Kells artist Sarah Sylvia finds her voice in Philadelphia

Four years ago, Sarah Sylvia Furlong from Kells made it to the live finals of the Voice of Ireland, a show that opened doors for her and led to her "dream job" in the US. Now working as a piano and music teacher in the 'Let There Be Rock School' in Philadelphia, Sarah Sylvia has also just released her debut single 'St Vincent'.

Now 28, Sarah Sylvia started playing music at nine-years-old and has been playing classical piano for 15 years and harp for four years. She was a Voice of Ireland contestant back in 2014 when three coaches- the late Dolores O' Riordan, Bressie and Kian Egan-turned for her "blind audition".
"After the show finished, I was contacted by a music school in the Philadelphia area asking if I would be interested in teaching voice and piano there. Of course I jumped at the chance and I made a permanent move three years ago. Since I started teaching, I've worked with students for television shows such as The Voice US, American Idol and also prepared others for Music Universities all across the United States. It's a dream job!," she recalled.
While she misses home and visits a couple of times a year, Sarah Sylvia said she loves Philadelphia.
"I really, really love it here. There's so many opportunities for musicians and everyone is so talented yet humble. There's a huge musical community that I've become a part of and it's like one big family with everyone supporting each other. I feel very lucky to be involved. I do miss my family and home an awful lot though, of course. I try to get back to Kells a few times a year."
Sarah Sylvia has also been working on her own music and playing shows everywhere she can. "My newer project, Cages, came together last year after being introduced to so many incredible musicians at the school. The idea behind it was to have an open door to work with all kinds of artists. It's been a lot more fun and inspiring getting to play with different musicians for recording sessions and shows. I played my first ever American festival under Cages when we performed at The Ladybug Festival in Wilmington, Delaware which also brought the opportunity of my first American radio performance and that was an incredible experience."

She wrote her debut single 'St Vincent' last year on piano, her main instrument: "I actually dreamt of the melody randomly one night and ran downstairs to record it before I forgot the idea! After recording the demo, I sent it to Joe Boldizar who produced, mixed and recorded it at his studio, Retro City Studios, in Philadelphia. For me, the song was all about mood and Joe really captured what I was looking for, coming up with a ton of ideas and making it sound really epic.
"'St Vincent’ really came to life in the studio and I'll be forever grateful to have had such an amazing experience working with him on it. Justin Yoder is the incredible cellist responsible for those beautiful lines throughout the song which, if I'm being honest, is my absolute favourite part and I also got to record alongside my colleagues, Jeff Blaise (Bass) & Andre Karkos (guitar) from Let There be rock school which was really wonderful."
The single is now available for download from all digital providers. Physical copies will be made available in June which will include an acoustic version of 'St Vincent' and also an Irish cover of the classic Chris Isaak 90's hit 'Wicked Game' sung entirely in Irish: 'Cluiche Gránna'.
'St Vincent' is also the first release from Cages' upcoming EP 'The Parting Gift' due for release in October.
The song had it's first radio airplay in the United States on a major radio broadcast just a few days after the recording was completed.
Sarah Sylvia will also be shooting a music video back in Ireland for 'St Vincent' later this year and a studio video of 'Cluiche Gránna' this summer.
She is also planning a small Irish tour in the Autumn where she will will be playing in Meath, Dublin, Galway and Cork.