Liam O'Connor

Liam O'Connor (; born 1984) is an Irish fiddler, collector, researcher and teacher from County Dublin. He is the current director of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA). O'Connor has been described by The Journal of Music as "one of the outstanding fiddle-players of his generation".

Early life

O'Connor was born into a musical family in Baldoyle, a coastal village in Fingal, North County Dublin, Ireland. His father, Mick O'Connor, is a well-known flute player, researcher and leader of the Castle Céilí Band. His father grew up in The Liberties, Dublin and was a neighbour and friend of renowned fiddle player, Tommy Potts. His mother is from Ennistimon, County Clare, where O'Connor spent most of his childhood holidays attending music sessions with his father that featured fiddlers such as Joe Ryan, Bobby Casey, Peadar O'Loughlin and John Kelly. Numerous fiddlers that were friends of the family would regularly call around to the house in Baldoyle including Seán Keane of The Chieftains and Charlie Lennon. Other major influences on his playing include fiddlers such as Séamus Glackin, Vincent Harrison, along with recordings of Tommy Potts, Michael Coleman and James 'Lad' O'Beirne.

The youngest of four children, O'Connor followed in his siblings' footsteps and took up the fiddle at the age of 6, taking lessons from Dublin fiddler, Séamus Glackin. Liam also became acquainted with the concertina, which may have had an influence on some of his collaborations with concertina players later in his career. By the age of 15, O'Connor had won 5 All-Ireland fiddle competitions and later won both junior and senior Oireachtas fiddle competitions. He also completed 8 grades in classical violin training at the DIT College of Music, Dublin.

Outside of music, O'Connor was a talented Gaelic footballer, playing for Naomh Barróg, captaining Dublin at under-age level and later Coláiste Mhuire in the final of the Corn na Mac Léinn – the third-tier competition for Irish Third Level Institutions. O'Connor later gave up football because of the risk it posed to his music playing career due to its physicality, in particular citing an incident when he had to turn down an invitation to play with uilleann piper Liam O'Flynn because he was incapacitated by a football injury.

Career

Music

O'Connor started performing as a soloist from a young age and as a teenager he was invited to perform as a duet with established masters such as Liam O'Flynn, concertina player Noel Hill and flute player Harry Bradley. At the time, O'Connor was described in The Irish Times as:

Possibly one of the most exciting fiddle players on the music scene since the emergence of Seán Keane and Frankie Gavin more than 30 years ago. He has an exceptional natural ability and the standard of his playing defies logic given his age. In January 2007, O'Connor and McKeon performed in a showcase concert at the Temple Bar TradFest. In a review of the festival by Toner Quinn of The Journal of Music, the concert was described as having "provided the outstanding moment of the festival". In the same review, Quinn remarked of O'Connor's solo performance:

Now only 23 years old, a fiddle solo of three reels half way through the set was, in a word, breathtaking. [...] we teetered with O'Connor on the very edge of the melody as he stretched our concepts of the aesthetics of traditional music – expanding the melody, reducing it, compacting it, going forward, pulling back. This was dangerous music executed in a risky environment, with no accompaniment, no safety net, and there was no cutting short lest he run out of ideas. O'Connor has the potential to have a serious impact on fiddle playing. In 2013, O'Connor was commissioned to record and compose music for inclusion in Stailc 1913, a TG4 documentary film on the 1913 Dublin lock-out. Writing in The Irish Times, Siobhán Long gave it a five-star rating and wrote: The possibility that we are in a golden age of traditional music, is reinforced by the release of Liam O'Connor's exceptional solo album The Loom. O'Connor has long been a thoughtful, considered fiddle player who wears his acquaintance with the musicians who came before him with equal parts pride and subtlety.

In 2018, O'Connor formed a new duet with concertina player Cormac Begley, as well as performing with McKeon and Hill, and embarking on a tour of the US. He commissioned a new bow from expert bow maker Noel Burke which was part-funded by Music Network Capital Scheme. and in October, he performed at the National Concert Hall, Dublin with John Blake on guitar and Paddy McEvoy on piano.

Research

In 2006, O'Connor was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland under their DEIS scheme where the archiving and recording of the transmission of the tradition from older masters to younger musicians was central. He spent time with and conducted interviews with Seán Potts, Peter Horan, Vincent Harrison, Seamus Tansey, Séamus Begley, John Dwyer, Peadar O'Loughlin, Sean MacIarnán, among others during this project. Filmed at a house session hosted by accordion player Tony MacMahon, O'Connor's father pays tribute to Potts with a few words before O'Connor himself pays homage to the Dublin fiddler by playing a reel in the distinctive style of Potts.

In March 2019, O'Connor made a guest appearance on season 8, episode 1 of the TG4 television documentary series 'Sé Mo Laoch, that featured Dublin fiddler and family friend Seán Keane. In the episode, O'Connor demonstrates some of Keane's technique and style, and talks about his contribution to the tradition of Irish fiddle playing. In June of that year, O'Connor was featured on the RTÉ Radio 1 program, The Rolling Wave hosted by Aoife Nic Cormaic, following the announcement of his appointment as director of the ITMA. The program was later made available as part of The Rolling Wave podcast series (episode 5). On the show, O'Connor chats about growing up in a house full of music and being fascinated by ITMA since he was a teenager, as well as his plans for his upcoming role as director.

Discography

Albums Dublin Made Me (with Seán McKeon) (2009) The Loom (2017)

Guest appearances The Irish Concertina Two: Teacht Aniar (by Noel Hill) (2005) To the City (by Seán McKeon) (2013)

Soundtracks Stailc 1913 (2013)

Awards and nominations

Gradam Ceoil TG4

The Irish Times

RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards