High hopes for Brian at World Championships of Performing Arts

South East Clare man Brian James Roche is through to the semi-final stage of the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, where he is one of 20 competing for a place in the finals this weekend.

The Ardnacrusha singer, dancer and actor was selected on Wednesday to go through to the semi finals. Brian put music accompaniment to a poem called I Like Girls Who Can Sing and although he wasn’t happy with the performance on the day it will now be showcased again in the semi-finals.

He will be among the top 20 selected from approximately 400 entries across the globe to compete at the semi-finals. Five places are available in the final, which takes place on Thursday night.
The 25-year-old was selected to compete in three of the six categories at the world championships, competing in four competitions overall – dance, original vocals, cover vocals and acting. The other categories include variety, modelling and instrumentals.

Since Brian arrived on the West Coast this past week his talents have already been spotted not only by the judges in the competition but by two agencies that have made approaches to sit down with him and discuss representation.

“An agency out here (Pacific Talent and Models) and New York Conservatory of Dramatic Art have approached me too to have a chat tomorrow in a one-on-one meeting called a Go-See, which is very exciting,” he said.

Speaking about his first day of the official competitive rounds on Sunday Brian told The Clare Champion that “everyone was extremely focused before going to bed and you could feel the tension building between the competitors”.

All the competitors are staying in the same hotel and Brian was awake on Sunday morning at 4am thinking about the pieces he was going to perform. He said that, as he wasn’t on until the afternoon session, it was tense watching all the heats and waiting for his chance.

His first heat was original vocals and together with Danny Forde, Brian had put a music accompaniment to I Like Girls Who Can Sing the day before.

“The song went well, it’s an original but I felt I rushed it,” he said.

Even though he said he felt it had gone poorly, there was no time to wallow as he was into the second heat 20 minutes later. When the second performance was called he said he felt more controlled and walked onto the stage confidently with the mic stand and launched into The Parting Glass.

“Some of my nerves showed through but testament to the song, a judge came up after and said it was beautiful and Irish and we had to talk more tomorrow,” he said.
Speaking about the event so far, Brian said “It’s great fun. It is a seriously tough competition but sure we’ll give it a lash.”