Special Performance: Great Newfoundland & Irish Songbook
Date: Nov 17
8:00 pm
- 10:00 pm
Where: Level 3 Atrium
Pianist and composer James Hurley is joined by the Irish Tenor Dean Power for a magical evening celebrating shared folksong traditions from Newfoundland and Ireland.
Power and Hurley offer new arrangements of well-known songs through a program that also features Hurley's unique compositions based on the works of Irish literary luminaries including James Joyce and WB Yeats.
This performance will include World Premieres of poems by Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Duncan Major.
Special for this performance, local artist Duncan Major has created visual art projections that accompany the music.
The evening brings tradition together with contemporary perspectives and melodies both known and new.
Tickets: $35 plus HST. 10% discount for Rooms Members. Tickets are available online or by calling (709)757-8090.
About the Musicians:
James Hurley is a classical pianist and composer with a passion for improvisation. Originally from the West end of St. John's, he's been based in Germany since 2011. Together with his wife he runs Più Piano – a live performance venue and piano school which hosts events featuring artists from NL and around the world. He is affiliated with Memorial's School of Music and is dedicated to building a cultural bridge between his NL and German homes through performance and educational projects. As a musician he is involved in several solo and group projects and actively performs in Canada and the EU.
Dean Power is from Clarecastle, Ireland. He studied at both the RIAM and TU Dublin with Mary Brennan and Mairead Hurley. Following two years as a member of the opera studio at the Bavarian State Opera house, he was invited to join the house ensemble where he remained for another 9 years. Since leaving Munich he has enjoyed the flexibility of life as a freelance opera singer. His recent notable debuts include the Zurich Opera House, the Opéra de Lille, the Salzburg Festival, the Teatro Real in Madrid and the Salzburg Easter Festival, as well as guest appearances at the Bavarian State Opera, the Irish National Opera, the Armenian National Philharmonic, and with El Sistema in Venezuela. On the concert stage, his recent performances include collaborations with the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra and the Orquestra Sinfonica Portuguesa. He is currently a Cara O'Sullian Associate Artist at the Cork Opera House. In 2025, he will make his house debut at the Opera National de Paris.
Duncan Major is a St. John's-based graphic designer, animator and artist. Since 2004 he has operated the printshop Walpurgis Press, creating cards, prints, and books. In 2024, he won an Arts and Letters Award for his poetry, and in 2025, his hand-printed animated short film Imprint—inspired by his late mentor and friend Tara Bryan and produced by The National Film Board of Canada—will premiere.
Today's Events & Programs
Winter may be here, but there’s no need to stay home!
Join us at The Rooms to exercise and socialize during this colder and drearier time of year. While strolling throughout the building and enjoying both the exhibitions and the views, participants will focus on a different spotlight item from our collection each week. After our stroll, staff will lead a brief discussion on the weekly spotlight, and then everyone is encouraged to stay and socialize with friends new and old.
No registration is needed. Included with the cost of admission ($7.80 plus HST for seniors), free for members.
For further information, please contact catherineoneill@therooms.ca
Each year, the Henrietta Harvey Distinguished Lecture Series welcomes a leading scholar to enrich discussions on urgent public questions.
This year, join Dr. Benjamin L. Berger for a lecture on “What Secularism Hides.”
We often describe our laws, institutions, and even our era as secular—as if the term neatly explains how religion fits (or doesn’t) in modern public life.
But what is secularism? Where did it come from, and what does it actually do? Drawing on global examples and contemporary Canadian debates, Dr. Berger argues that secularism often obscures more than it reveals—about history, power, democracy, and the relationship between religion and the state.
This is a free program but a ticket is required. Please reserve your free ticket online or by calling 709-757-8090.
Benjamin L. Berger is a Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. An award-winning teacher and researcher, and one of Canada’s foremost experts on the interaction of law and religion, he is a Member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada and held the York Research Chair in Pluralism and Public Law. Professor Berger has published over 80 academic articles and book chapters on law and religion, criminal and constitutional law and theory, the law of evidence, and legal history. He is the author or editor of eight books, including Law’s Religion: Religious Difference and the Claims of Constitutionalism and, most recently, Making Promises: Oaths, Treaties, and Covenants in Multi-jurisdictional and Multi-religious Societies.
In collaboration with Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador (Departments of Religion and Culture and Political Science)