Music Under The Mountains are delighted to kick off our 2019 festival with an intimate night of Poetry & Music featuring Jane Clarke (Poet), Cormac Breatnach (Flute & Whistles) & Eamon Sweeney (Guitar).

Jane Clarke grew up on a farm in Co. Roscommon and now lives with her partner in Glenmalure in Co. Wicklow. Her first collection, ‘The River’, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. She was awarded a literary bursary by the Arts Council / An Comhairle Ealaíon in September 2017 for the completion of her second collection and her work on a sequence in response to a soldier’s letters from the Front during World War 1, in collaboration with the Mary Evans Picture Library, London.

“The virtues of Jane Clarke’s writing include a broad sympathy that never usurps the voice of the other, that guides the reader to understanding and respect; a pleasure in ingenious objects and crafts that is deftly transmitted; and a clarity which does not deny mystery but makes room for it.”                                                

– Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Ireland Professor of Poetry.

Her poems have been published in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and various other publications, Jane has also had poems broadcast on RTE Lyric FM, RTE Radio 1’s Sunday Miscellany, Arena and the Poetry Programme.

Jane’s second collection, ‘When the Tree Falls’, will be published by Bloodaxe Books in September 2019.

Cormac Breatnach has been immersed in the Irish musical tradition from his early childhood. Throughout his career, which has spanned the last three decades, he has performed with Donal Lunny, Arty McGlynn, Iarla O’Lionaird, Matt Molloy, Micheál Ó’Súilleabháin, Paul McSherry, Elvis Costello and countless others. Cormac’s music takes it roots from deep within the Irish tradition but is also highly influenced by Jazz and Blues.

Cormac made his mark with Deiseal in the 1990s and, later, duetting with Martin Dunlea on 2001’s ‘Music for Whistle and Guitar’. 2012’s Éalú brought Cormac’s Jazz, Galician and Basque influences centre stage in an altogether more personal odyssey. Cormac’s latest album, ‘The Whistle Blower’ was released in 2018, it is a deeply personal work that explores and express musically how a particular traumatic event, his brother Osgurs wrongful arrest and conviction for involvement in the Sallins Mail Train Robbery in 1976 ,affected Cormac from his early teens into adulthood. Cormac also produced a short film to accompany the album, which was screened in the Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, The Galway Film Fleadh, The Wexford Film Festival & The Cork Film Festival.

“Cormac Breatnach’s portrayal of the Sallins Mail Train Robbery case evocatively captures that dark period in Irish policing and criminal justice, and its enduring ramifications for his brother, his family and himself.”

– Professor Dermot P.J. Walsh MRIA, Kent Law School, University of Kent.

“An extraordinary project that Cormac undertook a couple of years back as a result of an arts council funded initiative: he uses the music a suite of pieces to tell the story of the Sallins Mail Train Robbery, in which his brother Osgur was wrongly accused; it’s a wonderful piece of work and the music is just gorgeous with co musicians Daire Bracken and Martin Tourish…”

-Ellen Cranitch ‘Vespertine’ RTÉ Lyric FM

Eamon Sweeney studied classical guitar at the DIT Conservatory of Music, while there he was exposed to the Baroque guitar, igniting his fascination with the style and inspiring his doctoral research into the guitar’s role as a continuo instrument in the court of Louis XIV, an unexplored area of French Baroque music. He has since performed on stage, radio and television, both as a solo artist and with various ensembles including the National Symphony Orchestra, National Concert Orchestra and Opera Theatre Company.

Eamon teaches and performs extensively, including giving broadcasts, lectures and seminars in Ireland and abroad. He has performed at many International Music Festivals including Sligo Festival of Baroque Music, Bath International Guitar Festival, Dundee International Guitar Festival, Guitar Festival of Ireland and the City of Derry Guitar Festival. Eamon teaches with the KWETB in Bray Music Centre and in post–primary schools throughout the county.

Jane Clarke, Cormac Breatnach & Eamon Sweeney perform at Music Under The Mountains 2019

Friday September 20th 2019, 8PM

Tickets €20, available from musicunderthemountains.com and Eventbrite