Royal Duck + Mickey & Michelle

For one night, Dangar Island Community Hall will be transformed into an intimate concert hall, alive with the rich sounds of harp, strings, piano, percussion and voices.

Join us for an intimate evening of incredible live music, featuring two wonderfully unique Australian acts, Mickey & Michelle and Royal Duck.

Mickey & Michelle are the extraordinary harp and violin duo of Michelle Doyle and Michael O’Donnell. Their music brings together contemporary folk, jazz and classical traditions, combining the rhythmic energy of Celtic music with rich harmony, improvisation and the beautiful, unusual pairing of harp and violin.

Mickey & Michelle have taken their music on some remarkable adventures. In 2019, after recording their debut album A Walking Pace, the pair set off to hike the entire 3,000km Te Araroa trail through New Zealand, performing concerts in halls, homes, churches, festivals and other unlikely venues along the way.

Michelle has also toured and performed with artists including Paul Kelly and Shane Howard, while Michael’s musical background spans jazz violin, gypsy swing and contemporary folk.

Royal Duck is the chamber-folk project of Sydney multi-instrumentalist, singer and composer James Daley. Blending folk, jazz and classical influences with imaginative songwriting and arrangements, Royal Duck occupies a musical world entirely of its own — described by Happy Mag as “if Mozart wrote tunes for Simon & Garfunkel to croon over.” James’ original projects have appeared at Sydney Festival, Woodford Folk Festival and Vivid Sydney, among others.

In recent years James has teamed up with Sydney music legends Novak Manojlovic on piano (Freedman Fellowship winner and Artistic Director of SIMA) and musical polyglot Tom Botting on bass and vocals, bringing Royal Duck to the stage as a trio and adding more texture and depth to these masterfully written songs than ever before.

For this special Dangar Island performance, they will be joined by Bonnie Stewart on percussion and vocals and Jack Ward on cello.

And for the first time, Mickey & Michelle will join forces with Royal Duck, bringing the two groups together as a seven-piece ensemble with a rich, orchestral palette, featuring violin, cello, harp, double bass, guitar, mandolin, piano, percussion and vocals.

The evening will also feature a special pre-show performance from Dangar Island’s one and only Jazz Donkeys — a seriously talented bunch of young island musicians who already have the adults on the bill looking over their shoulders.