Tradition Now: Aoife Ní Bhriain and Cormac McCarthy

Aoife Ní Bhriain, fiddle
Cormac McCarthy, piano

Blending deep roots in Irish traditional music with classical, jazz, and contemporary influences, Ní Bhriain and McCarthy chart a compelling sonic path through a shared musical heritage, transformed through their own creative lens. The album title, Cosán Casta, derives from the Irish words for “twisted path”, reflecting a journey both intricate and organic, rooted and exploratory.

Born in Dublin, to a family of musicians, Aoife Ní Bhriain has established herself as one of the most versatile musicians of her generation. Winner of the RTÉ Folk Instrumentalist of the Year, Camerata Ireland Young Musician of the Year as well as a recipient of a Gradam Ceol TG4 and multiple prizes in both classical and traditional music.

In recent years Aoife has collaborated with Welsh harpist Catrin Finch, jazz pianist Cormac McCarthy, avant grade string quintet Wooden Elephant and baroque specialist Liam Byrne. Her work with the Goodman Trio on rediscovering and recording the tunes from the Goodman manuscripts has been received to critical acclaim and she has also published a book of transcriptions by iconic Dublin fiddle player Tommie Potts with the Irish Traditional Music Archives. 

Future projects include recording solo classical works inspired by folk music and a solo album of traditional Irish music.

Cormac McCarthy is a pianist, composer, arranger and conductor from Cork. As a pianist, Cormac has performed extensively with artists across a wide musical spectrum, including Iarla Ó Lionáird, Peter Washington, Liz Carroll, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Irish Chamber Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and is a member of Martin Hayes’ Common Ground Ensemble. His latest solo piano release, On The Other Hand “marks him out as one of the rising stars of European Jazz Piano’ (The Irish Times). His compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by artists including National Symphony Orchestra Ireland and the Irish Chamber Orchestra.

Presented by NCH