Author: Breffni Banks

The ‘Messin’ with the Music’ (MWTM) team will be running another one of their successful projects from Monday 29th July until Friday 2nd August 2013. Running time will be 2-5.30pm (Studio 2, Skeoge Ind. Estate) with refreshments and a ‘music jam’ break included. The Friday finale will be a Pizza and Concert night running until 9pm…. So if your 14-17 years old and have a passion for music, even if you don’t necessarily play an instrument, then this is a great opportunity and it’s totally free thanks to the funding of The Arts Council of Northern Ireland in conjunction with Greater Shantallow Community Arts.

Mingle, network and make friends with like-minded individuals. Learn and develop music skills within a band. Compose and perform your own song/composition and have great fun while doing so with help from the very professional and experienced MWTM team who are on hand to teach, guide and mentor along the way.

The team includes Denis Mc Laughlin (HND and BA music graduate, Music Promise, Love Skip, Sheegus), Caolan McLaughlin (BA music graduate, Bronagh Gallagher Band, Mark Black and The Trips, Sheegus, Music Promise) and Tommy Mc Aleer (Stumble Bums, multi instrumentalist, contributor to various community music projects).

Past participant Josh Barr commented, “This is the best week I’ve had this summer” and James Healy (Seraphis) told us “I’ve learned more in one week than I’ve learned in all of my GCSE music so far.” Ollie Green, director of Greater Shantallow Community Arts ARC (Art Reaching Communities) programme observed, “it’s amazing to see what these young ones have come up with from scratch within the space of a few days/hours; some exceptional work to be heard. I would really like to thank the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for their continuing support for this vital community arts project’’

The main aim of ‘Messin’ with the Music’ is to empower young people by developing their confidence through practical music making, to understand the processes of this, and to contribute to their overall social, educational and personal development. Skills include composition, song writing, theory, performance, improvisation, aural awareness, musicianship, rhythm and music business. This encourages their personal development building upon confidence, teamwork skills, independent learning, peer-to-peer learning and mutual understanding.

Email messinwiththemusic@nullgmail.com for an application form . Deadline for apps is Friday 26^th July. The MWTM team is very excited as always so come along, join in and enjoy the session.

https://www.facebook.com/messinwiththemusic?fref=ts

Wide Open Opera welcomes appointment of Fergus Sheil as artistic director of Opera Theatre Company

The board of Wide Open Opera warmly welcomes the appointment of WOO founder and Artistic Director Fergus Sheil as Artistic Director of Opera Theatre Company. Yesterday’s announcement of Sheil’s appointment together with Rosemary Collier as Executive Director of Opera Theatre Company is a great step forward for opera in Ireland.

Fergus Sheil retains his role as Artistic Director of Wide Open Opera in conjunction with his new position at Opera Theatre Company.

Commenting on the appointment, Wide Open Opera’s Chairman Michael Wall said: “It’s no surprise that somebody with Fergus’s drive, ambition and energy would be appointed to lead the artistic output of Opera Theatre Company. Fergus has an enviable ability to devise highly ambitious yet achievable opera projects. Wide Open Opera’s Tristan und Isolde in 2012 was a personal triumph for Fergus as well as the large team of artists that he led. He has followed this initial production with a wide range of innovative plans that will see this young company develop into one of the cornerstones for opera provision in Ireland in the future. Wide Open Opera’s work is complimentary to that of Opera Theatre Company and the output of both companies will amount to a very serious contribution to Irish operatic provision in the years ahead. We wish Fergus, Rosemary and all at OTC well as they move into their next exciting phase.”

Fergus Sheil commented:

“I’m tremendously honoured to have been offered the position of Artistic Director of Opera Theatre Company. This is a company whose work I have followed and at times participated in for over twenty years. I admire the company’s commitment to bringing opera to new and diverse audiences. In many of its productions, OTC has captured the public’s imagination in ways that have been innovative and unexpected. I hope to contribute to a future of artistic vibrancy and look forward to working with the OTC board and staff as well as many different partners to make this happen. Working with both Wide Open Opera and Opera Theatre Company makes it possible to create a hugely diverse range of opera productions from well known titles to new and creative repertoire, to appear in venues large and small, throughout all of the country and internationally, to work with major artists and to nurture the development of new generations of opera practitioners.”

http://wideopenopera.com/

4th July – The Grand Social,35 Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1

Admission 5 euro, Doors 8pm

Line Up:

Gin n’ Juice (4 piece Hip-hop/Soul)
Mob Fandango (10 piece funk/Soul)
Rebecca Sinnamon (Jazz Quartet)
Raven (spoken word set)

Celebrate all the good things about the U.S. of A with us on the 4th of July! We bring you the evolution of American music, beginning with spoken word poetry, swinging through jazz & funk and ending with bangin’ hip-hop. Your host on the evening is Keiron Campbell-Black from ‘The Amazing Few’, our resident American ambassador. Expect surprises with special guests, and great music of course. (Disclaimer: No Police this time, we promise)..

Gin N’Juice
– Ireland’s first Hip-hop covers band fronted by the powerhouse Jess Kav, they’ve been ripping up venues all over town since they formed last year. Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliot, N.E.R.D, nothing is off limits.
https://www.facebook.com/ginandjuicemusic

Mob Fandango
– The original Dublin 9 piece Mob Fandango are back after a year of pursuing side projects. Winners of Dublin City Soul Festival’s prestigious Rising Stars 2009, the Mob are fresh from recording in Windmill Lane with new material following 2010’s critically acclaimed ‘Dig’ E.P.
https://www.facebook.com/mobfandango

Rebecca Sinnamon
– Rebecca Sinnamon is a rising star on the jazz scene in Ireland. She holds a BA in Jazz Performance from Newpark School of Music and has studied under Ronan Guilfoyle, Jay Clayton, Dorothy Murphy and Norma Winstone among others. Rebecca recently did a tribute to Chet Baker in a packed NCH. Expect standards sung expertly and effortlessly, backed up by some of Ireland’s finest jazz musicians

Raven Aflakete
– Hailing from San Francisco, California, Raven is plying his trade in Dublin and is one of the leading names on the Irish spoken word scene. Whether fronting Hip-Hop crew Mixtapes From the Underground or providing thought-provoking beat poetry (think Gil Scott-Heron in 2013), Raven is guaranteed to shock, make you cry and then laugh, but most importantly, make you think. No description will do him justice. Give this man a microphone