The West Ocean String Quartet - A brief history

The West Ocean String Quartet formed in 1999. The four members have very considerable experience across many genres of music and they display a happy disregard for where the boundaries of classical and traditional music meet. The quartet's debut CD, Unwrapping Dreams which appeared in the summer of 2004 on Wren Records, was released to very considerable acclaim both in Ireland and around the globe. It won the award for Best Newcomers Album in the American Live Ireland Awards. A BBC television documentary on the quartet was screened in 2003. Their new cd, The Guiding Moon, featuring The Chieftains' flute player Matt molloy, was released in the autumn of 2006.

The West Ocean String Quartet came about after Seamus McGuire phoned Neil Martin and floated the idea of putting together a string quartet that would straddle the worlds of traditional and classical. Seamus and Neil had previously worked together on Seamus solo album The Wishing Tree and found that there was an understanding between them that they both agreed would merit further exploration. Both had come from classical and traditional backgrounds and knew something of the potential of the world that lay in between. After a few meetings, a number of dinners, several bottles of hearty claret and many phone calls, they approached Niamh Crowley, a violinist from Rosses Point in Sligo, and Ken Rice, a violinist from Kerry who also plays viola. The quartet was birthed and then spent a lengthy period finding each others' spaces and developing their unique repertoire, rehearsing in places like the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig and Ardnamona House in Donegal. Walking before running seemed to suit, but once they were up off all fours, they were at a canter. The quartet has subsequently performed throughout Ireland, including sell-out performances in Dublin's National Concert Hall - at both the Beo and Ceol Festivals - and in Belfast's Waterfront Hall, where they head-lined the National Holocaust Memorial Day in 2004. They have also appeared at many festivals, including Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Boyle, Earagail and Galway. They made their USA debut in October 2006.