John McCormack was a famous Irish tenor

This is a signed photo of the great Irish tenor Count John McCormack, who could sing 64 notes on a single breath (in Mozart’s Don Giovanni). He performed Panis Angelicus at the 1932 Eucharistic Congress, which was held in Dublin.

In 1904 McCormack reputedly gave James Joyce singing lessons before Joyce entered the Feis Ceoil tenor competition, winning a very respectable bronze medal. That same year Joyce met Nora Barnacle, his future wife.

Listen to John McCormack singing ‘The Irish Emigrant’: