Drawing From The Well

The Irish Traditional Music Archive presents an evening of traditional music, song and dance from four of Ireland's leading contemporary traditional artists: Andrea Palandri (fiddle), Pádraic Keane (uilleann pipes), Síle Denvir (harp & song) and Caitlín Nic Gabhann (concertina & dance) at Mermaid Arts Centre.

These artists have engaged with ITMA’s artistic programmes, including its flagship series Drawing from the Well, an initiative which connects artists with archival materials to inspire new art. Examples of the artists’ new work is freely available to view online at: https://www.itma.ie/drawingfromthewell/

Original performances by Ireland’s leading traditional artists inspired by the great archival collections.

Caitlín Nic Gabhann, Síle Denvir, Andrea Palandri and Pádraic Keane

Caitlín Nic Gabhann is a concertina player, performer, teacher, composer and percussive dancer. Having toured for years as a dancer with Riverdance, 3 time All-Ireland concertina champion Caitlín is a regular performer at festivals and concert halls from North America to Asia over the last 15 years. Caitlín’s life’s work to date was recently recognised with her being chosen as UCC Traditional Artist in Residence for 2022.

Síle Denvir is a sean-nós singer and harpist who is deeply influenced by her upbringing in the west of Ireland Connemara Gaeltacht. A native Irish speaker, her singing is very much rooted in the ancient style of sean-nós or old-style Gaelic singing, while her harp playing and interest in the music of the old harpers is influenced by her teacher and mentor Kathleen Loughnane.

Andrea Palandri was raised in London until the age of nine and in Venice until the age of nineteen. He began visiting Ireland in his teens and developed a particular interest in the fiddle playing of Paddy Cronin, Denis Murphy and in the bowing techniques taught in the manuscripts of Pádraig O’Keeffe. Andrea has performed at numerous events both in Ireland and abroad since moving to Ireland in 2014.

Uilleann piper Pádraic Keane hails from Maree, Co. Galway and was born into a great musical family. In 2011 he was awarded TG4 Young Musician of the Year. He has toured America as a soloist with The Irish Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, The RTE Concert and Symphony Orchestras as well as various string quartets. He recently released his acclaimed solo piping album entitled 'In Full Tun

A fantastic night of live music this December.