Eimear’s lasting legacy to her fellow musicians

By Judy Murphy

Young Galway violist Sarah Hanniffy, who is studying Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow, won An Award of Excellence in this year’s Eimear Noonan Music Bursary Awards Programme. Sarah was one of two winners of the Excellence award – the other was Limerick harpist Siobhan Brady.

The bursary programme was set up by Eimear’s family in memory of the young woman from East Clare, a hugely talented musician, who died tragically in France in November 2017. Eimear was the leader of the Coole Music Orchestra in Gort and these awards,  supported by Coole Music, help young people from the West of Ireland to further their musical studies.

A spectacular online musical campaign called ‘Carpe Diem Sing and Play 2020’ was held last month as a fundraiser for the 2020-21 bursary. It involved hundreds of musicians and singers performing in their kitchens, sitting-rooms or gardens with the aim of spreading the Carpe Diem message to ‘seize the day, sing and play’.

Sarah Hanniffy has been playing viola since the age of four and has been a member of local and national orchestras in Ireland as well as of the Welsh and Scottish National Youth Orchestras. She intends to use the money to invest in a new instrument to assist her musical development. Sarah has also been immersed in Irish music since childhood, taking part in workshops and winning many local traditional music competitions, including an overall ‘Spirit of the Feis’ award. She also plays tin whistle, piano, fiddle, guitar and low flute, most of these self-taught.

Other Galwegians who won bursaries include 19-year-old singer Emma Flynn, a first-year student of commercial modern music in BIMM Institute, Dublin, who is hoping to release her first single next year.  Emma, from Loughrea, took lessons with Martina Flaherty when she was younger and more recently with Micheal Durham. She’s has fond memories of her time with Loughrea Youth Theatre from the ages of 11 to 18.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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