Entertainment
Ballinasloe all set for third annual Féile Cheoil Larry Reynolds event
Ballinasloe will be alive with traditional Irish music, culture, and heritage this weekend when the town hosts the third annual Féile Cheoil Larry Reynolds from Friday to Sunday.
Larry Reynolds was native of a townland close to Ballinasloe who, like so many of his time, emigrated to Boston in 1953. Over time he became a highly influential fiddle player, not only for his East Galway style, but also because of the contribution he made to Irish culture in Boston and all over North America.
After Larry passed away in 2012, a committee came together in Ballinasloe to commemorate him and the festival was established in 2014.
The Alan Kelly Gang with Eddi Reader will open the festival with a concert in Ballinasloe Town Hall on Friday (€15). The rest of the weekend is a packed itinerary including trad music, song and Sean Nós dance workshops by some of the finest tutors in the country.
The workshops will finish with a tutors recital and will be followed by an Irish Music Pub Trail through a number of venues in the town. During the afternoon there will be a lecture on The East Galway Style of Music, presented by Vera Craughwell in the Convent Gallery of Ballinasloe Library, which will conclude with some tunes from Vera and other local musicians. Presentations will also be made to the winners of the schools’ art and poetry competitions.
There will also be on-street craft exhibitions, which will include wood turning, tin smith, straw and basket weaver to mention a few. There will also be an historic walking tour of Ballinasloe, historically a planned town which was built and developed by the Earls of Clancarthy on the river Suck, which traditionally was the crossing point into the West of Ireland.
Sunday will see one of the weekend’s highlights, The 1st Larry Reynolds Open All-Ireland U-18 Fiddle Competition, which will take place in Scoil an Chroí Naofa on Society Street. There will be a prize fund of €250 and a perpetual cup for the winner, which will be presented by Larry Reynolds Jnr from Boston.
Other events on that day include Mass with local trad musicians; a singers circle event in The Pillar House; a céilí in Hayden’s Hotel with the Glenside Céilí Band; a junior seisiún in The Dunlo Tavern; a concert by the newly formed trad group, Gatehouse, who have just released their CD, Tús Nua; and there will be many open seisúin throughout the weekend.
■ Further details and tickets can be found on www.larry reynoldsweekend.com, or call 087 9046140.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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