White Raven`s Celtic summer songs programme takes the audience to the wild Atlantic coast of Ireland and Scotland, to its beautiful lakes, rivers and mountains. The music conjures up the romance of a warm Celtic summer night with traditional Irish love songs and lullabies in the Irish language. The audience will hear some of White Raven`s best-known songs, such as the haunting melody “Oft in the stilly night” by the Irish composer Thomas Moore and settings of poems by WB Yeats including “The Stolen Child”, “White Birds” and “The song for wandering Aenghus”

Press quotes

“It don't seem to matter what musical material White Raven reached out to or whether it was accompanied or not. Everything they touched seemed to turn to purest gold”

Michael Dervan, Irish Times

"When you think you have everything beautiful that can be done by the human voice...a new group adds another dimension" Irish Examiner

" a beautiful understated finesse and masterclass in ensemble and balance” Birmingham Post

Biography White Raven, a cappella vocal trio, sings arrangements of Irish traditional, Scottish, and medieval song. Hailed as "voices of purest gold" by the Irish Times critics, White Raven has perfected the art of ensemble singing with their unique timbre and exquisite blend of voices. Cork-born singer and harpist, Kathleen Dineen founded White Raven in 2001 fulfilling her longtime dream of merging her two musical passions, Irish traditional and medieval song. She has transformed her traditional native repertoire into the exquisite three-part harmonies of a typical 15th century chanson style without compromising the purity of the original songs. The result has been a tremendous success with the group receiving the highest critical acclaim.

White Raven is based in Basel, Switzerland where Kathleen teaches medieval voice at the renowned Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. She is joined by German tenor, Matthias Deger and French baritone, Mathias Spoerry, all three singers being accomplished in the field of Early Music. The three voices compliment each other perfectly in what the Birmingham Post describes as "a beautiful understated finesse and masterclass in ensemble and balance”.

The trio performs widely at many Euopean festivals such as Stimmen, Rheingau, Schleswig Holstein, Rheinvokal, Klangvokal, Boswiler Sommer, Kilkenny Arts, Cork International Choral festival and Ska´lholt.They have also featured on many radio broadcasts for WDR, DRS 2 and RTE Lyric fm to name but a few.

White raven has recorded four CDs on their own label “Blasket Music”

Kathleen Dineen is the founding director of White Raven, an ensemble whose repertoire reflects her special interests in medieval and renaissance music, as well as in her native Irish traditional music. Kathleen began her early childhood singing traditional Irish songs in her native County Cork. Born into an Irish speaking family, singing was like second nature to her. These early musical experiences played a huge role in nurturing her gift of singing. In 1987 the Arts Council of Ireland Bursary Award took Kathleen to the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Switzerland where she studied voice with Richard Levitt and Dominique Vellard. She now lives in Basel and in addition to her performing career, she teaches voice and medieval performance at the SCB where she has been on the voice faculty for over 25 years. Her interest in Irish traditional song has never faltered over the decades she continues to be active in both strands of music. With a cappella trio White Raven Kathleen merged her two passions medieval and Irish song.

Matthias Deger received clarinet, piano and organ lessons during his school years and later studied clarinet and singing at the Bruckner University in Linz.This was followed by vocal ensemble studies with Anthony Rooley and Evelyn Tubb at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Other formative voice teachers include Andreas Lebeda, Kurt Widmer, Clemens Morgenthaler and Richard Levitt.Matthias is equally active as a singer, clarinettist and composer.He has performed as a soloist with the baroque orchestra L'arpa festante Munich and most recently sang the part of the Evangelist in Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Philharmonie in Berlin. Matthias also sings in several professional vocal ensembles including his own ensemble, Zeidlang He also works as a film music composer for Universal Publishing Production Music and Warner Chappell.

Born in France, Mathias Spoerry began his musical education playing oboe and percussion and later studying singing with Elizabeth Vidal and Andre´ Cognet at the Conservatoire von Reuil-Malmaison. In 2009 Mathias began medieval voice studies with Dominique Vellard at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis . During his studies in Basel he worked regularly with Crawford Young, Kathleen Dineen, Ian Harrison and Gerd Tu¨rk. He performs and records regularly as a singer and percussionist in ensembles such as Sequentia (Benjamin Bagby), Gilles Binchois (Dominque Vellard), Venance Fortunat (Anne-Marie Deschamps), La Morra (Corina Marti und Michal Gondko), Diabolus in Musica (Antoine Guerber), Ordo Virtutum (Stefan Morent), Mora Vocis (Els Jansens). Since 2014 Mathias lives in Dalvik, Northern Iceland with his wife Ella. He joined White Raven in 2012

Guest artist Gerry O’Connor grew up in the town of Dundalk, County Louth in a family of musicians, dancers and singers. His mother Rose (ne´e O’Brien) taught Gerry and his siblings the fiddle at home and she continued to teach from there for the next 40 years.Gerry is founding member of the bands, Skylark and La Lu´gh. He tours as a solo fiddle player and performs with a variety of projects in Europe and the USA