Lisa Kelly Interview

For those of us unable to hear this fantastic interview for whatever reason, I took the liberty of making a transcript of it. I tried to stay very true to the words and even included all of the "ums" that are a part of a normal speaking conversation...they're so great in an Irish accent!

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Interviewer: Hi Lisa! I wanna thank you so much for spending time with us.

Lisa: Not at all!

Interviewer: Could you tell us a little bit about how you first came to be part of Celtic Woman?

Lisa: Yes, well, um, what had happen was I was actually...I had been involved with Riverdance for, um, about 5 years and I'd worked very closely with David Downes who's the musical director and composer for Celtic Woman and I was actually...I was taking a break from Riverdance cause I was pregnant with my second child and David asked me would I be interested in getting involved in this project which was due to be filmed in the Helix and, um, I...it really went from there. I agreed to do that one night for PBS and that one night has turned into three years! (laughs)

Interviewer: We're so excited about having you come here to Ft. Wayne to Memorial Colosseum on November 7th and the great relationship you've had with PBS stations throughout the country. Can you tell us a little bit about your past history with PBS and perhaps future plans?

Lisa: Well obviously PBS, you know, played a huge role in the success of Celtic Woman. It really wouldn't have happened without PBS. We've been broadcast to over 60 channels I believe all over the States and the support from PBS and the people who work for PBS has just been phenomenal. So we recorded A New Journey for PBS and we've also done a Christmas, um, a Christmas concert live from Dublin, which will be going out to PBS as well in, I think, November.

Interviewer: What was it like doing A New Journey in that castle?

Lisa: Oh it was fantastic! Well for us being, being Irish, Slane Castle I mean has huge history to us and, um, an awful lot of really big artists have played Slane Castle. It was one of our very first concert areas. I think the Rolling Stones played there 25 years ago, so it's always been a very big deal to play Slane Castle. So when we were going we were expecting to, you know, just to be like every other concert that happened at Slane but when we got there we actually realized our stage was actually an extension of the castle. So that was huge for us, it was lovely; it was so mystical and it really fit the, the spirit of Celtic Woman.

Interviewer: Now what might people who attend the concert in November here in Ft. Wayne plan to expect?

Lisa: It's very similar to, um, A New Journey DVD. They tried to keep the theme of the castle very much alive. Some of the costumes are different. The lighting is spectacular, but I mean all the, all the main elements are there. The five girls are there, the band, the choir, all the usual kind of things. All the songs are the same, but maybe one or two different ones in there. But, um, all in all, it's very similar to the DVD.

Interviewer: Well thank you so much for spending time with us today, we really appreciate it!

Lisa: Not at all! Thank you for the call.

Interviewer: Thanks, have a great day! We're looking forward to seeing you in November!

Lisa: Can't wait! Take care, Bye!