When Riverdance composer Bill Whelan heard the extraordinarily talented artist perform with Anúna, he asked her to sing the solo in the interval performance at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. This went on to become the tremendously successful dance show, Riverdance. Ms. McMahon recounts in her interview with Supreme Master Television, “Bono came to see Riverdance in Dublin when it first started, and he’d also been to an Anúna concert, and all the guys in U2 are very relaxed and nice and friendly, but they’re like gods in Ireland. We were all trying to get into photos with him and he said, ‘Oh, you have an amazing voice.’”

Many celebrities and dignitaries have enjoyed Ms. McMahon’s performances, including 42nd US President Bill Clinton. “Meeting President Clinton was at a function,” she explained. “He had a lot to do with the Irish peace process in Ireland, and Senator George Mitchell was the man that he’d sent over and who managed to get both sides together. So, it was a dinner honoring Senator George Mitchell, and when Bill Clinton came in, he took the time to chat to me and said how he enjoyed Riverdance, and that was really thrilling.”

While performing in the United States, Ms. McMahon met her husband Ben Craig and has made her home in Minnesota for the past 12 years. During this time Ms. McMahon has formed her own band and troupe of Irish dancers, performing Irish traditional music with a classical style. She has released five critically acclaimed solo CDs. In 2009, she was nominated as one of the “Top 75 Women of Influence in the Irish American Community” by the Irish Voice. Ms. McMahon has also been awarded best folk and acoustic artist by the Minnesota Music Academy.

As she was representing her homeland for Loving the Silent Tears musical, several Irish media interviewed her such as IrishCentral and “A Drop of the Irish” radio program on WTBQ in New York. She said, “I am delighted to be representing Ireland in Loving the Silent Tears. My own country has had a very troubled history, and I love the Supreme Master’s message of peace and reconciliation. Her poetry deals with the theme of the whole musical, which is searching for a meaning in life.”

“When I recorded the songs in Minneapolis, the sound engineer was like, ‘Who wrote these? These are really, really good!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, they’re all award-winning composers, who have been bringing this music together and putting the beautiful lyrics to music.’” —Katie McMahon, Irish soprano

On the red carpet, an excited Ms. McMahon gave a sneak peek into her performance, exclaiming, “Oh, I love it. I love how they’ve dressed me, too. It’s so glamorous. And I’m up in the air playing a harp and singing, and I have my own troupe of Irish dancers. Really, it’s like being a queen. So I’m having a great time!”

About her solo song, “Between the Master and I,” which was set to music by Grammy Award-winning composer Nan Schwartz, Ms. McMahon further explained, “My song is about trying to connect with the Master, or Supreme Being, or whatever you’d like to call it, God. And it’s kind of like a conversation and trying to come closer to that spiritual Being.”

With a combination of Katie McMahon’s ethereal voice, beautiful traditional harp playing, and the nimble step dancers, the presentation for the Irish number in the musical was truly heavenly.

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