Folk duo Zoe Conway and John McIntyre perform in Kilkenny Medieval Mile Museum Music series

With an exciting blend of eclectic fiddle and guitar music Zoë Conway and John McIntyre bring to the stage sympathetic arrangements of Traditional Irish music, compositions and songs, old and new.

The husband and wife folk duo possess a rare facility to draw pieces into their repertoire from other genres such as classical, jazz and new world music . This talented duo will perform on March 16  in the new Medieval Mile Museum Music series, as part of the extended Kilkenny TradFest programme (March 16-20). The series comprise five nightly concerts featuring some of Ireland’s most renowned and best loved Traditional musicians. 

The duo has recorded on major film sound tracks including Riverdance the Animated Adventure (Universal 2021),  and Finding You (Red Sky Studio 2021). Zoë has recorded on award winning Float Like a Butterfly (Samson Films 2018) and Artemis Fowl (Disney 2020) as a soloist with a hand-picked symphony orchestra in George Martin’s world-renowned AIR studios in London. 

Regarded as ‘Simply one of the best Folk duos on the planet’ by the BBC. Zoë was awarded ‘Folk Instrumentalist of the Year 2020’ by RTE Radio 1 Folk Awards, and is a ‘Featured Composer 2021’ with the (ITMA) Irish Traditional Music Archive.  

John grew up in the Cooley Mountains of north County Louth where he took up guitar at 8 years of age. He began his career as electric guitarist with the successful Indie band, The Revs with whom he performed on many famous stages and festivals including Oxygen and Slane in Ireland, Reading and Leeds in the UK, and toured extensively in USA, Australia and Europe. John studied classical guitar and piano for many years, and from early childhood was immersed in the language, song and traditional dance music of south west Donegal.

The superb wife and husband folk duo have collaborated over the past five years with award winning Scotts Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis and bouzouki player of international renown Éamon Doorley. 

Releasing ground breaking recording of newly crafted songs and tune ‘Alt’ is the culmination of a composition project inspired by old and new Gaelic poetry from Scotland and Ireland. Emotive and powerful, their album was awarded five stars from Songlines UK, listed as ‘One of the Albums of the Year’ by the Irish Times and described as ‘A Modern Classic’ by Folk Radio UK. 

The exceptionally talented and accomplished Zoë Conway and John McIntyre will perform Wednesday 16th March 7.30pm as part of the Medieval Mile Museum Music series. The concert promises to be a very special experience in the spectacular setting of the museum. 

Tickets €20 plus booking fee. All proceeds to Amber Women’s Refuge. Booking on www.kilkennytradfest.com.

The concert is just one of the many superb acts in this year’s Kilkenny TradFest. The programming of musicians is supported by the Local Live Performance Support Scheme (LLPPS): a Government funded scheme administered through the Kilkenny Arts Office which aims to support the return of in-person music events, utilising Government resources to provide much-needed employment for performers and musicians who were hardest hit by the pandemic.