The McGee Band and Professor David Wilson will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 13 at the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Theater in the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. They will provide an evening of traditional-style music and readings from speeches, letters and poetry of native Irishman Thomas D’Arcy McGee.
McGee became a famous and influential journalist and prominent politician after immigrating to Canada and then the United States in the 19th century. The McGee Band plays a blend of Irish, Scottish and Québécois music. The band’s latest album, “In Honour of the Life and Times of Thomas D’Arcy McGee,” was recorded in a style reminiscent of music that evolved in 1860s Ottawa.
Wilson is a professor in the Celtic studies program in the Department of History at the University of Toronto. His latest book, “Thomas D’Arcy McGee Volume 1: Passion, Reason, and Politics, 1825-1857,” is the first volume in a two-part biography exploring the development of a brilliant writer, outstanding orator and charismatic politician.
The concert is sponsored by The E. Desmond Lee Global Ethnic Collaborative at UMSL, Smurfit Stone Endowed Professorship in Irish Studies at UMSL, Center for International Studies at UMSL and the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Center.
Tickets are $18. Visit http://www.touhill.org or call 314-516-4949 to purchase tickets or for more information.
