Turning Points
Fiona Fauchois
Turning Points - Nick Falcon
Turning Points - John Buckley McQuaid
Turning Points - Bill Nelson, author of ‘A Miracle on Djouce'
Turning Points - Patricia Nolan
di Patricia Killeen
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Franco-Irish soprano Fiona Fauchois. Fiona began her musical training as a pianist in Paris while studying art history at the École du Louvre, before studying voice with Frédéric Gindraux at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. Her repertoire ranges from early music to contemporary works, including Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Gérard Pesson. In 2024, she sang Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. That year she was also awarded ‘Best Contemporary Performance’ at the Kattenburg Competition. Fiona often creates performances combining different art forms. Her production Sorelle, inspired by the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi and music by pioneering female composers, won first prize in the Osez! creation competition. She regularly performs with pianist Nataliya Nikolskaya, with whom she explores twentieth- century art songs for voice and piano. Having recently completed her voice studies in Lausanne, Fiona has returned to Paris and will also go to Dublin in November to perform in Carmen with the Irish National Opera. On 21 September, Fiona and Nataliya will perform Uisce – A Tale of Salt and Wood at the Centre Culturel Irlandais (CCI), Paris 75005, at an event organised by the Cercle Littéraire Irlandais. Created by Fiona, the performance combines songs by Samuel Barber and Benjamin Britten with spoken words from writer Kathleen Handrick’s fictional piece, Michael Rogers, Seanchaí: Monologue. Rogers was a seanchaí (storyteller) interned at Frongoch in 1916. As a musical prelude, flautist Ilona Csibi-Lockhart, formerly of the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Trinity College Dublin, will play a very innovative rendition of The Foggy Dew, bringing us back to the Easter Rising. Uisce – A Tale of Salt and Wood, 21 September at 19:00 in the Chapelle Saint-Patrick, (CCI) is a free event. Register on this link to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/uisce-a-tale-of-salt-and-wood-tickets- 1999165844858?aff=oddtdtcreator Photo credit : Romane Carbonnel
Nick Falcon - Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. On this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomes Nick Falcon. Nick grew up in Miami and is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Paris. ‘Bralitz’ is the name he uses for his solo music project, through which he writes, arranges, records and performs his own material. ‘Bralitz’ is a small town in northeastern Germany where he regularly attended a music festival hosted by the netlabel ‘Aaahh Records’. Since 2024, Nick has also been releasing a more stripped-down acoustic version of all his songs under his own name (Nick Falcon). His style as Bralitz blends international indie folk with diverse classical and regional influences. His music draws heavily from folk, rock 'n' roll, bossa nova, French chanson, manouche, and Brazilian music, creating a distinct cross-genre signature. His compositions prioritize melodic immediacy paired with imaginative, often narrative-driven or witty lyrics. In addition to writing and performing in his native English and Spanish, he incorporates French and Italian into his catalogue and live performances. During the episode, we hear about his travels before he settled in Paris, his writing process and his life as a musician living in Montmartre. The cherry on the cake is that we get to hear three of his songs and the backstories behind them, which make for great listening. Patricia saw Nick perform at a party at the Cave Café and can highly recommend him for private events. He can be contacted at: Bralitzmusic@gmail.com Nick Falcon Bandcamp Bralitz Bandcamp Nick Falcon Spotify Bralitz Spotify
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomes John Buckley McQuaid, a modern-day storyteller, poet and songwriter in the great Irish bardic tradition. Born in Dublin and now based in Denmark, John is a singer with a powerful voice and is a gifted writer of lyrics, songs and fairy tales. Performing “live” with guitar and video backing, he brings passion, warmth and Celtic humour to the stage, engaging and charming audiences wherever he goes. Over the years, John has performed in clubs, pubs, museums, prisons, schools and festivals all across Europe. He is also a prolific painter and has exhibited his work widely, often combining exhibitions with live concerts. Through his songs, videos and paintings, John creates a vibrant and colourful universe filled with imagination, hope and optimism, which is difficult to describe but wonderful to experience. John Buckley McQuaid will be performing at The Dissident Club, 58 Rue Richer, 75009 Paris. Music: https://johnbuckleymcquaid.bandcamp.com/ Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@johnbuckleymcquaid/videos Art: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbuckleymcquaid/
