An Táin Arts Centre’s trad musician artist in residency programme is aimed at musicians who are looking to develop their practice. The aim of the residency is to assist musicians to research and make new work and give them the time and space to develop their ideas. During the three-month residency, musicians are provided with studio space, production and administrative support #antainartists

March – May 2021 Residency

Zoë Conway effortlessly combines a background steeped in Ireland’s rich aural music tradition with a strong founding in classical music. She has toured worldwide and has appeared in many prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, New York, The Kremlin Palace, Moscow and The National Concert Hall, Dublin. Her versatility as an instrumentalist has allowed her to perform across a broad range of genres, from guest soloist with world renowned orchestras, to touring with Riverdance and working with mainstream international acts such as Rodrigo y Gabriella, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, Nick Cave and Lou Reed among others. 

She has recorded on major film soundtracks including award winning Float Like A Butterfly (Samson Films 2018), Artemis Fowl (Disney 2020), Finding You (Red Sky Studio 2021) and Riverdance The Animated Adventure (Universal 2021).

“I’m just thrilled to have been offered this residency in my local arts centre, An Táin Arts Centre. It is perfect timing for me, as all concerts and touring have been cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic, so it is the ideal time to focus on creativity and composing new music for the future. This will be my first ever residency, and although I appreciate the financial support, being given the space and time to simply create is what I am most excited about! I’m also looking forward to being part of the community at An Táin Arts Centre, meeting other artists and developing the connection I’ve had with this building and staff over the years in Dundalk.  

I hope to have time and space to create new music in the contemporary Irish music landscape. I intend to start work on a new commission for the RTE Concert Orchestra which will develop the sound of Irish traditional music and classical music coming together with a fresh edge and more filmic sound to my writing. I’d like to experiment with electronic pre-recorded layers and use a loop station to layer violin and vocal sounds – something I’ve always wanted to do, but never had the time! I will also work on new compositions inspired by Irish language poetry, especially poems collected in my local area including Dundalk, Ardee, Omeath and South Armagh. Hopefully after three months, I’ll have plenty of new material to perform in Ireland and abroad when we are able to travel again!” – Zoë Conway 

Zoë will be in residence in An Táin Arts Centre during March, April and May 2021.
Follow her progress on Facebook, Instagram & #antainartists across all platforms.

April 2021 – Update 

Very happily ensconced here as musician in residence in An Tain Arts Centre!  I’ve just finished my first commission of a collaboration with Orlaith Cullinane and Fiona Keenan-O Brien – Motion Marks – now live on the streets of Dundalk.  For the rest of my three month residency, I’ll be focusing all my energy on composing a major piece for the RTE Concert Orchestra.  I’m hoping that I’ll be able to share this new work with everyone next year, all going well, but for now, here is a piece I just composed, inspired by having time to get close to nature during lockdown – ‘Cooley You Beauty’.  Hope you’re all doing okay and hope you enjoy it!

Click on the image below to hear Zoe perform ‘Cooley You Beauty’.