Irish Night is Coming next Friday.

The director of River Music, Robin Russell, announced the fourth annual Irish Night in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, March 13th at 8:00 p.m. at the Chapel of the Good Shepherd. The event will feature Irish music by Brian Conway, fiddle; John Nolan, button accordion; and Felix Dolan, piano; Irish-American favorites sung by tenor Brian Lyttle with Russell on piano; and traditional Irish dance performed by the Moore-Ryan School of Irish Dancing. Audience members will be invited to join in the dancing as Marie Moore and her dancers lead them in spirited jigs and reels.

The Moore-Ryan Dancers will be fresh from a performance at Carnegie Hall as part of Frank Patterson's "Irish Evening at Carnegie Hall." Marie Moore is a world champion Irish dancer who trained in Dublin with Marie Duffy, choreographer of Lord of the Dance.

Tenor Brian Lyttle has performed at the Garden State Arts Center, the Waldorf Astoria and as guest soloist at the Heisman Trophy Football Awards.

The evening's instrumentalists, Brian Conway, John Nolan and Felix Dolan have all made names for themselves in traditional Irish music as performers and recording artists. Conway is one of the most popular Irish fiddlers in the U.S. today, having won both the All Ireland Junior and Senior fiddle competitions. Button accordionist Nolan is the first American to win the Senior All Ireland title. Pianist Dolan is a founder of the New York Ceili Band. He made his New York debut with Paddy Killoran and Paddy O'Brien in Night of Shamrocks in 1957 at the Manhattan Center.

The River Music series is now in its fifth season of presenting classical, jazz and world music concerts on Roosevelt Island. The series is directed by Robin Russell and is presented under the auspices of the Parish of St. Francis Cabrini.