Irish star Michael Londra says he’s ready to ‘get back to doing what I do best’

Michael Londra

Irish star Michael Londra is heading out on an extensive tour starting this Spring, telling fans that it’s time to ‘get back to doing what I do best’.

The Emmy nominated singer-songwriter has had a busy couple of years producing the highly acclaimed Eoin Colfer musical NÖEL and seeing it through its debut national tour in 2018.

However, 2019 will be the year he returns to centre stage as a singer. He plans to tape a new special for public television and to do extensive touring, beginning in Pennsylvania with shows scheduled in Hershey on March 15 and Philadelphia on March 16.

Michael Londra

Londra said: “This is the year I go back to performing again. I love producing – taking a project, working with a team, and then seeing that project come to life on the stage – but it’s time now for me to get back to doing what I do best.”

The Co Wexford star is one of the most recognised and recognisable voices in Irish music and was the Voice of Riverdance on Broadway. He produced and starred in his own PBS concert special, ’Beyond Celtic’, which received two Emmy nominations.

His recording of ‘Danny Boy’ was described by The Irish Emigrant in New York as ‘one of the best recordings of Danny Boy in history’.

In 2013, the Wexford native was asked by the Irish government to perform with singing legend Judy Collins to celebrate the JFK50 events in Wexford, and to honour the President at his graveside in Arlington, Virginia with the Kennedy family.

His love of producing, however, has taken him off the stage and put him behind the scenes on some labour-intensive projects.

Londra said: “We’ve been very successful with our production work. We brought together the very best team possible to create NÖEL, and it was amazing to see the public response to it when it toured nationally in 25 cities, last year.

“We have optioned several new theatrical pieces and it is hugely fulfilling to take a piece from paper to the stage. I love every minute of that whole creative process, but it wasn’t possible to focus on my own singing while all of that was going on.”

With plans already in the works for another international tour of NÖEL this year, Londra will launch more tour dates of his own in Pennsylvania, and dates in New Mexico, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois, and Michigan will be announced soon.

The highlight of 2019 will be the filming of Londra’s second PBS concert special at the National
Opera House of Ireland. This will be his first concert in Wexford in several years, and he’ll be working with Liam Bates, who wrote the music for NÖEL.

The songs, he said, both original and covers of other artists, ‘will raise the spirit and raise the roof’.

He added: “I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am for this show. I’m in such a good place in my life right now that I can relax a bit more and really enjoy this whole experience, and being able to record the show at home in Wexford with my family and friends there is really special to me.

“I have some major guest artists and it promises to be a special night. I’ll even have the group from my ‘Ireland with Michael’ bus tour with me.

“2019 is going to be a very exciting year. I can’t wait to get back out there.”

For tickets and more information visit Michael Londra’s website.

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By Michael Kehoe

Michael Kehoe is a writer for Irish Music Daily and Ireland Calling. His favourite Irish Music bands are Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys.