- Frank McNamara (musician)
Frank McNamara is an internationally known arranger, conductor, composer, and pianist from
Ireland .Biography
His career began at the age of 11, when he first appeared on Irish national television. Frank attended
Trinity College, Dublin , where he graduated with music honors. He received the most outstanding pupil award at theRoyal Irish Academy of Music , where he studied composition withJames Wilson (composer) and piano with Rhonda Marshall.Peter Katin also instructed Frank in piano inLondon andCanada .Irish audiences are well familiar with his work as
Music Director ofRTE ’s "The Late Late Show " for 20 years. He was the arranger and producer of two consecutive winners at theEurovision Song Contest . He has composed TV themes and other music for Irish television. He has written numerous works for orchestra and has released several albums, which include his orchestral arrangements and original compositions. Those albums have resulted in two platinum albums and two gold albums.Frank also has an acting credit to his name. He was Reuben the pianist in Ronan O'Leary's "Hello Stranger" (story by
Truman Capote ) filmed in1992 . The movie starredDaniel J. Travanti . Frank wrote the title song "Hello Stranger" and performed the song in the movie. [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185355/ IMDb's write-up of "Hello Stranger"] ]In 1998, he helped found The Irish Tenors, which group has been highly successful. He was their
Music Director in five of their albums and threePBS specials and toured with them throughout theUnited States ,New Zealand andAustralia . Their album "Ellis Island" rose to No. 1 onBillboard 's World Music listing.Frank is the composer of a four-part movement classical work entitled "Beatlesymphony", which is based on
Beatles melodies and has been performed internationally. He has written anABBA piano concerto, aRolling Stones overture and aSimon and Garfunkel suite.He is the producer/musical director of "
The Young Messiah -Messiah XXI " which is an adaptation ofHandel ’s "Messiah". The CD and DVD of this work was released onOctober 3 ,2006 . The production starredGladys Knight ,Roger Daltrey ,Chaka Khan ,Jeffrey Osborne , the Irish Philharmonic Orchestra & Choir and the Visual Ministry Gospel Choir. OnOctober 18 ,2002 , Frank staged and produced a performance of this music inWarsaw ,Poland as part of a Gala Event for the President of Poland and dignitaries.His work with John McDermott entitled "A Time to Remember" was released as a
PBS special and on CD and DVD and that album was No. 1 onBillboard 's World Music list.In 2002, Frank created the group The American Tenors. Their
PBS special was filmed inLos Angeles ,California at theKodak Theatre . Within the first few weeks of its release, The American Tenors album was No. 5 onBillboard 's Crossover Classical Chart. They also released a slightly different version of their album inIreland .Frank McNamara has made albums with The Irish Tenors, The American Tenors,
Ronan Tynan , John McDermott, David Agnew,Rebecca Storm and Mary Lowe, among many others. He was theMusic Director and toured withLeAnn Rimes during her 2004 Symphonic Christmas tour. In2005 , he was theMusic Director of the "Argent Mortgage Orchestrated" concert series, which included shows withLeAnn Rimes ,Seal (musician) ,Jewel (singer) andDuran Duran . He has conducted some of the world's leading orchestras, including theRoyal Philharmonic Orchestra , thePittsburgh Symphony Orchestra , theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra and theBoston Pops Orchestra and conducted theBaltimore Symphony Orchestra forBen Folds ' three-concert orchestral debut in theUnited States .In March 2007, Frank McNamara decided to run for Dáil Éireann in the upcoming general election, as a member of the
Progressive Democrats in theDublin South Central constituency, however he failed to gain a seat.Discography
*(
1985 ) "Irish Reflections"
*(1989 ) "Frank McNamara and David Agnew: Music of the Night"
*(1990 ) "In a Sentimental Mood"
*(1992 ) "David Agnew: The Way I Feel"
*(1995 ) "Among My Souvenirs"
*(1998 ) "Irish Classics"
*(1998 ) "The Joys of Christmas" - Eamonn Mulhall
*(1998 ) "The Best of Frank McNamara and David Agnew"
*(1999 ) "The Irish Tenors - Live in Dublin"
*(1999 ) "The Irish Tenors - Home for Christmas"
*(2000 ) "The Irish Tenors - Live in Belfast"
*(2001 ) "The Irish Tenors - Ellis Island"
*(2001 ) "I Want to Know What Love Is" - Rebecca Storm
*(2002 ) "The Very Best of The Irish Tenors"
*(2002 ) "My Life Belongs to You" -Ronan Tynan
*(2002 ) "A Time to Remember" - John McDermott
*(2003 ) "The American Tenors"
*(2006 ) "The Young Messiah - Messiah XXI" -Roger Daltrey ,Gladys Knight ,Chaka Khan ,Jeffrey Osborne
*(2006 ) "Mary Lowe - Jazz Diva"Filmography
*(
1992 ) "Hello Stranger"
*(1999 ) "The Irish Tenors - Live in Dublin"
*(2000 ) "The Irish Tenors - Live in Belfast"
*(2001 ) "The Irish Tenors - Ellis Island"
*(2000 ) "The Irish Tenors - The Essential Collection"
*(2002 ) "A Time to Remember" - John McDermott
*(2003 ) "The American Tenors"Notes
External links
* [http://www.frankmcnamara.com] Frank McNamara's Official Website
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