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CARLOVIAN
TRADITIONAL MUSIC CLUB
Zoë Conway & John McIntyre,
May 4th, 2007
Dia
dhaoibh go leir!
First of all, thanks to all of you
who supported the trad club this season.
From having doubts about it’s viability
earlier in the year, the last few gigs
have been some of the best and best
supported ever. We hope to continue to
bring high calibre musicians to Carlow. I
think you will agree that our next artiste
fits that description. She has played the
folk club some years ago and regulars
still argue that hers was one of the
outstanding performances over the years.
Zoë
Conway is a prodigious talent, equally at
home in both traditional Irish and
classical styles. Her list of achievements
belies her youthful age as Zoë has
performed across the globe, both as a solo
artist and also playing with international
acts such as Riverdance, Damien Rice,
Rodrigo y Gabriella,
Nick
Cave
and Lou Reed among others. She is a holder
of the much coveted All-Ireland Senior
Fiddle Champion title, winning the
prestigious competition in 2001. She was
also recently voted Best Traditional
Female of the Year in Irish Music
Magazine. Zoë is increasingly in demand
as a tutor, regularly giving workshops and
lectures on the merits of classical and
traditional music on the violin. She has
performed at festivals such as
Glastonbury
,
L’Orient, Tonder and Womad and has also
performed in some of the most prestigious
concert halls in the world including The
National Concert Hall,
Dublin
;
The Kremlin,
Russia
;
The Kennedy Centre, Washington; The
Broadway Gershwin Theatre,
Carnegie
Hall
,
New
York
.
Zoë
began playing the violin at the age of
eight, unusually learning traditional
music and classical music at the same
time. She was far behind others of the
same age, as most classical players start
from the tender age of three! However, she
quickly caught up and by the age of
thirteen had mastered such challenging
pieces as the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.
In
Ireland
,
the classical and traditional music worlds
rarely mix, but by her mid-teens, Zoë was
competing and winning in both the
classical competitions, and the
traditional All Ireland competitions
Zoë
has recorded two solo albums to date, both
released to critical acclaim. The first,
simply titled Zoë Conway, was
produced by Bill Whelan and received
second place in the Irish Times top five
releases of the year. The second, The
Horse’s Tail, was released in
October 2006 and similarly appeared on the
top five trad releases of the year. For
this album, she was commended by critics
for capturing a sound which harks back to
old LP recordings and reveals the raw
energy of Irish traditional music. Both
albums showcase Zoë’s original
compositions alongside older traditional
tunes. She has just released her first
DVD, Zoë Conway Live, which will
be on sale, along with both cds, on the
night.
She
will be accompanied on the night by her
husband, John McIntyre, on guitar. John is
lead singer with a fabulous band called
“The Revs”. I have not heard him
playing trad music, but I’m sure if he
is touring with Zoe, he will prove a very
capable guitarist!!
The
gig is in the usual place, Friday May 4th,
The Carlovian,
Tullow
Street
and starts at
9.30pm
.
Admission is 15 euro. This will be the
last concert for this run so I hope you
will try to make it.
Dave
Email:
dave@carlowtrad.com
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