Quiet Lights are excited to present a brand new duo performance from two of Ireland’s most exciting artists. Both rooted in tradition and willing to push boundaries, this is a first listen to a body of new work that the duo will release and tour in 2025.

Cormac McCarthy is a pianist and composer from Cork, Ireland. His music is said to “defy categorisation”  (Lyric FM).

His compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by artists including Phil Woods, Jeff Hamilton, The Carducci Quartet, The RTÉ Concert Orchestra, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, The Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, The Ulster Orchestra.

As a pianist, he has performed extensively at concert venues, clubs and festivals throughout Europe and the US, sharing the stage and recording with artists across a wide musical spectrum. His recent solo piano release, On The Other Hand “marks him out as one of the rising stars of European Jazz Piano’ (The Irish Times).

Born in Dublin, to a family of musicians, Aoife Mairead Ní Bhriain has established herself as one of the most versatile musicians of her generation. Thanks to her musical heritage combined with her classical studies, she has collaborated and performed with musicians such as pianist Eliso Virsaladze, fiddle player Martin Hayes, violinist Mariana Sirbu, Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel and Oscar winning actor Tim Robbins. She has been guest co-leader of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Guest Leader of Crash Ensemble, Stargaze Ensemble, Concorde Ensemble and has also co-led the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

She is a member of the avant garde string quintet Wooden Elephant as well as the Goodman Trio with whom she has explored the manuscripts of the music collected around Ireland in the1800s by Canon James Goodman. Since 2021, Aoife has joined forces with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch and in October 2023 they released their debut album Double You to critical acclaim.

Winner of the RTÉ Best Folk Instrumentalist of the Year 2024 as well as the prestigious Bonn Óir Sean Uí Riada in 2010, Aoife has also won seven All Ireland titles as well as prizes in international violin and chamber music competitions. Most recently, Aoife has qualified for the semi finals of the International Bach Competition 2022 in Leipzig and was awarded the Next Generation Award from the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2024, Aoife was shortlisted for Best Folk Album for her album with Catrin Finch in the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards. Recent performances include Shostakovich Violin Concerto no.1 with the Sudwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and the Bach Double Concerto for Violin and Oboe with the Orlando Philharmonic alongside some of her own arrangements and compositions.

Aoife has a particular interest in solo violin works and curated a performance on the solo violin works of J.S. Bach and the improvisations of acclaimed Dublin fiddle player Tommie Potts on whom she has co-written a book to be released by the Irish Traditional Music Archives in 2024.

She graduated with first class honours from the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Leipzig in 2018 and plays on a violin by J.B. Vuillaume on generous loan as well as a Jurgen Manthey violin purchased through the Music Network Music Capital Scheme.

Supported by David Murphy

David Murphy takes the pedal steel guitar outside the confines of its traditional roots with frequent ventures into a range of genres, spanning Americana and folk to ambient, experimental music and film soundtracks and is best known for his work with artists such as The Lost Brothers, John Blek, Ordnance Survey, Arborist, The Delines, Willy Vlautin, M.Ward and Jolie Holland amongst others. His debut album ‘Cuimhne Ghlinn: Explorations in Irish Music for Pedal Steel Guitar’ (Rollercoaster Records) takes it from the well-worn roads of the dusty American south to a new place in contemporary Irish music. His all-instrumental debut recasts ancient Irish harp tunes and historic airs into the 21st century with the swelling, expressive and mournful sounds of the pedal steel guitar. This continues Murphy’s quest to expand the vocabulary of the instrument, taking it deeper into a world much closer to home and, for the very first time, present it in a modern Irish framework.

Murphy’s live shows present these ancient Irish harp tunes and historic airs by O’Carolan, O’Riada et al in the 21st century, voiced by the mysterious and emotive sound of the pedal steel guitar. With a band of all-star musicians from across contemporary, modern-classical and traditional/folk worlds, the pedal steel ably takes its place within an ensemble of cello, violin, piano, harp and lush electronic textures and synths. Murphy and his band conjure a palette of sparse, dreamlike, atmospheric soundscapes and stirring, cinematic takes of these culturally significant compositions and melodies from Ireland’s great harpists, composers, and song collectors. Recent appearances include Kilkenny Arts Festival, Electric Picnic, Another Love Story, Galway and Doolin Folk Festivals and a live TG4 performance at Fleadh Cheoil.