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Programme 9: June 2nd 2005
In the final programme in the series, Bernadette Comerford talks to Michael, John and Tom McGlynn. Michael is a composer and director of the highly successful choral group Anúna which he founded in 1987. Anúna has released ten albums since 1993, almost exclusively featuring his arrangements and award-winning original works. His twin brother John joined Anúna in 1991, and he was largely responsible for the image of the group: Cloaks, crystalline voices, candles and ritualistic movement created such a unique atmosphere that the audience were not simply at a concert, but felt actively involved. Their slightly (eleven months!) younger brother Tom sang with Anúna during the Riverdance years.
Programme 8: May 26th 2005
This week's programme features Katia and Marielle Labeque. The extraordinary pianists are known not only for the seamless ensemble of their playing, but also for their superlative musicianship and extraordinary scope of repertoire which ranges from Bach, Mozart and Schubert to Stravinsky, Gershwin, Bernstein and the avant-garde composers of the 20th century.
The Labèque sisters were born on the Basque coast of France near the Spanish border. Their Italian mother was a well-known piano teacher and musician who gave the sisters their first lesson when they were three and five years old. Later, they attended the Paris Conservatoire.
Programme 7: May 19th 2005
This week the four O'Grady Sisters are the senior branch of one of the great dynasties of classical music in Ireland. Geraldine and Sheila are violinists: Moya is a cellist, while Eily (widow of Frank Patterson) is a pianist and harpist.
Programme 6: May 12th 2005
On tonight's programme Bernadette speaks to one of the great musical families of Irish traditional music, Muintir Uí Bheaglaoich from Baile na bPoc in the Gaeltacht of West Kerry. Bernadette Comerford talks to three of them, Seosaimhín Ní Bheaglaoich and her brothers, Séamus and Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich. All three have a rich store of the songs of their native place, and both Séamus and Breanndán are box players, with numerous recordings to their names.
Programme 5: May 5th 2005
Nollaig and Máire Ní Chathasaigh come from a Cork family with a musical pedigree which stretches back for generations. Nollaig is one of Ireland's most gifted musicians with her own unique way of playing traditional Irish music on the fiddle and such an utterly distinctive sound that it would be impossible to mistake it for that of anyone else. Máire is one of the most important and influential traditional musicians around today, described by the late Derek Bell as "the most interesting and original player of the Irish harp today".
Click here for more information on Máire
For more information on Nollaig click here.
Programme 4: April 28th 2005
This week we meet Colum and Tommy Sands, who grew up in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains 'with a Fenian fiddle in one ear and an Orange drum in the other'. Their childhood was one immersed in folk music - their father played the fiddle, their mother the accordion. The kitchen was where Protestant and Catholic farmers alike would gather for songs and storytelling at the end of a day's harvesting. As part of The Sands Family, they played wherever they were welcome, from local wakes and weddings to New York's Carnegie Hall. Tommy's memoir The Songman has just been published by Lilliput Press.
Programme 3: April 21st 2005
This week, Belfast-born sisters Fionnuala and Una Hunt, violinist and pianist respectively, talk to Bernadette Comerford about their musical origins in a family where everybody played at least two instruments. Both sisters studied in Vienna and have gone on to have distinguished careers in music.
Fionnuala is a violin soloist, orchestral director and chamber musician. As Artistic and Music Director of the Irish Chamber Orchestra she directed performances both nationally and on tour in Europe, the USA and Australia, recorded CDs of Irish Classics and works by Tchaikovsky, and gave world premieres of specially commissioned works by leading Irish composers. She has recently recorded a CD of Tangos in her own arrangements with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
As one of Ireland's leading pianists, and through her interest in the music of Irish composers, Una Hunt has established a unique position as an artist for the twenty-first century. Her eloquent performances and artistic recordings have given exposure and a new voice to Irish music which was once forgotten and neglected.
Una has performed in Ireland, Europe and the USA, where her artistry has been received with enthusiasm. She has appeared on many occasions with the major Irish orchestras and has given several first performances of new works. Her most recent CD features the music of George Alexander Osborne, a Limerick-born composer of the 19th century whose music has up to now been hidden in the mists of time.
Programme 2: April 14th 2005
This week Bernadette Comerford travels to Edinburgh to meet identical twins Craig and Charlie Reid - The Proclaimers.
It's 15 years since The Proclaimers made their legendary TV debut on The Tube, performing the classic song Letter From America. There was an extraordinary response to these two impassioned brothers singing their hearts out in their own accents about serious political issues. A song about Scotland, its emigration, politics, industrial closures and the Highland clearances had reached the top of the pop charts.
As teenagers, the twins' musical passion began after a childhood spent in Edinburgh, Cornwall and Auchtermuchty in Fife. At school they played in punk bands, and formed The Proclaimers in 1983. People identified with these two characters in jeans, jumpers and glasses, singing songs that opened your ears and hit your heart.
Their debut album This Is The Story a huge success, and was followed by Sunshine On Leith in August 1988. It became a million seller. The Proclaimers are currently recording their sixth studio album in London with producer Mark Wallis (whose credits include the Smiths, U2, Talking Heads, Go-Betweens, Travis, Rooster).
The new album will be released in August with The Proclaimers touring in USA and Canada in September/October, returning for a UK and Ireland tour at the end of the year.
Their official website is www.proclaimers.co.uk
Programme 1: April 7th 2005
The first programme features jazz musicians Ronan and Conor Guilfoyle, who grew up in Co. Dublin in a family of eight children. Ronan is a bassist and composer, Conor a drummer. Their father sadly died when they were in their teens, but he had a huge influence on their musical development. He had a passion for jazz and 20th Century classical music, and from the time they were children he introduced them to his extraordinary record collection. Ronan describes him as a 'cultural guru'. Their mother too was musical, having studied piano to a high level.
Ronan and Conor have worked in bands together since they were teenagers, but each has separate musical interests also. Conor started Ireland's very first salsa band. Ronan has had numerous commissions as a composer, and his newest piece is Renaissance Man, written in honour of his father who died 30 years ago this year. It will be premiered on Saturday 9th of April at The Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, performed by the great guitarist John Abercrombie and the Callino String Quartet, along with Conor and Ronan themselves.
For more information on Ronan click on:
www.ronanguilfoyle.com/
and
www.cmc.ie/composers/composer.cfm?composerID=53
For more information on Conor click on:
www.musicmaker.ie/endorsment/players.html
For information on their upcoming concert on Saturday 9th April:
http://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/h_prog.htm
RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external websites
When: Series finished
Presenter: Bernadette Comerford
Producer: Bernadette Comerford
