JACK TALTY MUSICIAN | RECORD PRODUCER | COMPOSER | ACADEMIC
"a concertina renaissance man...with an ear for the sublime...who has continually sought out the rarely illuminated corners where the concertina thrives"
The Irish Times
"one of the leading traditional Irish musicians of his generation, among a versatile new wave"
The Journal of Music
"informed, virtuosic, and thoughtful...He is possessed of a rare combination of technical mastery, intelligent artistry, and soul"
Ellen Cranitch, RTÉ Lyric FM
MEDIA
BIOGRAPHY (LONG)
Jack Talty is a traditional musician, composer, producer, and educator from Lissycasey in county Clare. As a performer Jack has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia, and has contributed to over 80 albums to date as a musician, producer, composer, arranger, and engineer. A regular contributor to traditional music programmes on television and radio, Jack is also the Artistic Director of Raelach Records, a label that he founded in 2011.
In 2011 Jack released the critically acclaimed Na Fir Bolg with fellow concertina player Cormac Begley on the Raelach Records label, and also formed Ensemble Ériu with double bass and flute player Neil O’ Loghlen. The band’s eponymous debut album, released by Raelach Records in October 2013 was described by Jim Carroll of the Irish Times as “one of the best Irish albums of 2013”. In January 2015, Ensemble Ériu were awarded the prestigious Gradam Comharcheol TG4 (musical collaboration award presented by Ireland's national Irish language broadcaster). Ensemble Ériu’s second album, Imbas (Ensemble Music and Raelach Records) was nominated as an Irish Times Best Traditional Album of 2016 and was described by RTÉ Culture as “as stunner”. The band’s third album, Stargazer on Diatribe Records, was listed at number 3 in Songlines’ Top Essential Irish Albums of all time. Since 2013 Jack has also performed as a section leader with Dave Flynn’s Irish Memory Orchestra.
A Licentiate of the London College of Music, and a BA and BMus graduate of University College Cork, Jack has been awarded the Mary V. Hart Memorial Award, The Seán Ó Riada Memorial Award, a University College Cork Societies Guild Bene Merenti award, and a University College Cork Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann award. In 2009 Jack completed an MA in Music Technology at the Centre for Computational Musicology and Computer Music at the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick.
In 2013 Jack was awarded the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Award by the Irish Research Council for PhD research (2018) at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, under the supervision of Dr. Aileen Dillane. The research explored the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music pedagogy in Irish higher education. Jack's most recent publication is a chapter contribution to College Music Curricula for a New Century, edited by Robin D. Moore, and published by Oxford University Press in April 2017. The chapter is entitled Non- Canonical Pedagogies for Non-Canonical Musics: Observations on selected Programmes in Folk, Traditional, World, and Popular Musics.
An experienced educator, Jack has taught undergraduate and postgraduate classes (in topics as diverse as performance (concertina, piano, and ense at University College Cork, the Irish World Academy at the University of Limerick, Maynooth University, and the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has also tutored at festivals such as the Willie Clancy Summer School, the South Sligo Summer School, the Joe Mooney Summer School Drumshanbo, Meitheal, Corofin Traditional Festival, Return to Camden Town, London, New South Wales Fleadh Nua Festival Australia, Ennis Traditional Festival, Scoil Ceoil an Earraigh, Scoil Cheoil na Botha, Éigse Mrs. Crotty, The Concertina Cruinniú Miltown Malbay, Consairtín Concertina Festival Ennis, the Fleadh Nua, the Joseph Browne School of Traditional Music, and Ceardlann Earraigh.
In November 2016, Jack released his debut solo concertina album, In Flow on Raelach Records. In September 2018, Jack was appointed Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork. In 2019, Jack and photographer and filmmaker Maurice Gunning were appointed as the inaugural Clare Arts Office Creators in Residence at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Duala, the film produced during this residency was premiered at Glór, Ennis, on Culture Night 2020.
In February 2019, Jack was appointed as research consultant with Trad Ireland / Traid Éireann, a new entity founded by Oisín MacDiarmada and Tristan Rosenstock, established to promote the traditional arts throughout the island of Ireland and support practitioners through advocacy and professional development opportunities. The subsequent Arts-Council-funded report, “Navigating the Traditional Arts Sector in Ireland: A Report on Resources, Challenges, and Opportunities", was published in November 2020.
As equally comfortable in both traditional and experimental interpretations of Irish traditional music, Jack recently collaborated with composer Ailís Ní Riain on No Other Word For It, an immersive installation featuring traditional and classical musicians, premiered at Imbolc International Arts Festival, Derry, 26 Jan 2020. He also performed the premiere of Aonaracht 1 for solo concertina and electronics by Úna Monaghan at New Music Dublin, National Concert Hall, 27 Feb 2020. Throughout January 2020, Jack also performed on a nationwide Music Network Tour with Dónal Ó Connor (fiddle), Anxo Lorenzo (gaita and whistles), and Jim Murray (guitar). The quartet plan to continue performing together as Gaelego, and hope to produce an album in 2022.