On this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Bill Nelson. Born in Dublin, Bill spent most of his career in the aviation industry and was based in France for many years. Today, he divides his time between Le Frêche in southwest France and Ireland. For the past 30 years, Bill has devoted himself to an extraordinary passion—one that brings together his love of France and Ireland, aviation, writing, and communication. In 1946, a Junkers 52 aircraft carrying 21 Girl Guides and its crew, from Paris to Dublin crashed into Djouce Mountain in County Wicklow. What should logically have been a devastating tragedy became a remarkable miracle: everyone on board survived. In 1995, a historian and writer presented Bill with a small piece of the wreckage from the Junkers aircraft. To mark the 50th anniversary of the crash, Bill wrote an article for the Wicklow Times. He explains how that single article forged an extraordinary and enduring connection between people in Ireland and France—a bond that continues to this day. Now, with the support of the Wicklow County Council Heritage Department, Bill has written a bilingual commemorative booklet, A Miracle on Djouce, to mark the 80th anniversary of the crash. The booklet will be launched at Wicklow Library on 18 August. A passionate writer, Bill has authored plays and numerous articles for The Irish Times and the Wicklow Times. He also gives lectures and interviews on the remarkable Djouce story and its lasting legacy. https://billnelson.ie/ https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/topics/a-miracle-on-djouce-1946-80th-year-anniversary
In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen welcomed Patricia Nolan. A native of Dublin, Patricia was educated at Gortnor Abbey in County Mayo and at the University of Cape Town. She lives in Paris, where she trained as a journalist for Newsweek International. She also wrote for The Quiet Quarter on RTÉ Lyric FM in Dublin and for Keltia, a Breton magazine dedicated to Celtic culture. Following her career at Newsweek International, Patricia taught Media and Communications at both the Sorbonne University and Panthéon-Assas University in Paris. She is a board member of Les Amis du Monde Diplomatique and of PEN Club France. During the interview she read three poems from her new poetry collection Cabaret, which will be available for purchase at the Fnac and on Amazon. Her previous collections include Travelling and Striptease, published by Éditions Le Castor Astral (Paris); Dragons and Roses, published by Escales des Lettres (Arras); and Champion, published by Pen Unchained (UK). Her work has appeared in more than 100 anthologies and has been translated into several languages. For the past three years, she has read at the Chichester Poetry Festival. Her book L'Irlande, published in 1990 by Romain Pages Éditions, sold more than 100,000 copies. A fiddle player and committed feminist, Patricia is currently writing a novel set in Ireland during the Great Famine.
Turning Points – Reporting From Paris: Real news, real analysis, real journalists. In this episode of Turning Points, Patricia Killeen speaks with Shellie Karabell and Elaine Cobbe. Shellie is the Editor-in-Chief of Reporting From Paris, and Elaine is its Deputy Editor. Reporting From Paris is a free monthly online news magazine produced by journalists from the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris. It is aimed at a global English-speaking audience with an affinity for Paris and a desire for more than tourist tips and pretty pictures. The publication offers in-depth reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues shaping France, Europe, and the wider world. Shellie and Elaine believe that the future of journalism lies online. While many journalists have already launched their own bespoke digital platforms, Shellie maintains that solo ventures can only go so far. By bringing experienced journalists together under one banner, there is more to be gained for journalists, readers, and the future of quality journalism. Reporting From Paris seeks to harness the technical and distribution advantages of digital media to deliver real news and insightful analysis from professional journalists. Shellie Karabell has spent more than 40 years in broadcast journalism as a news executive, anchor, producer, and field reporter in her native United States, across Europe, in the former Soviet Union/Russia, and in the Middle East. She has worked for ABC/WTN, PBS, Dow Jones Broadcast, CNBC, and Forbes.com, covering many of the major news events of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. She currently serves as Vice-President of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris. Elaine Cobbe is an award-winning print and broadcast journalist based in Paris. A former foreign correspondent for CBS News, she has covered many of the major international stories of the past three decades. A regular commentator on French and international politics for news outlets in France and her native Ireland, she is also a researcher and trainer in journalism and trauma. Elaine also serves on the committee of the Anglo-American Press Association of Paris. Full biographies for Shellie and Elaine: https://www.reportingfromparis.fr/about Free subscription: https://www.reportingfromparis.fr/ Instagram: @reportingfromparis_social