Kildare Soprano Celine Byrne gives tremendous performance during papal visit as Christmas Gala announced with tickets on sale tomorrow Friday 31 August

By Kim O'Leary

For many citizens living in Ireland, the first papal visit since 1979 was a historical event as Pope Francis touched down on Irish soil last weekend for a two-day tour to attend the World Meeting of Families 2018.

On hand to welcome Pope Francis was Kildare soprano Celine Byrne as she performed at the ‘Festival of Families’ on Saturday last (26 August) at Croke Park in Dublin. The Kildare native sang a heartfelt duet of ‘Ave Maria’ (Franz Schubert) with the acclaimed global superstar Andrea Bocceli just minutes before the Pope addressed the huge crowd.

Meanwhile, the biggest performances of the night followed the Pope's address when Miss Byrne gave a phenomenal solo performance of 'Ag Criost an Siol' which then followed a truly spectacular performance by Andrea Bocelli singing 'Nessum Dorma.'

Speaking to KildareNow following a very exciting weekend performing for Pope Francis at the ‘Festival of Families’, accomplished Kildare soprano Celine Byrne described the festival as a ‘wonderful’ experience for her as a performer.

She said: “It was wonderful, a brilliant experience for me and it was an honour to perform for the Pope. The other performers had given up their time to be there for their performances and it was just electric back stage, I had a good chat with Daniel O’Donnell before taking to the stage. When Pope Francis entered Croke Park an hour into the festival it was amazing, the atmosphere was just brilliant. I performed two songs, I sang ‘Ave Maria’ with Andrea Bocceli and I first sang with him two years before hand, he’s a lovely man and we sang before the Pope’s address to the crowds. Then afterwards I sang ‘Ag Criost an Siol’ and the Pope was there listening right before me.”

Meanwhile, according to Miss Byrne, Pope Francis also provided a very special blessing to each of the performers on the night at Croke Park. An audience of more than 82,000 people, comprising families from 116 countries, were entertained by more than 50 musicians including Celine Byrne, Andrea Bocelli, Daniel O’Donnell, Nathan Carter, Seán Keane, Eimear Quinn, Cuthbert Tura Arutura, the Palestrina Choir and the Choir of Ages.

Speaking about performing for Pope Francis, Miss Byrne said that the pope was ‘very humble and full of joy’ despite a busy schedule. In recent days, the number of people attending the Festival of Families at Croke Park on Saturday and at Pope Francis’ Papal Mass on Sunday at the Phoenix Park came under scrutiny, as the number of pilgrims in attendance fell short of the expected 500,000 blamed on poor weather and some people purchasing tickets with the intention of not attending the events.

Miss Byrne said: “The sad bit about the Pope’s visit was the controversy and the negativity surrounding it, including the clerical abuse scandal as well as the number of people who attended Croke Park and the Phoenix Park. We all know now about the clerical abuse in Ireland and it was terrible that it happened, and even some people were wondering why myself and the other performers would even want to perform during the Pope’s visit, but what I say about that is that faith is a very personal thing and it’s personal to me and by no means to I condone the abuse but I wanted to perform because my religion is important to me. There’s no denying what happened within the Church and I hope that the victims can get the justice they deserve, but I also think it’s important not to tarnish everyone with the same brush.”

Meanwhile, earlier last week Kildare native Celine Byrne also became the first female soloist to sing at the Dome in Tralee for the final of The Rose of Tralee. “I was the first female soloist in its history of almost 60 years to sing after the winning Rose (Waterford Rose Kirsten Mate Maher) was crowned and it was an amazing experience,” explained Miss Byrne.

She also praised the Kildare Rose Gráinne Carr for representing her home county to a high standard, and she said that she was also very impressed with the Carlow Rose Shauna Ray Lacey for her ‘honesty and dignity’ as she talked about her parents’ struggles with addiction.

Next up for talented Kildare native Celine Byrne will be the return of her annual Christmas Gala on December 17 at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre which follows the phenomenal success of last years' sold-out concert. For one night only on 17 December Celine will perform her “Christmas Celebration”, packed full of captivating Christmas Carols as well as much loved operatic arias accompanied by festive orchestra, tickets are from €26 and go on sale Friday 31 August through www.ticketmaster.ie