IRISH MUSIC NIGHT IN ROSCREA CASTLE   You are in · RoscreaOnline · Community · Music / Concerts

MUSIC NETWORK BEST OF IRISH TOUR EXPLORES IRISH TRADITIONAL, WORLD AND OTHER FOLK MUSIC TRADITIONS, ROSCREA CASTLE, MAY 18

All in all a dazzling display of virtuosity and quirky genius. In Dublin on Desi Wilkinson He plays with jaw-dropping dexterity and lan. Irish Echo on Mirtn O'Connor One of the classiest musicians in Irish music today. Hot Press on Brendan O' Regan.

The final tour of Music Network's 2005 Spring Season provides a unique opportunity to share a rare voyage of musical exploration with three of Ireland's most sought after traditional musicians. Desi Wilkinson (flute, vocals), Mirtn O'Connor (accordion) and Brendan O'Regan (bouzouki) weave Irish and other folk traditions from around the world as well as playing original compositions and hybrid genres such as Parisian musette and Jewish klezmer. A highly regarded solo player and member of Cran, Desi Wilkinson is internationally respected for his research into ethnomusicology. Over the past 10 years his projects include forays into French, Scottish, Spanish, North American and Senegalese traditional music. Under the banner Around the World in 80 Riffs, the trio performs at Roscrea Castle on 18 May at 8pm. Tickets Adults 10, Children free of charge, can be booked on (0505) 21689. Music Network tours are funded by the Arts Council and are presented in association with The Irish Times and RT lyric fm.

Desi Wilkinson is a well-known flute virtuoso and singer, and one of Irelands' finest traditional musicians. Playing a music that while steeped in tradition, blazes trails of invention and creativity, Desi has garnered a great reputation both at home and throughout Europe and the USA where he tours regularly. He has collaborated with such internationally renowned groups as Cran while success as a solo player has seen his second album 'Shady Woods' released to great critical acclaim in 2001. Originally from Belfast, Desi's first and major influence was the renowned Co. Fermanagh fiddler Tom Gunn who was a neighbour in Belfast during the 1970s, and in whose kitchen Desi enjoyed many a long, musical session. Here he met and listened to many great musicians and singers who remain a constant source and inspiration to his own playing and who also ignited in him a hugely enthusiastic curiosity about the origins of music. A qualified teacher of History, he now holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Queens University Belfast and a PhD from the University of Limerick in respect of work concerning traditional music and identity in Brittany. Until Sept 2002 he was based at UL where he was a Post-doctoral research associate under the auspices of the IRCHSS (Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences). He has undertaken a series of major international music projects informed by and based around his academic work. The most recent of these outings include La traverse, an eclectic fusion of the musical traditions of Ireland, France and Qubec and Senegal to Donegal in which the vastly different traditions in Ireland and Senegal were explored by musicians from both cultures. http://homepage.eircom.net/~shadywoods/Index.htm/

Mirtin O'Connor began playing the accordion at the age of nine. His remarkable career stretches back to the late 70's and has seen him as a member of leading traditional groups including Reel Union, De Dannan and Skylark. Mirtin's playing can also be heard on recordings as varied as the Chieftains' Long Black Veil, the Dubliners' Thirty Years a Greying, Mark Knopfler's Golden Heart, and Townes van Zandt's Deeper Blue, and in films such as Some Mother's Son (with Helen Mirren), The Twelfth Night (with Ben Kingsley), and Dancing at Lughnasa (with Meryl Streep). He was the first accordion soloist in Riverdance and also worked as a soloist in Bill Whelan's Seville Suite. As well as that he played on the Paris Mussette (Vol. 2), a series of records chronicling the history of the mussette and his playing is featured in two highly acclaimed TV documentary series Bringing it all Back Home and River of Sound. In 1995 Mirtin was presented with the first ever Allied Irish Bank Traditional Music Award (which has now become the TG4 Traditional Musician of the Year Award). He has four solo albums to his credit with his last album, Perpetual Motion nominated for a Bank of Ireland Arts Award and hailed by Q Magazine as one of the 1990's key instrumental albums. Mirtin also wrote the music for the St. Patrick's Skyfest suite in Dublin in 2003. http://www.mairtinoconnor.com/

Brendan O' Regan has been deeply involved with Irish traditional music for twenty plus years now. His work on various stringed instruments is highly regarded, as he is in constant demand for live and studio work. His skills as a musician/composer/producer are well documented, performing on more than thirty albums, with acts as diverse as De Dannan, Townes Van Zandt, Waterboys, John Prine, Sharon Shannon, Mary Black, Dolores Keane, Martin Stephenson. Brendan has also released two highly respected and popular solo albums, A Wind Of Change (1993), and the recent Samadhi - Slow Music for Guitar (2000). Brendan has also scored seven productions for Druid Theatre Co, Galway, as well as numerous television programmes. http://www.daintees.com/brendan.htm