I recently obtained The Celtic Tenors Live In Concert DVD, which was produced in 2002 from a concert the Tenors did in Germany.
Besides the Tenors themselves, there are a number of guest artists (dancers, singers, instrumentalists). Two of these are of note: Máiréad Nesbitt plays two or three pieces, including "There Is No Night" (why do you think I got the DVD?
), and our Deirdre Shannon sings a couple of numbers with the group.
On the jacket of the DVD Deirdre is listed by her real name: Deirdre Gilsenan. I heard the story of why she changed her stage name from "Gilsenan" to "Shannon". Apparently the "s" in "Gilsenan" has sort of a "sh" sound, so that "Gilsenan" is actually pronounced more like "Gilshenan". For the sake of simplicity Deirdre just dropped the "Gil" part of the name, then morphed the remaining "Shenan" into the more familiar "Shannon".
But be that as it may, on the credits of the DVD itself she is listed as "Deirdre Correa". I knew that she had also used this name (now I know where!) but I was wondering if anyone knows and could tell us why she would have chosen "Correa" as a performing name. And if it was working for her, what prompted her to change back to "Gilsenan/Shannon"?
Just wondering....
Gordon
