Centre for Irish Studies at NUI Galway and Comhrá Ceoil are delighted to host the upcoming International Council for Traditional Music Ireland (ICTM Ireland) Conference from 21 - 23 February.  This is the first time the conference has come to NUI Galway and it is an acknowledgement of the research in Irish music and dance studies taking place at the Centre for Irish Studies and through the research network, Comhrá Ceoil, in Galway.   

The Conference runs over three days with the opening event, Oíche ar an Sean-Nós, taking place at An Taibhdhearc at 7.30pm on Friday, 21 February. This concert is open to the public and is a showcase of sean-nós artists in residence at the Centre for Irish Studies over the past number of years.  Entertainers will include singers, Joe John Mac An Iomaire and Treasa Ní Mhiolláin, and dancers Róisín Ní Mhainín and Gearóid Ó Dubháin (NUI Galway Sean-nós Dancer in Residence 2014). Tickets are priced at €10 and €8 and are available from An Taibhdhearc.

National and international conference delegates will present papers on a wide range of topics throughout the weekend, speaking to the conference theme of ‘Music, Community and Place’. Among the more than forty speakers, Dr Tim Collins will discuss traditional music composition from East Galway, while NUI Galway Irish Studies graduate, Michael Lydon will explore narration in the jazz performance of Ornette Coleman. From Northumbrian piping to fiddling in Donegal, to Carnival in Rio, the role of place and community will be examined and debated.

The keynote address will be given by Professor Martin Stokes, King Edward Professor of Music, King’s College London and is supported by the Millennium Grant Fund at NUI Galway.

Further details on the full programme are available at http://www.ictm.ie or contact Samantha Williams on 091 492051 or irishstudies@nuigalway.ie.

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