Irish Tenor brings full repertoire to Spokane

Anthony Kearns was once known as “The Singing Barman.”

He was working at the Grand Hotel Wicklow in his native Ireland right out of school, and was likely to burst into song at every opportunity.

“It wasn’t the most flattering nickname I ever had,” Kearns said by phone from Ireland.

Now, he goes by a better-known nickname: Irish Tenor.

As in, one of the Irish Tenors.

Kearns earned worldwide fame beginning in 1998 as part of Ireland’s answer to the Three Tenors. Today, he continues to spend a great deal of his time touring with and recording with these PBS favorites.

However, when he arrives at the Spokane Opera House on Saturday for a benefit concert, he’ll be on his own. This will give audiences a chance to hear the entire breadth of his talent, which goes beyond the Irish repertoire.

“I’ll be performing a sample of everything, including some Neapolitan songs, some Viennese songs,” said Kearns. “I love Verdi and Puccini – they would be my two favorite opera composers – and I will be singing some Verdi arias.”

He will also, of course, perform many of the favorites from his Irish repertoire, which features a number of pieces by Irish composers Percy French and Thomas Moore, including “The Meeting of the Waters,” “Love Thee Dearest” and “Oft in the Stilly Night.”

Kearns said he will also sing some musical “evergreens” – songs that have become standards all over the world. That might include anything from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Younger Than Springtime” to Ivor Novello’s “We’ll Gather Lilacs in the Spring.”

He will perform in a recital format, with piano accompanist Patrick Healy.

Kearns, 33, was born in the village in Kitealy in County Wexford. His musical talents were clear from the beginning. He learned to play his mother’s button accordion at age 4, and began singing traditional Irish songs while a schoolboy. He sang at mass, in competitions and, later, while working at the hotel.

His big break came in 1993 when he entered a nationwide contest titled “Ireland’s Search for a Tenor.” He sang “Danny Boy” on the phone, made the finals and won the competition by singing “The Impossible Dream.”

“Veronica Dunne (a famous Irish voice teacher) saw some raw talent,” he said. “I was only 22, and she saw the potential to work with this guy.”

He studied voice for years in Wales and London. He is now an accomplished operatic tenor as well as a singer of traditional Irish music. He has sung the role of Fenton in Verdi’s “Falstaff” in a production in Montepulciano, Italy, and will appear in a Puccini opera with Opera Ireland next year.

“I would like to get in more operas,” he said. “But when you’re with the Irish Tenors, it’s not just a couple of months of the year. I’m too busy.”

Saturday’s concert is a benefit for the Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Spokane and the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Ghost in Spokane. The concert is sponsored by the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.