Talented singer with local connections at the NCH

A young woman with strong Kells connections will perform with The National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall (NCH) on Friday. Jessie Buckley, whose mother, Marina Cassidy, hails from Kilmainhamwood, will perform in a programme entitled 'The Great American Songbook'. She has fast become a bright young star of musical theatre following her appearance in the BBC programme 'I'd Do Anything'. At the National Concert Hall on Friday, she will be singing some of the finest jazz and pop standards from the golden age of American popular music and great movie musicals, with songs from Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra; even Beyoncé and Celine Dion will be feartured. Since reaching the final of 'I'd Do Anything,' Jessie has performed at the Garrick Theatre in London's West End, playing the role of Anne Egerman in Stephen Sondheim's 'A Little Night Music'. She has been guest soloist at the Royal Albert Hall in 'A Night Of A Thousand Voices' as well as the Christmas Spectactular show there. Jessie has performed at the Royal Festival Hall, singing the songs of Vera Lynn for the Battle of Britain commeration, as well as concerts in the Barbican Theatre and Wilton Music Hall, London; the Symphony Hall, Birmingham, and the Bridgewater Theatre, Manchester. She has a passion for jazz and is an accomplished jazz singer. Her own show at the Elgar Room in the Albert Hall has sold out twice this year, as have her shows in the temples of the London jazz scene, like Chelsea's 606 Club, Ronnie Scott's, Pizza on the Park at Hyde Park and Dean St. She also performed at the NCH, Dublin, for Andrew Lloyd Weber's 60th birthday concert in September 2008. She is also a full-time student of drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.