Riverdance 25th Anniversary: Go Behind-The-Scenes Of The New Album

To celebrate its 25th anniversary, global phenomenon Riverdance returns to where it all began – with five performances at the 3Arena, Dublin, from February 6 to 9.

Initially starting life as a seven-minute Eurovision interval act, Riverdance was adapted into a full-length stage show, premiering at the Point Theatre in February 1995. Since then, its been performed over 12,160 times, and has been seen live by a whopping 27.5 million people in 546 venues worldwide.

To mark the occasion, Decca Gold are also releasing Bill Whelan's new album Riverdance 25th Anniversary: Music From The Show.

The project sees the legendary composer returning to the studio to re-record the show's Grammy Award-winning soundtrack – with appearances from some of the world's finest young musicians, including the RTÉ Concert Orchestra; Zoe Conway (fiddle); award-winning multi-instrumentalist Tara Howley (uilleann pipes & low whistle); Avi Avital (mandolin); Mark Alfred (drums); Amos Lora (Spanish guitar); two-time All Ireland Fiddle Champion Pat Mangan; Emma McPhilemy (sax); Emma Frampton (sax); Damien Mullane (accordion); Nedyalko Nedyalkov (gadulka); Peyo Peev (kaval); Haley Richardson (fiddle); and singers Lynn Hilary and Múireann Nic Amhlaoibh, who makes her Riverdance debut with a stirring performance of the show’s principle song, 'Lift The Wings'.

"The music has moved into a very different position from when we first recorded it," Whelan reveals in a statement about the release. "A lot of the players on the original recording would have only heard the music a day or two before whereas in this case, the music has almost been in the ether for a lot of the musicians, many of whom weren’t even born when I first wrote the score. As a result, these players come to this recording with a unique virtuosity – distinguished with both a familiarity and an energetic freshness."

To celebrate the first night of Riverdance's 3Arena run, revisit that classic score with the new 'Making Of The Album' video series below:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4