Delightful news of a Friday.
An Irish violinist is set to perform at Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration next year.
Patricia Treacy, from Blackrock Co Louth, played for Biden for the first time back in 2016 during the St Patrick Day celebrations.
Treacy told RTÉ News that she received the invitation to play at his inauguration in January yesterday.
“I feel both honoured and privileged and obviously super excited,” she said. “It always brings me a great sense of pride to be able to represent Ireland.
“My first thought was to share the news with my mother, who I owe my talent to, as she was my inspiration with an amazing singing voice and musical talents of her own.”
Since 2016, Treacy has performed for Biden a number of times, including when he visited his ancestral home in Carlingford and during some of his rallies earlier this year.
She has won several awards for her talents and even performed in Carnegie Hall – twice.
Biden, who officially won the US election earlier this month, has said multiple times that he is looking forward to visiting Ireland again during his presidency.
The president-elect, who turns 78 today, told Taoiseach Micheál Martin during a phone call that he does indeed have plans to return some time soon.
“I’ve had a warm and engaging call with US President Elect Joe Biden,” said Martin on Twitter.
“He brings tremendous knowledge and understanding to his new role, and has a great love for his Irish heritage. He underlined his commitment to the Good Friday Agreement and we spoke of importance of multilateralism.
“For example, the Paris Accord and the WHO. I congratulated him on the historic nature of his election and that of Kamala Harris and we agreed to work closely together. I also invited him and Dr Biden to come back to Ireland when we will properly mark their success.”
Biden is due to be inaugurated on January 20.
