Annual Wander Women Tour, 2025
Author Anne Chambers with some members of the annual Wander Women Tour from America at Grace O'Malley's castle of Rockfleet, June 2025
★MARCONI & IRISH PRIMA DONNA MARGARET BURKE SHERIDAN★
★Free event all welcome★ Thursday, May 29 · 6:30 - 8pm GMT+1, at the Lexicon Library, Dun Laoghaire, Ireland.
Click this link to reserve your ticket
https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/marconi-irish-prima-donna-margaret-burke-sheridan-tickets-1370950693429
Lecture-concert on the encounter and patronage by inventor Guglielmo Marconi of Irish soprano Margaret Burke Sheridan, with Puccini's arias.
Margaret Burke Sheridan (1889-1958) was an Irish opera singer considered the second Irish prima donna, after Catherine Hayes.
From 1909 to 1911 she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she met Guglielmo Marconi, who helped her in arranging her further opera studies in Rome.
With Marconi's help, in 1916 she auditioned for Alfredo Martino, one of the leading singing teachers at the Teatro Costanzi, and made her debut there in January 1918 in Puccini's "La Bohème". In subsequent years she sang at La Scala with great success.
Together with Biographer ANNE CHAMBERS, author of 'La Sheridan: Adorable Diva 1889-1958', relates the remarkable story of this Irish Prima Donna and how, with Marconi's help, she conquered the stages of the opera world, in an evening with 3 Puccini arias performed live by Rachel Croash (soprano) and Annalisa Monticelli (piano) and with the presentation of documents and letters published between the two protagonists.
Limited places.
Free reservation on this website
An initiative by Embassy of Italy in Ireland, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Dublin and Irish National Opera, with the support of dlr LexIcon Library Dun Laoghaire.
Irish National Opera will present Puccini’s Madama Butterly in November at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.
Congrats to Mark Carney, newly-elected Prime Minister of Canada
Author Anne Chambers presenting a copy of her biography of T.K. Whitaker at the annual T.K.Whitaker Lecture at the Central Bank of Ireland in 2018 given by Mark Carney, newly-elected Prime Minister of Canada.
Click link below to buy now
T.K. WHITAKER (1916–2017): Irishman of the Twentieth Century by Anne Chambers
Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley was too regal for blockbuster treatment
Thanks to Colm McGuirk from the Irish Mail on Sunday, published on March 16th, 2025, for the interview 'Pirate Queen Grace O'Malley was too regal for blockbuster treatment'.
GRACE O'MALLEY RETURNS TO GALWAY CITY
Galway City Museum - March 22 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm UTC+0
This event is free of charge, but advance booking is essential as places are strictly limited. For further details or to make a booking, please contact the Museum on (091) 532460 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Born on the shores of Clew Bay in Co. Mayo, Grace O’Malley (Gráinne ‘Mhaol’ Uí Mháille, c. 1530–1603) was a woman before her time. One contemporary commentator noted of the strong and confident noblewoman and fearless sea captain, who controlled the seas of Connacht: ‘Grany O’Maly thinketh herself to be no small lady’.
About 1546, she married Domhnall ‘An Chogaidh’ O’Flaherty of Bunowen Castle, Ballynahinch in Connemara, thus uniting two prominent Gaelic families of the West, and one of her sons from this marriage (Murrough-ne-Maor O’Flaherty) was buried in the Franciscan Abbey in Galway in 1626. Join Anne Chambers as she discusses the life and times of Grace O’Malley with special reference to her many connections with Galway.
Chambers is the author of the definitive, international bestselling book, Grace O’Malley: The Biography of Ireland’s Pirate Queen 1530-1603, which the Sunday Tribune hailed as ‘a historical reality which is equally if not more compelling than the legend.’
