Art and the Outdoors 2023

Saturday 5 August

12.15pm-1pm        Max Greenwood

Max Greenwood – piano and voice Max Greenwood’s soulful and poetic song writing style appears on two critically acclaimed solo albums.  His delicate, expressive touch on the piano draws influence from Folk, Gospel, Jazz, and Film & TV soundtracks.  From Nottingham, now based in Ireland, Max teaches Song writing at third-level, and writes and performs in a wide range of professional contexts, including composing for community song writing productions.  September 2023 sees the exciting release of In The Quiet of the Evening, a new album of original solo piano compositions. maxgreenwood.com

1.15pm-2pm         Bow Musique Quartet

Bow Musique string quartet was founded by violinists Síofra Grant and Sandra Mason. Over the years, they have performed with George Michael, Michael Bublé, Ed Sheeran, The Doors, Cian Ducrot, Westlife, Boyzone. They are regular performers on the RTÉ Late Late Show. Bow Musique’s wide-ranging repertoire includes a wide variety modern, pop and film soundtracks performed with admirable skill and energy. bowmusique.com

2.15pm-4pm        Varo

Varo are Dublin-based singers and fiddle players Lucie Azconaga (from France) and Consuelo Nerea Breschi (from Italy) who perform Irish traditional songs and tunes with arrangement influences from the Folk, Baroque and Classical traditions, weaving around the melodies with harmonies, drones and countermelody. The duo met in 2015 having moved to Dublin to pursue their love for Irish traditional Over the years, Lucie and Consuelo have had the pleasure of working in various other projects, such as Landless, Lisa O’ Neill’s Band, Ye Vagabonds, The Morning Tree, Alasourse, The Nomadic Piano Project; and now, they putting the final touches on a collaboration album.  Varo released their debut self-titled album January 23rd 2020.

3.15pm-4pm        Adrian Hart, Ryan McAuley Duo

Newly formed old-time music duo from fiddle player Adrian Hart (Crash Ensemble, I Draw Slow) with banjo player Ryan McAuley (Alfi, Common Ground) . Growing up, Ryan performed regularly in the extensive music scene in Dublin and Dundalk. A clawhammer master, his music is steeped with old-time Irish flare. Originally from Hull, Adrian has worked as a violinist, composer and fiddle player in Ireland for over 20 years. Their combined enthusiasm for old-time and traditional music fuses together this exciting new duo project.

Sunday 6 August 

12.15pm-1pm    Max Greenwood

Max Greenwood – piano and voice Max Greenwood’s soulful and poetic song writing style appears on two critically acclaimed solo albums.  His delicate, expressive touch on the piano draws influence from Folk, Gospel, Jazz, and Film & TV soundtracks.  From Nottingham, now based in Ireland, Max teaches Song writing at third-level, and writes and performs in a wide range of professional contexts, including composing for community song writing productions.  September 2023 sees the exciting release of In The Quiet of the Evening, a new album of original solo piano compositions. maxgreenwood.com

1.15pm-2pm     Sive

Sive is a songwriter and musician dubbed ‘one of the most inspiring and exciting artists of our time’ by Female First UK. Her album The Roaring Girl was released with the support of a hugely successful crowd-funding campaign in 2017 and following its release she earned her stripes as a live act, touring extensively across Ireland and beyond and winning the audience choice vote to perform on RTE’S Other Voices. Her latest album We Begin in Darkness was released on VETA Music in 2022 to critical acclaim across the board; it was named Album of the Week on BBC Radio’s Late Show, received a 9/10 review in Hot Press Magazine and was described as ‘hugely impressive’ by Paul McLoone on RTE Arena. Sive is currently busy working on her next release: a commission to compose and arrange a song cycle for three voices, celebrating the legacy of Brigid the saint and the goddess.

2.15pm-3pm      The Hot Dots 

Nora Artola – banjo and Shane McGrath- vocals, guitar, ukulele Nora Artola and Shane McGrath have been playing music together since 2012. They have a sweet, old-time sound with intricate instrumental arrangements and close harmonies. Their repertoire consists of lesser-known songs and some standards from the 1920’s through to the 1950’s. Tin Pan Alley pop songs, Honky Tonk duets, Old Timey fiddle tunes, Country Rags, Hawaiian love songs and swing ballads. The Hot Dots have played residencies in The Hacienda Bar, MVP and Fegan’s 1924 in Dublin City Centre. They have performed at events as diverse as a Fashion Show on South Williams Street, a family day open air event in Killruddery House and Gardens and the Ukulele Hooley.

