Book Launch/Performance
8 October 2024 at 7pm
Join us at the James Joyce Centre on Tuesday, 8 October 2024 at 7pm for the book launch of 18 Ballads from James Joyce’s Ulysses by Val O’Donnell.
This collection of new ballads, based on characters featured in James Joyce’s masterpiece Ulysses, has just been published. The collection consists of eighteen ballads written by Val O’Donnell and set to airs of music which are referred to in Ulysses or in other works of James Joyce. The collection includes short quotes from Ulysses, a note on the music and suggestions for accessing the original sheet music and performances of the airs chosen for the ballads.
Professor Zack Bowen examined approximately seven hundred separate musical allusions in Joyce’s Ulysses (Musical Allusions in the Works of James Joyce). But there are very few songs actually performed in the novel. Only one of the episodes – episode eleven set in the saloon bar of the Ormond Hotel – is the setting for an informal afternoon concert. Even then we only hear snatches of the music being sung. Val O’Donnell thought it would be a welcome idea to give a musical voice to some of the characters that feature in James Joyce’s most famous work and to set their ballads to music associated with James Joyce and his works.
The event will start at 7pm, with a short drinks reception followed by an entertainment provided by three special guests, who will perform a selection from the ballads in the collection.
The address at the launch will be given by Dublin-born poet and writer, Brian Lynch.
The event will conclude by 9 pm.
Admission is free but booking is essential. To book tickets, click here.
Copies of 18 Ballads from James Joyce’s Ulysses will be on sale at the event for €10.
Val O’Donnell has a connection with the theatre for over 50 years as an actor, director and adaptor of Irish literature.
In 2011, Val established The JoyceStagers theatre company to perform his adaptations from the works of James Joyce. The JoyceStagers have performed “The Funeral of Paddy Dignam,” adapted by Val from the 6th episode of Ulysses, annually on Bloomsday at Glasnevin Cemetary. They have also performed his adaptations from Episodes 8, 12, and 16 at various locations in Dublin around Bloomsday.
Val has a lifelong interest in music and plays piano. Email him at [email protected].
The James Joyce Centre is supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.