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Cormac McCarthy

An Grianán Navigator Resident 2021

For the first edition of Navigator in 2021, Cork pianist Cormac McCarthy travelled to the other end of the country for a residency at An Grianán Theatre, Donegal.

“The opportunity to have a musician of Cormac's calibre working in the theatre is of enormous benefit to the music community here in Donegal. Through his residency he will be exchanging ideas with other professional musicians, and engaging with our music students - generously sharing his skills and experience. We hope to offer him the chance to make new creative partnerships and enjoy our rich local musical landscape.” said Patricia McBride, Director at An Grianán.

Cormac also developed a duet with Donegal saxophonist Micheál Murray which performed at Eargail Arts Festival

Cork-based composer, pianist and arranger Cormac McCarthy brings a background across traditional, jazz, and classical to his innovative music, pesenting an individualistic use of Irish traditional tunes in the jazz idiom along with sweepingly cinematic textures. Praised for his “...individualistic use of Irish traditional music with its lilting strictnesses and sudden bursts of passionate energy introduced via a pronounced jazz filter…” [Irish Times] McCarthy successfully marries these two strong genres, which both have improvisation and interplay as core elements.

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