Musician / Composer / Producer / Educator
Really thrilled to be performing at Galway International Arts Festival this year with JazzTempo!
It’s a real privilege to be part of this cross-genre collaboration with ConTempo String Quartet and Matthew Berrill, Róisín Mulliez and Barry Donoghue.
These wonderful artists are some of the finest classical and jazz musicians Ireland has produced – I can’t wait!
Be sure to grab a ticket soon because they will go fast!
Tickets at http://www.giaf.ie
The Arts Council have invited That’s Life to showcase our band Electric Dreams at this year’s Festival Makers Conference! The event will be in Galway Rowing Club on May 11, hope to see you there!
I’m going to be performing jazz on RTÉ with the wonderfully amazing Matthew Berrill and Izumi Kimura. At my favourite venue Campbell’s Tavern! Great that our national broadcaster is celebrating the hard work that venues like the Tav do for live music in this country, should be a great show, also feat. leading folk and trad artists Sean Keane, The Whileaways & Pauline Scanlon and The Kane Sisters & John Blake.
You can register here to be a part of the TV audience, this Thursday 2nd Mar at three different time slots throughout the day
The two weeks I spent on my artist residency in Courthouse Arts Centre Tinahely was truly inspiring and nourishing as an artist. It was also a challenge, but that is what sparks creativity.
Getting out of your comfort zone is always good!
Here is a little piece I wrote as a reflection on my time there
Thanks again to Improvised Music Company for making this happen, it was a fantastic experience.
#navigatorresidency
Very happy to announce that I have been chosen for an artist residency at The Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely, Co. Wicklow!
https://www.improvisedmusic.ie/whats-happening/news/four-artists-chosen-for-imcs-navigator-programme
The 14-day Navigator Jazz Residency programme is run by Improvised Music Company and it offers jazz and improvising musicians professionally remunerated time and space to develop and perform work, while building relationships locally.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to be embarking on this residency. As an artist it is rare to get the support to focus on your work for an extended period, away from the distractions of day to day life, and I feel very fortunate for this opportunity.
Community engagement with the arts is something very close to my heart and I’m really excited to work with and be inspired by the local community of Tinahely.
In recent times, nature has been inspiring my work more and more. I’m also looking forward to drawing inspiration from the beautiful surrounds of Co. Wicklow and the nearby ancient oak trees of Tomnafinnoge Woods.
It’s a huge honour to be involved in this one..After performing it a few weeks ago in Galway, I look forward to performing it again in Dublin on October 15 in Arthur’s Blues and Jazz Club.
A new concert-length suite for large ensemble by avant-garde trombonist and composer Colm O’Hara, featuring some of Ireland’s leading jazz musicians and improvisers.
“one of Ireland’s most renowned improvisers” (Journal of Music)
Trombonist/Composer Colm O’Hara brings together ten of Ireland’s finest improvising musicians to tour the premiere of his new work for large ensemble. The work explores communication, memory, connection and loss. O’Hara’s compositional style allows the performers to improvise collectively within larger framed structures and is designed to move freely between written and improvised material.
Colm O’Hara, trombone
Olesya Zdorovetska, voice
Lina Andonovska, flutes
Matthew Berrill, clarinet, bass clarinet
Cathal Roche, alto saxophone
Nick Roth, tenor saxophone
Aengus Hackett, guitar
Izumi Kimura, piano
Seán Maynard Smith, bass
Matthew Jacobson, drums
In 2020 and again this year I have had the privilege of working together with these wonderful musicians: RTÉ ConTempo String Quartet, Matthew Berrill, Róisín Mulliez and Barry Donohue Music and it will be so wonderful to perform for you later this month! Tickets on sale this Friday @ 1pm, they will go fast so be sure to get one!
After two years of development during a global pandemic, Galway Music Residency brings ‘JazzTempo’ to a live audience later this month. This residency project is immersed in genre-fusion and brings the best of Jazz and Classical music together to create an entirely new aural experience. The culmination of the project will be a live performance on Wednesday 31 August at 8pm in The Mick Lally Theatre.
Over two exploratory residencies since 2020 in the beautiful Oughterard Courthouse, ConTempo String Quartet and four of Galway’s most talented Jazz musicians have experimented, challenging one another and learning from each other’s experiences in their respective music genres. ConTempo Quartet has shared this experience with: Matthew Berrill (clarinet/sax), Aengus Hackett Music (guitar), Ró Mulliez (voice) and Barry Donohue (double bass) – some of the best emerging Jazz artists currently performing in Ireland. The result is a unique sub-genre of music set to delight and excite audiences.
Tickets (€10) are limited and go on sale Friday 12 August at 1pm!
It is a huge honour and privilege to announce that I have been chosen by Improvised Music Company for their 30/30 platform!
IMC is Ireland’s national promoter of jazz, improvised and ethnic music and a resource organisation for Irish and Irish-based jazz musicians.
To celebrate 30 years in existence IMC has chosen 30 leading improvisers in Ireland to highlight and feature for the next year. In their words
“we’re taking this opportunity to spend the year highlighting 30 of Ireland’s outstanding improvisers, the ones who are writing the future, who we believe you should watch.”
I’ll be working closely with IMC to showcase my music and projects, and I am very excited indeed!
I’m very thrilled to have been awarded an Agility Award by The Arts Council!
For this project, I will be doing some field recording around Lough Corrib, Co. Galway and using nature sounds and ambient recording to make some new Penji tracks.
Very proud to be finally launching ‘New Arrival’, the album of new original music composed and performed in collaboration with In Flow gamelan ensemble! Also launching on the night is the wonderful documentary on the project by AMW Visual.
This Wednesday 25 May, 7pm at Nuns Island Theatre
A lot of work has gone into this, more than any other individual project I have ever been involved in!
I have been working together with That’s Life on In Flow since 2015. After taking on the facilitation of the ensemble in 2017 I collaborated with six musicians with intellectual disability to develop improvisational techniques and compose music which showcased this. This culminated in performances at Galway Jazz Festival and in the recording of this album.
This project is truly incredible and the dedication, creativity and focus that all the musicians involved have put into this cannot be understated. It is a massive achievement for all involved and I could not be more proud of everyone!
As with everything That’s Life is involved in, this truly is Arts & Disability at its finest. This could not have happened without the generous and continued support of all the funders, and I want to give my thanks in particular to Arts Council Ireland, Galway City Council and Galway and Roscommon ETB.
