Gerry O'Connor @ The Irish Club
Event description
Gerry O’Connor is from Dundalk, Co. Louth, where he grew up in a family of musicians, dancers and singers, all taught at home by his mother, Rose. His father Peter was himself a singer whose seven uncles all played music. Rose, passed her skill on to hundreds of others over the next four decades, students travelling from Armagh and Dublin as well as counties Meath and Louth to learn from the doyenne of fiddle teachers
From an early age, Gerry was involved in Irish music, winning numerous All Ireland awards in a range of duets, trios and céilí band titles. Playing with Michael Coleman’s contemporary John Joe Gardiner in the 1970s shaped Gerry’s style in the form of the fluid, lyrical fiddle-playing of the great Sligo masters. He was a step-dancer too, a grounding which complements his music, imbuing it with vibrancy, a pulsating rhythm for which he is noted, marking him today as one of the great fiddle players of his generation.
Gerry O’Connor has played and recorded with Lá Lúgh (Eithne Ní Uallacháin, Sony Music) and Skylark (Len Graham, Gary O’Briain & Máirtín O’Connor), recording four CDs on the Claddagh label. He has toured and recorded with members of all the legendary traditional music ensembles, including Planxty, Bothy Band, De Danann, Boys of the Lough and The Chieftains. Lá Lugh’s album Brighid’s Kiss was voted Album of the Year in 1996 by readers of Irish Music magazine, and Gerry’s solo CD Journeyman was rated in the top five Albums of 2004 by The Irish Times. This critically acclaimed recording, co-produced with his son Dónal (At First Light), was heralded as a milestone in the recorded music of the Oriel region of South Ulster. His second solo album Last Night’s Joy was released in 2018.
Celebrating Irish and Breton music links with Gilles le Bigot (Barzaz, Skolvan), Gerry and Gilles recorded a a live album in 2006 In Concert. Their second album Live in Oriel was released in December 2022
In 2006Gerry recorded and toured with The Irish Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Elizabeth Wallfisch, recording Ardee Dances by Rachel Holstead a piece commissioned by Louth County Council. He still performs with Wallfisch in The Wandering Fiddlers project, having played at the Wigmore Hall, London and the Brighton Early Music Festival.
His recording continued in 2010 with Jig Away the Donkey, an album focusing on the music and song of South Ulster, performed with Martin Quinn and Gabriel McArdle; in that year Gerry also produced an album of Fermanagh fiddler Seán Nugent’s compositions The High Hills of Largy, featuring many of Sean’s students, music friends and family. From 2005 -2010 Gerry taught Traditional Music Performance at Dundalk Institute of Technology, during which time he completed a masters by Research on Luke Donnellan’s Dance Music of Oriel. (2008) In 2011 he produced the song collection I Have Travelled this Country with 123 mostly unrecorded songs of Boys of the Lough musician Cathal McConnell.
The 2012 album Oirialla of locally researched tunes and songs from the South Ulster region was recorded and subsequently toured in Canada, France and Germany. The album, featured Nuala Kennedy, Martin Quinn and Gilles le Bigot. Recent re-releases of his music are Cosa Gan Bhróga (with Desi Wilkinson and Eithne Ní Uallacháin on Gael Linn) and Senex Puer (on IML).
With the cappella vocal trio White Raven led by Kathleen Dineen, Gerry has recorded and performed at European international choral festivals including RheinVocal and Merano. He is also currently touring and has recorded with the celebrated Irish-Canadian band The Irish Rovers. Since 2017 he has completed 8 tours in the USA as a solo fiddle player, playing concerts, teaching and giving audio-visual Concert /Lecture presentations on his publication The Rose in the Gap (Lughnasa Music 2019)
A four-time winner of The Fiddler of Oriel competition, Gerry has lately adjudicated both it and the Gael Linn’s Siansa and RAAP /RTE sponsored Breakthrough competitions. He was co-founder and first Artistic Director of Ceol Chairlinn, an annual teaching festival in Carlingford, Co Louth. He is also the Traditional Arts coordinator at the newly established Creative-Connexions Irish/ Catalan Arts festival in Sitges, teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer School and at master-classes throughout Europe. He has been working and playing with Tiarnán Ó Duinnchin and Fintan Vallely in the Compánach, now Turas project since 2013.
In the Theatre / Film world Gerry has toured with The Abbey Theatre, the National Theatre of Ireland and co-produced a re-imagination of Ó Riada sa Gaiety during his time at DkIt Music Dept. He was the Céili Band Music Consultant on the Lionsgate film “Boys and Girl from County Clare”.
2022-3 Gerry joined Equine Theatre Carbaret de L’Exil - Irish Travellers in Zingaor, Paris. (Dir. Bartabas)
Recently commissioned compositions included music for the Táin March, a 7-day walking festival finishing in his home county of Louth.