Celtic Series '26: Caroline Keane & Tom Delany
Thursday Feb 4 @6pm
Keane and Delany began making music together while studying at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Since then, their partnership has taken them to stages throughout Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Their sound centers on two instruments with distinctive voices in Irish traditional music.
Keane plays concertina, bringing precision, rhythm and expressive ornamentation to an instrument that can sound both delicate and remarkably powerful.
She has performed with leading figures in Irish music and has received recognition for her work as both a performer and teacher. Based in the West Kerry Gaeltacht, where Irish remains part of everyday community life, Keane is closely connected to the living cultural traditions that surround the music she performs.
Delany plays uilleann pipes, the sophisticated bellows-blown pipes of Ireland, as well as bouzouki and guitar.
Unlike the Scottish Highland pipes, the uilleann pipes are played while seated and are powered by a bellows under the musician’s arm. Their wide expressive range allows a player to move from haunting, sustained melodies to richly ornamented dance tunes.
Together, concertina and pipes can produce tremendous rhythmic excitement. Keane and Delany also use bouzouki and guitar to expand the duo’s sound and give their arrangements additional texture.
For February’s Celtic Series concert, audiences can expect jigs, reels, airs and other traditional material presented by two musicians whose partnership is rooted in years of playing, studying and traveling together.