Jack works regularly as a peer advisor to the Arts Council of Ireland, and has contributed to the Council's Making Great Art Work 2020-22 strategy, and he has acted as a consultant on Council policies relating to artist pay and remuneration, and mentorship initiatives.
Jack was appointed Lecturer in Irish Traditional Music at the School of Film, Music and Theatre at University College Cork in August 2021.
BIOGRAPHY (SHORT)
Jack Talty is a multi-award-winning musician, composer, producer, and researcher from county Clare. As a performer, producer, and engineer, Jack has contributed to over 80 albums to date. In 2011, he founded Raelach Records, and he has released three albums with Ensemble Ériu. Since 2013 Jack has performed as a section leader with the Irish Memory Orchestra. He has also recorded Na Fir Bolg with Cormac Begley, and in November 2016 Jack released his debut solo album, In Flow, to widespread critical acclaim. In September 2018, Jack was appointed Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork. In 2019, Jack was and photographer and filmmaker Maurice Gunning were appointed as the inaugural Clare Arts Office Creators in Residence at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. The collaboration produced the film, Duala, which was premiered at Glór, Ennis on Culture Night 2020. In November 2020, Jack published a seminal research report that was commissioned by Trad Ireland with the support of the Arts Council. It explores both the professional opportunities and challenges encountered by those working in the traditional arts sector in Ireland. Jack was appointed Lecturer in Irish Traditional Music at the School of Film, Music and Theatre at University College Cork in August 2021.
TESTIMONIALS / PRESS
"a concertina renaissance man...with an ear for the sublime...who has continually sought out the rarely illuminated corners where the concertina thrives"
Siobhan Long, The Irish Times
"one of the leading traditional Irish musicians of his generation, among a versatile new wave"
Toner Quinn, The Journal of Music
"informed, virtuosic, and thoughtful, but what really sets him apart as a musician is his endless curiosity, and a gift for finding the inner life in the music. This he brings to us, as listeners, and opens up a whole new way of hearing old tunes as if for the first time. He is possessed of a rare combination of technical mastery, intelligent artistry, and soul"
Ellen Cranitch, RTÉ Lyric FM
"The music of Jack Talty is tasteful and full of heart and echoes the long tradition of concertina playing among his ancestors and among the older generation of Lissycasey, Co. Clare. Jack is a musician who brings new life and soul to tunes that are rarely played nowadays and it is evident from his recording “In Flow” that he respects both the music and the musicians that he listened to since his childhood. He is an accomplished piano player also and his recording skills are second to none".
Neansaí Ní Choisdealbha, Eagraí Ceoil, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta
“The master of the concertina”
Carl Corcoran, The Blue of the Night
"Full of gorgeous melodies and ear-catching atmospherics"
Jim Carroll, The Irish Times on In Flow
“In Flow is just majestic. The man is a genius”
Mike Harding
"dynamic, decorative and elegantly expressive. He punctuates each note with a confidence that comes only from musicians steeped in the enactment of their musical heritage"
Songlines
"Talty's playing appears to effortlessly slide through its sets, and his control is amazing – at times, he manages to make some notes ring out stronger, almost like a trombone punctuating a tune. But apart from the technical surety on the reels and jigs, I found the slow airs to be captivating....not to be missed by listeners who enjoy Irish music as a living, breathing art-form that both challenges and delights. In Flow shines like gold.
Lee Blackstone, RootsWorld
"a master of the slower tunes too: his interpretation of the air, Bóthar Cluain Meala, is deeply moving, and his own composition, Stephen's Waltz, is another highlight. This is not a brash young buck's recording: it is thoughtful and unhurried, but no less impressive for that".
Alex Monaghan, The Living Tradition on In Flow
"The album title fits well, Jack Talty's execution is gently flowing like an undisturbed watercourse. He glides along with both technical prowess and soulful spirit"
Folkworld
"one of the prime movers and shakers in the Irish music scene"
Paul Keating, The Irish Voice
"Rightly considered one of the major Anglo players in the music"
Roger Digby, The Concertina Journal
"A sensitive producer"
Irish Music Magazine
"they redefine the possibilities of the sound of the concertina itself"
Donal Dineen, The Irish Times, on Na Fir Bolg
“They are an extraordinary band, big band, big line up, lots of instruments, lots of imagination, all sorts going on ... they are something special”
John Kelly, RTÉ Lyric FM, on Ensemble Ériu