3.15-4pm          Adrian Hart, Ryan McAuley Duo

Adrian Hart – fiddle and Ryan McAuley – banjo

Newly formed old-time music duo from fiddle player Adrian Hart (Crash Ensemble, I Draw Slow) with banjo player Ryan McAuley (Alfi, Common Ground) . Growing up, Ryan performed regularly in the extensive music scene in Dublin and Dundalk. A clawhammer master, his music is steeped with old-time Irish flare. Originally from Hull, Adrian has worked as a violinist, composer and fiddle player in Ireland for over 20 years. Their combined enthusiasm for old-time and traditional music fuses together this exciting new duo project.

Saturday 5 August

1.55-2.10pm Samuel Yakura

2.55-3.10 Kerrie O Brien

Sunday 6 August

12.55pm-1.10pm  Sree Sen

1.55pm-2.10pm  Grace Wilentz

Samuel Yakura is a Nigerian Born Writer, Poet and Performing Artist residing in Ireland. He’s a multiple-time Slam Champion both in Nigeria and Ireland, winning Slam competitions like ALS, OxFam, and Talkatives. He’s a member with the Wearegriot Poetry Collective based in Dublin. He has done commissioned works for the likes of Summer in the city, Poetry Ireland, Dublin Fringe, Adrian Brinkerhoff Foundation, IMMA, MOLI, Gaisce Awards, amongst others. His recent Project and Poetry Play; “The Perfect Immigrant” received multiple nominations and 4 Star reviews as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2022. His work reflects heavily on observing the human condition, their relationship and interaction with society and culture. Read more here https://www.samuelyakura.com/poetrycv 

Kerrie O’ Brien‘s poetry has featured in Cyphers, The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, RTE Arena, Sunday Miscellany, The RTE Bookshow, The Irish Examiner and Southword among others. She holds a BA in History of Art and Classics from Trinity College Dublin.  Her debut collection of poetry Illuminate was published by Salmon Poetry in October 2016 and was made possible by a Literature Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland. It was chosen as New Statesman and Irish Independent Books of the Year 2016 by Sebastian Barry, an Irish Times Book of the Year by Joseph O’ Connor, a Newstalk FM Book of the Year by Vanessa O’ Loughlin and was recently reviewed in the Irish Times by Emmanuel Touhey. Full review here.  ‘Dublin’ by Kerrie O’ Brien was the first poem from Dublin: A Year in Words by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature. Over the course of a year they will release a new poem each month that is connected with Dublin. The project was curated by Linda Devlin and Stephen James Smith. ‘Dublin’ was filmed by Design for Life in Books Upstairs Book Shop. This poem now features on the 2017/2018 Junior Certificate Syllabus.  Read more here https://www.kerrieobrien.com/about.html 

Sree Sen is from Kolkata, India and lives and works in Dublin city. Her debut poetry chapbook Cracked Asphalt was published in 2022. Sree’s creative works have been published by Poetry Ireland Review, Stinging Fly, Banshee, The Honest Ulsterman, bath magg, and others. She’s the winner of the UCD Maeve Binchy Travel Award 2020, and the recipient of Cill Rialaig Residency 2020 & Agility Award 2021 by the Arts Council of Ireland.Prior to this, Sree worked as a journalist in Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. For over ten years, she produced news and wrote for a variety of media agencies, including: Times of India, DNA, ZEE, Firstpost, Hindu BusinessLine, Sakal Times, Democracy News Live. She continues to write for publications in Ireland, published in The Irish Independent and Image.ie. Read more here https://www.sreesen.com/

Grace Wilentz was born in New York City and grew up in Greenwich Village. A graduate of Harvard University, with postgraduate degrees from Oxford University and University College Dublin, she has published poems in The American Poetry Journal, Cyphers, The Harvard Advocate, The Irish Times and The Seneca Review.  She moved to Ireland in 2005 to study the Irish language and became an Irish citizen in 2015. Her first collection, The Limit of Light, was published by The Gallery Press in October 2020. In 2019 she published a chapbook, Holding Distance, and received a bursary from The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon. She has taught Creative Writing at UCD and now lives in The Liberties of Dublin. Read more here https://www.gracewilentz.com/