The Seán Corcoran Series is coming to Louth

The Seán Corcoran Series celebrates the life and outstanding work of Louth native Seán Corcoran. Traditional music and song was Corcoran's life, and his career ranged across performance, broadcasting, film making, academia and field work.

His daughter, Rósa Corcoran, together with Louth County Council and Creative Ireland, have announced The Seán Corcoran Series, a new initiative which presents a varied and engaging programme of multidisciplinary events hosted in Drogheda, Co. Louth.

These events, and their staging, will bring together the many strands of Corcoran's life’s work and influences to live audiences.

Featuring over twenty-five musicians, singers, writers, dancers, actors, artists and historians, the work of Corcoran will be celebrated across five venues.

All artists and craftspeople involved in the series are highly celebrated in their respective fields and are interconnected, either via Corcoran's work directly, the Corcoran family, or the wider Irish traditional music and song community.

The lineup includes Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, Radie Peat of Lankum, Sean-nós dancer Róisín Ní Mhainín, cellist Neil Martin, actor Stephen Rea, writer John Banville and sculptor Rachel Joynt.

The inclusion of literature, public sculpture, local history, food and crafts expands the programme to represent the diverse creative community surrounding Corcoran's life and work.

The three day event will be officially launched by former RTÉ Director-General and founding director of TG4 Cathal Goan, in the beautiful surroundings of Drogheda’s Highlanes Gallery, on Friday, September 8th.

The first of two headline concerts, An Evening with Andy Irvine and Dónal Lunny, will take place at the Droichead Arts Centre. Irvine and Lunny will present a programme of Irish music and Andy’s own songs, with a side order of Eastern European tunes.

Irvine will play Corcoran's bouzouki, specially restored for the series by luthier Frank Tate. Tate himself, alongside Lunny, will present a one-off ‘Irish Bouzouki and Stringed Instrument Workshop’ on the art and practice of stringed instrument making on Saturday.

The second headline concert, Guth na nDaoine / The Voice of the People, which takes place at St. Peter's Church of Ireland, is a joyous salute to the life and work of Corcoran celebrates him through words, music, song and dance with contributors such as Radie Peat, Harry Bradley, Róisín Ní Mhainín, Stephen Rea, John Banville, Breda Keville, Jesse Smith, Maighread and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, Libby McCrohan, Neil Martin, Gerry O’Connor, and more.

On Sunday, the Old Skool Drogheda Double Decker Bus Tour will be in action, a tribute to Corcoran's parents, where the bus tour will visit key sites of interest in Drogheda and the coast, via Baltray, and finishing on Port Oriel pier in the fishing village of Clogherhead.

Led by community historian Brendan Matthews, there will be stories, songs, tunes and sculpture along the route with ppecial guests such as musician Libby McCrohan, Drogheda singer Gerry Cullen, and sculptor Rachel Joynt.

The programme also includes traditional Irish music sessions, music classes, sean-nós and dance workshops. Informal sessions of music and song will also be hosted in various locations in the town throughout the weekend.

The Seán Corcoran Series will bring together, for the first time, all the elements that informed Corcoran's life and work. Renowned musicians and singers who counted him as a friend and collaborator will attest to his legacy.

Tickets are available here.