Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and Music Network have announced the appointment of three Musicians-in-Residence for 2019 in a scheme jointly funded by the Arts Council and managed by Music Network. Each of the residencies will include free public performances at the dlr LexIcon Studio in Dún Laoghaire, between 16th June and 5th December 2019. Residencies for established musicians were awarded to Éamonn Cagney and Izumi Kimura, and a residency for an emerging musician was awarded to Lara Gallagher.
The Musicians-in-Residence Scheme provides opportunities for performers and composers to develop and showcase new work and cultivate new artistic collaborations. The residences will also serve to enrich the cultural environment of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, with each musician engaging with local communities through a series of performances in the dlr LexIcon Studio and other locations in the area.
The residencies will culminate in a series of free concerts at the dlr LexIcon Studio from June to December as follows:
Composer, sound designer and multi-instrumentalist Lara Gallagher’s residency will focus on the creation of a number of improvisational pieces exploring the nature of sounds present in Booterstown. Lara is interested in the different ways we perceive sounds, and her performance and compositional work will embrace the fascinating sonic clash created when an acoustic instrument like the saxophone is merged with a digital sound-world. The pieces created will ask us to consider if, in an ever-changing world where busyness and technological advancements numb our emotional responses, we ever fully appreciate the beauty of our surrounding environments. There will be an opportunity to hear the work produced during Lara’s residency on Sunday 16th June in the dlr LexIcon Studio.
Improvising pianist and composer Izumi Kimura’s residency will explore the connection between environmental and musical sounds, by creating field recordings and live music that interact and play with each other. The soundscape of Dún Laoghaire is very rich, and every sound contains space, energy and movements of people, culture and nature. The resulting performances in the dlr LexIcon Studio on Thursday 4th July and Thursday 1st August will filter these sonic histories through a musical ear, bringing them to the here and now via the act of improvisation. Izumi will be joined by collaborators Anthony Kelly, one of the creators of the intriguing Dún Laoghaire Sound Map, along with vocalist Olesya Zdorovetska and violinist/violist Cora Venus Lunny, both intuitive musicians of mastery and integrity.
Percussionist and composer Éamonn Cagney will create new musical pieces inspired by one of his favourite folktales: “Young Conall of Howth”, also known as “Eachtra Chonaill Ghulbain”. There have been over sixty versions of this heroic and humorous tale collected in Irish folk tradition, which was composed in the late medieval period as an epic to outdo all epics. Éamonn and his drums will be joined by long-time collaborator, guitarist Niwel Tsumbu, and keyboard wizard Darragh O’Kelly, with sound provided by Eoin Murphy. Éamonn will lead the creation of a rhythm-based set of music, inspired by musically powerful parts of the story, which will be performed during two concerts in the dlr LexIcon Studio on Sunday 10th November and Thursday 5th December. Expect exciting drumming and rhythm, ethereal effects, spoken word and storytelling, virtuosic keyboard, guitar and djembe, humorous exploration and a heroic Irish tale with a difference.
Previous Musicians-in-Residence have included vocalist and songwriter Susan McKeown, pianist and composer Conor Linehan, sound artist and composer Craig Cox, musician and composer Sebastian Adams, The Eidola Trio featuring Malachy Robinson (viola de gamba) Eamon Sweeney (baroque guitar, lute) and Anita Vedres (baroque violin), Elizabeth Hilliard and Grainne Mulvey (Opera), Matthew Jacobson (Jazz Drummer) and Metier (Jazz Quintet led by Ronan Guilfoyle).
Full performance details are at https://www.musicnetwork.ie/concerts
Music Network is funded by the Arts Council.
