Laochra / Heroes 2011

Born January 5th, 1944, Louis Stewart began his musical career in the sixties as a member of the Dublin jazz scene. In 1968 he received an invitation to the Montreux Jazz Festival together with the Jim Doherty Quartet. He came away with the pressaward for “Outstanding European Soloist of the Festival”. The following year–again in…

Up in that Pantheon inhabited by the biggest selling recording artistes of all time in Ireland,  rubbing shoulders with Bono and the Boys, you might be surprised to bump into Phil Coulter.   You shouldn’t be! It’s now twenty years since the distinctive sound of Tranquility, featuring Phil’s piano and orchestra, first seduced the whole…

Allan MacDonald was born in 1956 and raised in the Gaelic-speaking community of Glenuig in a family that includes two equally famous piping MacDonald brothers: Iain and Dr. Angus. Allan was taught first by Pipe Major John MacKenzie of Campbelltown at Queen Victoria School in Dunblane, and later by Bob Nicol and Roddy MacDonald of…

Pianist Míċeál O’Rourke has built a career as a highly respected performer and brings special insights into the music of Mozart, Chopin, Debussy and Ravel. He has played at most major venues on four continents including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the International Music Centre in Moscow, the National Concert…

Martin Hayes is regarded as one of the most extraordinary talents to emerge in the world of Irish traditional music. His unique sound, his mastery of his chosen instrument – the violin – his acknowledgement of the past and his shaping of the future of the music, combine to create an astonishing and formidable artistic…