October 17th–19th, 2014

John Dwyer Trad Weekend, which is going into its 3rd year in Waterford city. The festival has gone from strength–to–strength over the past couple of years and it is a wonderful celebration of the man himself, John Dwyer. John is very much a part of the festival and performs throughout the weekend.

A brother of Finbarr, Richie and Michael Dwyer, John is one of the most respected composers and musicians in the country. Since he received the TG4 Composer of the Year award in 2010, he has started playing and attending sessions and events again. He had taken a break for a few years because of his work, family and the death of his wife Ann.

The festival itself is unique, in that it places a great emphasis on composition of traditional tunes. Edel fox told us “We run a composition competition for under 18 musicians (which has seen some beautiful tunes emerge over the last couple of years!) and we also run a separate workshop on composition, which is being lead this year by Josephine Marsh.”

Throughout the weekend there are sessions, concerts and workshops. This year’s line–up includes Conal Ó Gráda, Louise Mulcahy, Caitlín Nic Gabhann, Ciarán Ó Maonaigh, Seán Ryan, Joe Skelton, Mairéad Casey (sean nós dance), Damien O’Reilly, Josephine Marsh and Mick Kinsella plus many many more! The headline concert features Mairtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd. The entire weekend is organised by Edel Fox and Neill Byrne, as well as local Waterford musicians Ben Delaney and Gerry Madden.