In the Deep Heart's Core
Kiltartan Road Christmas
Citternalia (Joseph Sobol)

In the Deep Heart's Core

Celebrate the marriage of great poetry and great music. . . In the Deep Heart's Core. Described by Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times as ". . . A rapturous weave of the irresistible sounds of Irish music and the steely but lyrical magic that animates the words of one of Ireland's most celebrated poets, W. B. Yeats," this cycle of songs and spoken pieces from the verses and essays of Ireland's master poet is a stunning evening of musical theatre. The Chicago Tribune called it "A joy--poetry to the ears, alternately tender and rousing." The Irish-American News said that In the Deep Heart's Core was "simply not to be missed." This weekend at the Beverly Art Center will mark the release on compact disc of "In the Deep Heart's Core, Volume II: Cast a Cold Eye," which contains the songs from the second half of the song cycle.

In the Deep Heart's Core is performed by the group KILTARTAN ROAD. The group features Deep Heart's Core composer JOSEPH DANIEL SOBOL on guitar, cittern, and vocals, the well-known Chicago singer of Irish songs, KATHY COWAN, baritone TOM ORF, fiddler LAURA RISK, bassist JOHN FLOETER, and pianist AARON KRISTER JOHNSON.

In the Deep Heart's Core ran for eight months at Chicago's Bailiwick Repertory Theatre to unanimous critical acclaim, receiving a 1995 Jeff Citation for Outstanding Original Music. Last seen at Beverly Art Center in 1995, In the Deep Heart's Core has been performed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D. C., for four-week runs at Virginia's nationally-known Barter Theatre and Philadelphia's Movement Theatre International, and on national tour.

Kiltartan Road Christmas

Join the original cast of the Jeff Citation award-winning musical In the Deep Heart's Core for a wide-ranging celebration of the spirit of Christmas. The concert features music from the group's CD, Joy In the Morning: A Kiltartan Road Christmas, with Christmas music old and new, as well as Kiltartan Road's characteristic mixture of poetry, storytelling, dancing, and music from Celtic, Appalachian, classical, and world folk traditions.

Kiltartan Road features the renowned Chicago singers Kathy Cowan and Tom Orf, award-winning composer, guitarist, citternist and storyteller Joseph Daniel Sobol, and a variety of special guests, in a program of wonder and delight that will ring in the holiday season for the entire family.

Citternalia (Joseph Sobol)

Joseph's solo programs are a captivating blend of virtuoso instrumental music with song, poetry, and storytelling. In 1976, after twelve years of classical guitar training, he first encountered traditional Irish and American old-time music, and has since mastered those syles on guitar, banjo, and mandolin family instruments. His primary instrument now for traditional music is the cittern--also known as Irish bouzouki--a British Isles cross between guitar and mandolin, dating back to the Renaissance, with four, five or six pairs of steel strings. He has developed a unique method of reproducing traditional dance rhythms and ornamentation using four fingers of his right hand, which gives him an unmistakable sound among contemporary exponents of this ancient yet modern instrument. His first solo instrumental recording, Citternalia, released in 1999, has been hailed by Acoustic Guitar Magazine as a "watershed project."

Joseph is also well known as a storyteller and as a composer. In 1993 he formed the group Kiltartan Road to perform In the Deep Heart's Core, his theatrical song cycle of poems by William Butler Yeats. The group toured nationally from 1995 to 1999, appearing at such venues as the Smithsonian Institution, the Barter Theatre in Virginia, Movement Theatre International in Philadelphia, and the Scottsdale Center for the Arts. Pieces from In the Deep Heart's Core have been performed by the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, Buffalo, Calgary, and Toledo. Joseph has taught guitar and bouzouki at the National Comhaltas Convention, and has been a featured instructor at the National Cittern and Bouzouki Festival (Zoukfest), the Seattle Cittern Symposium, and the Swannanoa Gathering. Currently based in East Tennessee, where he directs the Storytelling Graduate Program of East Tennessee State University, Joseph has performed with many of America's outstanding Irish musicians, including John Williams, Laurence Nugent, Martin Hayes, Sean Cleland, Jimmy Keane, Liz Carroll, and singer Kathy Cowan.