Welcome to the official website of the West Ocean String Quartet
There's only one word to describe this album - Sublime
Pete Fyfe - Folking.com
20th May 2009
Although we've posted no news for a while now, the quartet has been quietly busy, initially in preproduction with our upcoming album. The selection, composition and arrangement of new material are not processes to be rushed! Once certain decisions had been made, we headed to Donegal in September 2008 to start recording the album, with engineer Billy Robinson on the board as always. At over 21 minutes long, the most substantial piece on the new album will be Neil Martin's song cycle “Oileán na Marbh”, composed in 2006 for Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill and the quartet. Initially commissioned by Templebar Cultural Trust, there are four songs, set to four especially commissioned poems by Cathal Ó Searcaigh, that deal with the 18/19th century practice of the burial of children who died before baptism. Church laws then forbade unbaptised children from being buried on hallowed ground, and, like very many parishes in the country at the time, a place had to be found for such painful interments. Told from the mother's perspective, the song cycle is located on a small island off the Donegal coast, near Carrickfinn, and known as “Oileán na Marbh”. We have performed this song cycle a number of times in Ireland, and in Glasgow at Celtic Connections, January 2007. We aim to record the remaining tracks of the cd by mid year, and plan to release the album late 2009. More details in time. This year is a very significant one for the quartet - we will celebrate our 10th anniversary, and shall mark this with a number of performances in Ireland and further afield. We anticipate concerts that will reflect both on where we've been in the last decade and where we may go in the future. New collaborations will emerge, and the world premiere of a new work will take place in February, especially commissioned for the Joseph Browne Spring School. There'll be a concert in the Irish College in Paris on St.Patrick's Day, and various festivals at home and abroad too. Keep an eye on the website as we will release further information as it becomes available.
10th Nov 2006
The West Ocean String Quartet will play two dates with Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill performing Neil Martin’s Oileán na Marbh. See Dates for details.
14th Oct 2006
Release of The West Ocean String Quartet´s second album The Guiding Moon with legendary flute player Matt Molloy as special guest. The album is available for purchase here.
10th Oct 2006
The West Ocean String Quartet's Guiding Moon tour with Matt Molloy kicks off on 21st Oct - in Jacksonville, Florida. Full details of the tour schedule are available in the Dates Section.