PR84 Descriptive List of the Personal Archive of Rita Lynch
Miss Rita Lynch…'.
During the following years Rita travelled the length and breadth of Ireland topping the bill and sharing the stage with many other outstanding performers and musicians of the day. She also sang in Bermingham, Manchester and Glasgow. There were many Radio Eireann broadcasts during that time as well as performances with the Dublin Operatic Society, the Dublin Grand Opera Society and the Radio Eireann Symphony Orchestra. Highlights of this period included the soprano leads in the bicentennial performance of Handel's Messiah in 1942 and in the centenary performance of Balfe's 'The Bohemian Girl', both at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin.
Rita married Patrick Shaw in 1945 and returned to live in Cork, having 4 children.
In 1948 Rita recorded three 78” records at the H.M.V. studios, London. The songs included : Mozart's 'Lullaby', 'The Spinning Wheel', 'The Fairy Tales of Ireland', 'Home Sweet Home', 'I Will Walk With My Love', and of course 'The Last Rose of Summer'.In March 1949 at the invitation of the Chicago Tribune's radio station WGN, Rita flew to the U.S.A. and embarked on an exciting three months of concerts, broadcasts and interviews. She travelled between Boston, Chicago and New York and among the highpoints guested for Sir Arthur Fiedler at a Boston Pops sellout performance. She was feted wherever she performed and during her visit she met many celebrities including Irish Government Minister, Sean McBride. The 'Cork Examiner' reported her arrival home on the 27th June 1949 ' ... after a very successful tour of the United States. Miss Lynch sang at the Symphony Hall, Boston to an audience of 2,000 people, and in Chicago for the Corkmen's Association, as well as in many other cities. During her tour she met Michael O'Duffy, the Derry tenor and Countess McCormack. Miss Lynch was met at the airport by her husband, Mr. P.J. Shaw of Cork.' As well as raising her family of four, Rita continued her singing into the 1950’s. One of her last public performances was at The Palace Cinema, Macroom where she shared the stage with Scottish tenor Fr. Sidney MacEwan.
She became an active member of the Old Ursulines Past Pupils' Union, Cork in the mid 60's and became its President in 1967. She was also President of the Soroptimists in 1973/1974.
Rita pursued a successful career as a singing teacher during the 1970's and in the 1980's and 1990s expressed her artistic talents through oil painting.
In October 1995, at the annual John McCormack Recital, Bank of Ireland, College Green, Dublin, The Vocal Heritage Society of Ireland presented Rita with The Margaret Burke Sheridan Medal for her contribution to singing in Ireland and in 1997 Rita was invited to attend at the Nation Concert Hall, Dublin for an event commemorating the first performance of Handel's Messiah in Fishamble Street, Dublin 250 years earlier and 50 years after the Dublin bicentenary performance.
Rita died in 2009.
Archival History Donated to Archives in 2019
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