Venue: Theatre 2, Irish World Academy
Dermot Byrne is one of Ireland’s most outstanding traditional accordion players. For many years a member of Altan, Dermot performed, recorded and toured extensively with the group along with artists like Donal Lunny, Steve Cooney and Stephane Grapelli, bringing the beauty and joy of traditional Irish music to audiences all over the world. In other collaborations he has performed previously with KGB, Frankie Gavin, Sharon Shannon, and The Stunning, along with many other outstanding Irish and international musicians. For his contribution to Irish music Dermot was chosen as TG4’s Traditional Musician of the Year 2013.
Aidan Connolly is a fiddle player from Rathfarnham who has been heavily influenced both by the musicians of his locality and the great fiddlers of times past: Paddy Cronin, Paddy Canny and Denis Murphy, to name but a few. He has studied traditional music in-depth and is a highly respected authority on traditional instrumental music from the 1920s onwards. His solo fiddle album, "The Portland Bow", launched in 2021 to critical acclaim, was nominated for 'Best Instrumentalist' at the 2022 RTÉ Folk Awards.
Ruairí McGorman is an established Greek bouzouki, guitar and fiddle player, who is in high demand as an accompanist. He is greatly influenced by the traditional music scene of the 1970s, most significantly De Danann and the music of Alec Finn. In 2014 he toured Germany with traditional group Mórga, and has continued to accompany other musicians since, such as Frankie Gavin, Noel Hill, De Danann, Jack Talty, and many more.