Game of Thrones’ Aiden Gillen joins stellar line up of musicians for HMT show.
A very special tribute to the music of David Bowie is set to be a highlight of Aberdeen’s True North festival, which takes place over the weekend of September 20-23.
Irish musician, vocalist and actress Camille O’Sullivan is renowned for her theatrical performances and stunning vocals, and has created ‘Lady Stardust’, a specially curated one-night only concert at His Majesty’s Theatre on Sunday, September 23.
Camille will be joined for the concert by a stellar line-up up featuring Duke Special, Eliza Carthy, Kathryn Williams, Cathal Couglan, Christopher Green and Paul Noonan, plus a special performance by Game of Thrones and Peaky Blinders star Aiden Gillen as they celebrate one of the most innovative, charismatic and talented musicians of all time and the writer of such iconic hits as Life On Mars, Space Oddity, Changes, Oh! You Pretty Things, Starman, Heroes and Rebel Rebel.
True North’s much-loved celebration night has been described as “a jewel of a festival show” and always leaves audiences wanting more, having in previous years paid homage to the work of Kate Bush, Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac. Now a highly anticipated focal point of the True North programme, this year ‘Lady Stardust’ will provide a unique opportunity to celebrate one of the most illustrious songwriters in history, with Bowie’s work reimagined, reinterpreted and celebrated by top musical talent.
Ben Torrie, Aberdeen Performing Arts’ director of programming and creative projects, said: “This is sure to be an unforgettable evening with this fantastic line-up of top talent celebrating the music of one of the industry’s biggest stars. David Bowie has such a rich catalogue of amazing songs for Camille and co to explore and reimagine, and I know they’ll produce something really special for True North.”
Previously an award-winning architect and portrait painter Irish/French Camille O'Sullivan is a singer/actress who enjoys a formidable international reputation for her interpretations of the songs of Nick Cave, Brel, Waits, Bowie, Radiohead and more. The award-winning singer - one of the original cast members of the Olivier Award-winning La Soiree- has stunned audiences around the world with her sell-out performances including Sydney Opera House, London’s Royal Festival Hall, The Roundhouse and a show-stealing appearance on Later with Jools Holland BBC.
Recently she sold out her 10 night run at Sydney Festival where she won a prestigious Australian Helpmann Award ‘Best Performance’.
Aiden Gillen is an Irish actor, best-known for portraying Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish in the HBO series Game of Thrones, Tommy Carcetti in the HBO series The Wire, Stuart Alan Jones in the Channel 4 series Queer as Folk, and CIA operative Bill Wilson in The Dark Knight Rises. Gillen has won three Irish Film and Television Awards and been nominated for a British Academy Television Award, a British Independent Film Award, and a Tony Award.
During a nearly thirty year career, Eliza Carthy has become one of the most dazzling and recognised folk musicians of a generation. Whether solo or in one of many collaborative projects, Eliza has managed to capture the most hardened of dissenters with charismatic and boundary-crossing performances. Her talent, imagination and pioneering spirit helped in no small part to bring folk music to wider audiences and to influence a whole new generation of musicians. Twice-nominated for a prestigious Mercury Music Prize (with 1998’s ‘Red Rice’ and 2003’s ‘Anglicana’) Eliza is also the winner of five (individual) BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and a prestigious Paul Hamlyn Prize.
Duke Special’s creative talents have seen him involved in projects as diverse as writing the theme tune for the Irish Sesame Street to writing the music for and appearing in Deborah Warner’s critically acclaimed 2009 production of Bertolt Brecht’s ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ at London’s National Theatre. He has presented a documentary on the life of '50s megastar Ruby Murray and has been commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to write a series of original songs based on photographs for their exhibition of the photographers Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand. In 2017, Duke released his latest studio album, 'Hallow' - a beautiful collection of songs entirely based on poems by Belfast contemporary poet Michael Longley.
Kathryn Williams is no stranger to True North, having lent her talents to the Kate Bush themed concert, ‘Running up that Hill’, in 2016. The singer-songwriter has to date released 14 studio albums, written and arranged for a multitude of artists, and was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize. Kathryn released her first album, Dog Leap Stairs, on her own Caw Records label in 1999 with a budget of £80. The follow-up, Little Black Numbers, garnered a Mercury Music Prize nomination in 2000, bringing her to the attention of a wider public. She has collaborated and recorded with artists including Chris Difford, Ted Barnes, Thea Gilmore, John Martyn, Joel Salakula, Tobias Froberg, Ed Harcourt, James Yorkston, Mary Waterson, Boo Hewerdine and Paul Smith.
Cathal Couglan is an Irish singer and songwriter, best known for his work as part of the groups Microdisney and Fatima Mansions. Since the 1990’s, he has operated as a solo recording artist (releasing five albums), and as a participant in various creative collaborations.
Olivier award-winning Christopher Green will add a theatrical flair to the line-up. Christopher Green is an award-winning performer and theatre-maker, using music and theatre to entertain and provoke. He was formally a music producer in television.
Paul Noonan is known for his work with the likes of childhood friend Damien Rice. He is an accomplished songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist and is a collaborator on various musical projects.
