Trad Gig at the Jar- Sorcha Costello, Conor Connolly & Padraig O'Dubhgnaill

Artist Bios:

SORCHA COSTELLO (FIDDLE)

Awarded with the prestigious Gradam Ceoil TG4 Young Musician of the Year 2021, Sorcha Costello is a traditional Irish fiddle player from Tulla Co. Clare and hails from a family emerged in traditional Irish music. While Sorcha’s style of fiddle playing is rooted in East Clare, she has been strongly influenced by musicians such as Frankie Gavin, Brian Rooney, Tommy Potts and Sean Maguire. From a young age, Sorcha has enjoyed performing nationally and internationally. She is also in high demand as a teacher of music, especially in her home area of East Clare because of her ability to transmit her unique style which has the trademark rhythm and swing qualities of generations of her family.

Sorcha’s solo performance is rooted in Irish tradition and is exemplary of how the old regional styles and traditions have been passed on from generation to generation. Sorcha has a natural tendency towards spontaneous variation and keeps the listener engaged and captivated with her steady tempo and pulsing rhythm. As a collaborator, Sorcha has performed with many of the greats of Traditional Irish Music such as Frankie Gavin, Martin Hayes, Steve Cooney, Angelina Carberry, Daithi Gormley, Elaine Reilly, Tony McMahon and many more.

CONOR CONNOLLY (BUTTON ACCORDION)

TG4 Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana (Young Musician of the Year) for 2019 , Conor Connolly is a button accordion, piano player and singer from Clarinbridge, Co. Galway. Coming from an area steeped in Irish music, he was destined to play the accordion with players like Joe Cooley who came from the locality and Joe Burke from whom he took lessons.

In his late teens, he heard the music of Joe Cooley for the first time as well as other players Tony MacMahon, Fiachna Ó Mongáin and Eoin O’Neill which spurred him to change from the conventional B/C style of playing to the C#/D system. Charlie Harris, who lives locally, was also a great source of inspiration and encouragement introducing him to the music of the 78rpm era and such players as P.J Conlon of Milltown, Co. Galway, Sligo fiddlers Morrison, Killoran and Lad O’Beirne and others such as Joe Derrane and groups like the Lough Gill Quartet. The influence of Uilleann piping is also discernible in his music particularly that of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis and Seán McKiernan to mention a few. He has featured on broadcasts on RTÉ, TG4, RTÉ Radió na Gaeltachta and Clare FM to date. Conor also represented Ireland at the World Expo in Dubai in 2021. 

PADRAIG ODUBHGNAILL (GUITAR)

Pádraig was born and raised in Inverin, situated in the Connemara Gaeltacht. He started learning the tin-whistle at a young age under the tutelage of Mary Bergin before picking up the guitar at 17 years of age. After spending a couple of years playing a variety of music, Pádraig decided to apply his guitar-playing skills to Irish traditional music. While completing the MA in Irish Music Performance at the University of Limerick, he learnt from some of the best accompanists in the tradition including Steve Cooney and John Blake. Pádraig was featured on his first Irish traditional music recording in 2018 - 'Fear Inis Bearachain' with Johnny Óg Connolly and has since been involved in various commercial recordings and television broadcasts.

He has a great interest in the music of his locality as well and has been involved in a number of archive projects with the Irish Traditional Music Archive in recent years. Pádraig regularly performs with some of the finest exponents of Irish Traditional Music at various concerts and festivals at home and abroad each year and is also in-demand as a guitar teacher.

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