband, woodwind specialist Paul Dreisbach, three greyhound rescues, and a mini dachshund.
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