Acclaimed trad duo to perform at Home Rule Club in Kilkenny

Music lovers are in for a treat in The Home Rule Club next Saturday (November 19) when acclaimed duo Tommy Fitzharris (flute) and Donal McCague (fiddle) do an unplugged concert upstairs at this historic venue.

Multi-instrumentalist Tommy Fitzharris, hails from Stradbally, Co Laois, and has been playing traditional Irish music since the age of seven. He comes from a musical family and is self-taught on the flute, concertina and whistle.

Tommy made a first ever for his county in 2009 when he won the Senior Concertina Title in the All-Ireland Fleadh. In 2012, he then triumphed in the All Ireland Senior Flute Competition winning it also at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in Cavan.

Housing Minister in Kilkenny today for visits to several sites

Tommy has been a tutor on the BA in Irish Music and Dance and on the MA in Traditional Irish Music Performance in the University of Limerick from 2009 to present. In addition, he is in constant demand as a tutor and performer on the traditional Irish music festival scene and continues to give workshops and concerts at various traditional music festivals nationally and internationally. Tommy has toured Europe, the United States and Asia extensively with the band Ciorras who were formed as part of the Lorg Lunny programme on TG4.

Donal is from a well known musical family in Co. Monaghan. Dónal is a fiddler of great expressivity, playing music adorned with an incredible level of detail and thought. Dónal succeeds in bringing these influences together in combination with his own personal musical imagination. He is a master of capturing in his playing a wide variety of emotion. A sense of rhythmic playfulness contrasts throughout with moments of loneliness and reflection, aided by the most sympathetic accompaniment.

The expert use of musical pauses in this playing reminds us of the importance of silence in musical texture, the space which brings context and illumination to the notes which follow.

Dónal McCague and Tommy released their critically acclaimed fiddle & flute duet album entitled 'The Bank of Turf' in 2018 which was described by Frankie Gavin as “One of my all-time favourites; one I can leave on repeat for hours!”

Concert starts at 9pm and admission is €15.