MÍCHEÁL Ó Súilleabháin, a major figure in Irish music for his unique compositional style that marries Irish trad with classical, jazz, and world music, will play the Lough Rea Hotel and Spa on Friday March 19 at 8pm.
Regarded by many as a successor to the great Sean Ó Riada, with whom he studied in University College Cork, Ó Súilleabháin has devoted his life’s work to the cultural and compositional evolution of Irish traditional music and to the creation of formal educational platforms for that evolution.
He is also the founder of the Irish World Music Centre in the University of Limerick, (now the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance ), which brought Irish traditional music and dance into the higher education realm for the first time.
Ó Súilleabháin’s concert will celebrate the artistic legacy of St Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea, particularly its world-famous stained glass windows by artists such as Sarah Purser, Patrick Pye, AE Child, Michael Healy, and Evie Hone.
An Túr Gloinne (The Tower of Glass ), was one of the most remarkable stained glass studios ever to have operated in Ireland and its foundation (by Sarah Purser ) coincided with the 1902 opening of St Brendan’s Cathedral, the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Clonfert.
Tickets are €12 with discounts available. Tickets can be purchased at the door on the night or pre-ordered from Music Matters, Loughrea on 090 - 9675629.