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Event Details

Presented by Young Tradition Vermont and the Burlington Violin Shop.

$20 suggested donation.


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 was the doyenne of fiddle teachers, passing 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.

From an early age Gerry was involved 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 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. Gerry has also toured for more than fifteen years celebrating Irish and Breton music links with Gilles le Bigot (Barzaz, Skolvan). In the same period Gerry recorded and toured with The Irish Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Elizabeth Wallfisch, recording Ardee Dances, a piece commissioned from Rachel Holstead. He continued to perform with Wallfisch in The Wandering Fiddlers project at the Wigmore Hall, Belfast, 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 same year Gerry also produced an album of Fermanagh fiddler Seán Nugent’s compositions, featuring many of Sean’s students, music friends and family.


From 2005 -2010 Gerry taught Traditional Music Performance at Dundalk Institute of Technology. In 2011 he produced the song collection I Have Travelled this Country with 123 unrecorded songs of Boys of the Lough musician Cathal McConnell. His most recent project has been the 2012 album Oirialla recorded with 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). Gerry has toured also with the a cappella vocal trio White Raven led by Kathleen Dineen, with whom he has recorded and performed at European international choral festivals including RheinVocal and Merano. He is currently touring and has recorded with the celebrated Irish-Canadian band The Irish Rovers.


A four times 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 project since 2013.

In the Theatre 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. Recent commissioned compositions included music for the Táin March, a 7 day walking festival finishing in his home county of Louth.


Kevin McElroy has been playing Irish Traditional Music since he was a teenager, inspired his family’s music, dancing and Irish stories . Kevin sings and plays the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and guitar. He had the good fortune of meeting and learning from some of Boston’s best Irish Musicians while playing banjo and backup guitar with Brendan Tonra, Seamus Connolly, Mike McDonagh, Larry Reynolds and other members of the Connaught Ceili Band during the great revival of Irish Traditional Music in Boston in the 80’s and 90’s.


Kevin has played often with Seamus Connolly and shared the stage with many players including Joe Burke, Paddy Keenan, Jerry O’Sullivan and Msr. Charlie Coen. He can be heard on the Seamus Connolly Collection at Boston College. Mick Moloney, an encouraging figure to Kevin, hired him to teach banjo and mandolin alongside Seamus Egan at the Augusta Heritage Week.


Kevin has performed at many venues and festivals in the US and Canada and has taught workshops in Traditional Irish Music. He has hosted concerts , and has helped to organize and coordinate musicians and presenters in Maine, where he has resided with his wife and three daughters for over 35 years.

Kevin works as a soloist performing as a singer, guitarist and fiddle player. Also as an accompanist with the great fiddler from Dundalk, Gerry O’Connor. He plays regularly with others in sessions, at set dances and in con-certs. Kevin’s recordings include Irish Music for the Mandolin, Up the Winding River and Heather on the Moor and are available from him or at cdbaby.com. For more info contact Kevin at [email protected] or 207-650-7449.


Venue Information

Burlington Violin Shop
23 Church Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Organizer Information

Young Tradition Vermont


PO Box 163
Fairfax, VT 05454
+1 (802) 233-5293

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Name:
Mark Sustic
Phone:
+1 (802) 233-5293
Email:
[email protected]