The National Concert Hall and The Arts Council have announced celebrated traditional musician and piper Louise Mulcahy as this year’s recipient of The Liam O’Flynn Award for 2022.
Established in memory of the late great piper, who passed away in 2018, The Liam O'Flynn Award celebrates 'the role of the individual creative traditional artist in the creation of new works, the inception of unique artistic collaborations and innovations, and in the transmission of traditional arts for future generations to enjoy and practice'.
Watch: Louise Mulcahy performs her new jig, Port Naomh Bríd, for St Brigid's Day 2022
An internationally renowned performer and tutor on both uilleann pipes and flute from Co. Limerick, Louise Mulcahy receives an award bursary of €15,000, along with a residency at the NCH to collaborate, innovate and create a new work to be performed as well as engaging audiences with traditional arts.
Louise is the fourth recipient of the award. Previous recipients include concertina player and composer Jack Talty (2021), multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer Barry Kerr (2020) and harper and composer Úna Monaghan (2019).
Louise Mulcahy said: "Many years ago, I was fortunate to meet Liam O' Flynn and attended a master workshop at Na Píobairí Uilleann. Most recently, I had the opportunity to research Liam's personal collection at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Within the collection, Liam documents the magic that happens when a performer engages with the audience and vice versa, "it's like a spell is cast and a terrific passage of feelings moves from the musician to the audience and back again." I really look forward to engaging with the audience at the National Concert Hall and exploring this relationship".
