Grammy winner to perform with Orlando Philharmonic
Grammy-winning singer Aoife O’Donovan has spent a lot of time during the past year digging through the past.
“There are so many things you gloss over when you study American history,” she says.
O’Donovan will premiere her song cycle “American, Come” honoring women’s suffrage at an Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra concert titled “An American Celebration” on May 8 in the city’s Festival Park.
The 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, was ratified in August 1920 — meaning its centennial passed by during the pandemic shutdown.
O’Donovan’s 20-minute cycle of five songs, arranged by Tanner Porter, is inspired by historical writings and speeches, from suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt to President Woodrow Wilson. She drew the lyrics from their words, “mixed with my voice.”
She finished the work in January … well, kind of.
“I’m still tweaking the lyrics, to be honest,” O’Donovan says with a laugh. “I keep recording and then going back and changing one word.”
She has imbued the work with imagery, including picturing “the Statue of Liberty, torch in the air, saying, ‘American, come. Follow me.”
And despite the song cycle’s roots in the past, there’s a contemporary resonance that leaves O’Donovan “thinking about how many people are still disenfranchised.”
As voter rights and restrictions are still argued over in statehouses around the country, O’Donovan sees a parallel in “American, Come.”
“The whole final movement feels so modern,” she says, as suffragist Catt is “pleading with senators who are old, who are on their way out.”
Other works on the Philharmonic’s program include patriotic favorites such as Aaron
Copland’s “Appalachian Spring,” selections from Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story” and John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever.”
O’Donovan also will perform the traditional hymn “Amazing Grace” and her own song, “Oh Mama.”
She’s a frequent performer with orchestras around the country and tours as a solo singer-songwriter and with various bands. She also spent a decade as a regular contributor to radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” When she’s not on the road, she splits her time between New York and Orlando with her husband, Philharmonic music director Eric Jacobsen, and their young daughter.
Her Grammy award came in 2020 as part of the trio I’m With Her. She and bandmates Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins took the prize for the best American roots song for “Call My Name.”
“It was an amazing way to be acknowledged by your peers,” O’Donovan says of the win. She expects I’m With Her will reunite “in the next couple of years” to record again.
For now, she’s committed to celebrating women’s history — and passing it along to the next generation. One of the songs in the cycle is titled “Daughters” and talks about not leaving the fight for equality to “the daughters of our daughters.”
“I feel very impassioned by this. I’m a mother,” she says. “It has lit a fire for sure.”
‘An American Celebration’
What: Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra concert with guest artist Aoife O’Donovan
COVID-19 precautions: Temperature checks and masks will be required for the outdoor event
When: 3:30 and 7:30 p.m. May 8
Where: Festival Park, 2911 E. Robinson St. in Orlando; distanced seating will be provided, restrooms are on-site, and vendors will offer food and drink Cost: $45
Info: orlandophil.org
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