RTÉ Radio

Meet Our Official Supporters

Sir James Galway

The living legend of the flute, Sir James Galway is regarded as both the supreme interpreter of the classical flute repertoire and a consummate entertainer whose appeal crosses all musical boundaries.Sir James has made himself a modern musical master whose virtuosity on the flute is equalled only by his limitless ambitions and vision. Through his extensive touring, over 30 million albums sold and his frequent international television appearances, Sir James has endeared himself to millions worldwide and is a tireless promoter of the arts.

One of the busiest men in classical music, the 2012/13 season sees Galway appearing all over the world in concert - opening the season with concerts with the Grammy award winning Emerson String Quartet in Ireland and Italy; a tour of the UK with the Orchestra of St. John's, and onto China for a collaboration with guitarist Xuefei Yang, including concerto performances at the Beijing Festival and in Hong Kong. Another highlight will be a New Year's Eve televised concert with the NY Philharmonic "Live from the Lincoln Centre". European engagements include a tour of Italy and Austria; concerts in Russia with Yuri Bashmet and the Moscow Soloists. Following this will be 'The Legacy Tour' with Sir James and friends, stopping at major cities throughout the US, including New York, Boston, Washington DC and Los Angeles. Spring will see Sir James performing back in Europe before touring Israel and ending the season back in the UK.

Ryan Sheridan

Friday 23rd March 2012 saw two years passed since Ryan Sheridan was spotted busking on the streets of Temple Bar. In this time Ryan has gone on to play with acts such as Simply Red, The Script, Taylor Swift, Bryan Adams & Rodrigo Y Gabriela. His debut album "The Day You Live Forever" went into the Irish charts at No 2 in May 2011, and stayed there for approximately five weeks, only be topped at the time by Adele. He has had numerous hits from this album such as "Jigsaw", "The Dreamer" and " Stand Up Tall", his cover of " Walking In The Air " was Christmas number 1 on Itunes and stayed there for 7 days. 2011 saw Ryan play the Main Stage at Oxegen, he was one of the headline performers at Barack Obama's concert in College Green, and he was the act selected to play at half time at the All Ireland Final between Dublin and Kerry. He went on to have two sold out Irish tours, which included sold out shows in Whelan's and The Academy Dublin.

Recently Ryan has negotiated a deal with a major record label in Australia, where his album will be released at the end of the year. He has been confirmed to play gigs in Paris & London in the coming months.

Ryan's current hit "The Dreamer" was selected by Heineken as the music for the new Heineken ad "Long Story", and has been well received by all.

Ryan's debut album "The Day You Live Forever" reached platinum sales in April 2012. Ryan was presented with his platinum disc on stage at his sold out Olympia Theatre headliner on Friday 20th April.

Christy Moore

Christy, a native of Co. Kildare, started in the music business in the mid-sixties, when his life as a bank clerk was interrupted by a bank strike, and he moved to England. There he became involved in the folk music scene at the time and spent a few years playing pubs and clubs around the country.

His return to Ireland was marked by the album Prosperous, which proved to be a milestone in the rapprochement of Irish music to the popular mainstream. This album benefited from a collaboration of the leading talents of contemporary folk music, musicians such as Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny and Liam O'Flynn, and this one-off was to lead to the formation of Planxty, a band who were at the leading edge of the revival of Irish traditional music.

Over the following years the musical status of Planxty became legendary both in Ireland, Britain and throughout Europe. However in 1974 the band split up to pursue solo projects. It was during this period that Christy continued to explore new ground as a solo artist recording a number of solo albums including 'The Iron Behind the Velvet' which featured Andy Irvine and 'Live in Dublin' with Donal Lunny.

The original Planxty lineup of Christy, Andy, Liam and Donal then reformed in 1979. They recorded two further albums with Tara Records 'After the Break' and 'The Woman I Loved So Well'. In the eighties Christy again teamed up with Donal Lunny to form Moving Hearts, another ambitious and innovative Irish band which sought to mix jazz into the folk-rock fusion. Ever the wanderer, Christy was soon breaking out on his own again, and it was in the eighties that he began to establish himself as one of Ireland's leading solo artists with a string of acclaimed albums and high profile tours. In the mid-nineties Christy decided to take a break from the music for a few years. In the year 2000 Christy return to live performances with a series of Dublin concerts. Over the last few years he has released a number of solo projects including a television series, a live album and a 6 CD boxset.

In 2004 Christy once again teamed up with Planxty for a series of Irish concerts and a new live CD and DVD, while at the same time performing regularly in his own right with in Ireland and the UK, with Declan Sinnott.

Aslan

Aslan, who took their name from the heroic lion in C.S. Lewis's series of books chronicling the fictional land of Narnia, emerged from the working class areas of Finglas and Ballymun in Dublin's Northside, in the mid 1980s. They released a demo single, 'This Is', in the spring of 1986, which was a huge hit and became the longest ever play-listed single on RTÉ 2fm.

On the 19th April 2012, the band attended The Savoy cinema for the world premier of their film "Please Don't Stop" which tells the full story of the band's 30 years together. The film was made by the three friends of the band; Paul Andrews, Daragh Murphy and Ronan Quinn and it received a standing ovation at the end. A DVD of this movie is being released in September 2012.

The following day, 20th April 2012, their album "Nudie Books and Frenchies" was released on the EMI label and went straight in at No. 1 in the Irish charts. Not only did the fans like the album, but the critics described it as one of Aslan's best albums to date and it received rave reviews across the board. As 2012 is the band's 30th year together, they are about to play the biggest gig of their career... TALLAGHT STADIUM on the 30th June 2012 with special guests, The Kaiser Chiefs.

Fionn Regan

Fionn regan released his current album '100 Acres of Sycamore' through Heavenly Recordings/Universal Ireland on 15th August 2011. The album is the follow-up to 2010's 'The Shadow of an Empire' and his Mercury Prize nominated debut 'The End of History'.

In December '11 Fionn completed a sold out UK and Irish solo aucoustic tour of churches - chosen for their stunning natural aucoustics - taking in London's Union Chapel, and two very special nights in Dublin's Pepper Canister Church. Also in December Fionn's track 'Dogwood Blossom' was chosen by celebrated director Shane Meadows to feature in his "This is England '88" (which drew over 3 million viewers in the UK alone) a powerful and moving use of the track - the entire song plays out over the final scene, it caused a huge buzz among viewers and Meadows' fans.

Having just completed a major European tour supporting the incredible Feist, Fionn has returned to the studio this month to work on his next album, which is due later this year.
 
 
 
 
 

Cathy Davey

Having initiated a major-label bidding war before she'd ever performed live, Cathy Davey took her time with her music; assembling a group of musicians who would not only realise her own ideas, but add their own influences to her bare-bones alternative pop

Through her teenage years and early twenties, Davey composed in private. In 2002, she put together a four-song, self-produced demo tape which she began to shop to record labels. The response to the tape was astounding, and a bidding war ensued between a number of Irish and British labels, with EMI eventually piping Rough Trade to her signature.

Davey is probably best-known for her second studio album, Tales of Silversleeve, and lead single "Reuben" became her most successful single to date, spending seven weeks in the Irish Singles Chart, debuting at number 42 in September of 2007. Tales of Silversleeve peaked at number 24 upon its release in October, and had spent 14 weeks in the Top 50 as of January 2008. Cathy has been compared to such leftfield musical heavyweights as PJ Harvey, Björk, and Kate Bush, but suffice to say that in our eyes, Cathy is in a league of her own.