Moya Brennan’s performance at SEAC Live promises to be a rousing and heart-warming prelude to Christmas. Moya will be joined by fellow Donegal icon, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and virtuoso harpist, Cormac De Barra in a selection of their own songs and tunes along with a unique take on some Christmas favourites.

In true Donegal family tradition, Moya will have her daughter Aisling (guitar, bouzouki), son Paul (percussion, keys) and husband Tim (cello) performing with her, while Mairead’s daughter Nia will complete the line up with her fine fiddle playing.

As lead singer and founder of Celtic pioneers, Clannad, Moya is celebrating 50 years on the road (and should have been touring the world with the band throughout 2020/21!). As a Grammy nominated solo artist, she has released nine albums and received the 2019 RTE Radio 1 Lifetime Achievement Award. With Cormac De Barra she has produced three Voices & Harps albums and her many other collaborations include film work with Hans Zimmer, dance music (notably Saltwater with Chicane) and last year’s expansive Colours with Ryan Vail and Elma Orchestra. Despite having to halt her touring schedule Moya kept busy during the year and has been involved in Women in Harmony collective releases in Ireland.

Cormac De Barra himself comes from a large family with a noteworthy background in music and the arts. His highly acclaimed versatility and skill as a harp-player continues to take him on a rich and diverse journey.

Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh has fronted Altan since its inception and as one of Ireland’s fiddle-playing and singing elite has toured the world as a foremost Irish musical ambassador. Her multi-generational musical family are steeped in the fine Donegal heritage which is also clearly evident in the emerging talent of her daughter Nia. She has managed to keep busy during the lockdown and, among other things, composed a commissioned piece for RTE Radio 1’s The Rolling Wave to express her experience and feeling during lockdown.

Sult features an emerging group of award-winning young musicians from Drumcondra in north Dublin. Moulded by a deep-rooted culture of traditional Irish music the Coláiste Íosagáin students include multi award winning harpist Emer Ní Scolaí, her younger sisters Caoilfhionn on concertina and Sorcha on Uilleann Pipes and vocal. Since the age of eight Emer has been mentored at the Royal Irish Academy of Music by Áine Ní Dhubhghaill and traditional harp instruction by Gráinne Hambly. Caoilfhionn counts her teacher Noel Hill as her main influence and Sorcha currently receives tuition at the NPU under the expert eye of Emmett Gill.

Sorcha is no stranger to the SEAC and has emerged as one of the outstanding young prospects in the world of uilleann piping; featuring with much critical acclaim on RTE’s Rolling Wave programme during the SEAC’s Séamus Ennis Centenary Celebrations in 2019. More recently Sorcha (who has just turned 14!) supported Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny at the National Concert Hall’s Music Town event where she also displayed her vocal skills. Such was the reaction to her performance that the promoter of the event wrote afterwards: “There are no words to describe the talent that is Sorcha Ní Scolaí. We’ll look back on that performance when she is inevitably seen as a world-renowned musician in years to come.”

Sult will perform a number of new arrangements incorporating song, hymn and dance tunes, some with a Christmas flavour imbued with the inescapable mood of our present times.
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Generously supported by Creative Ireland and The Arts Council