ARDS International GUITAR FESTIVAL 3–7 APRIL 2019 ardsguitarfestival.co.uk 22nd Ards International ardsguitarfestival.co.uk GIG GUIDE Guitar Festival 2019 +44 (0)28 9181 0803 WEDNESDAY 3 APRIL SATURDAY 6 APRIL TIME EVENT VENUE PRICE TIME EVENT VENUE PRICE 7.30pm Film Screening The Ivy Bar £5 11.00am Sing to Me with Kyle Riley Ards Arts Centre £5 METALLICA: Some Kind of Monster (2004) 11.30am–1.00pm Guitar Clinic with Mike Dawes Ards Arts Centre £10 8.00pm Gary Ryan The Queen’s Hall £12 1.00pm–2.00pm Rory Nellis Ards Arts Centre FREE Support from The Classical Guitar Society of Northern 2.00pm–3.30pm Guitar Clinic with Simon McBride Ards Arts Centre £10 Ireland 2.30pm George Lowden in Conversation Ards Arts Centre £8 with Ralph McClean and special guest Ariel Posen THURSDAY 4 APRIL 8.00pm Ariel Posen and Simon McBride The Queen’s Hall £15 TIME EVENT VENUE PRICE 11.00am–12.30pm Guitar Clinic with Gary Ryan Ards Arts Centre £10 10.00pm The Ronnie Greer Band with The Ivy Bar £5 special guest Bill Shanley 8.00pm Dea Matrona Molly Browns £5 Support from Hugo Boitel-Gill (upstairs) 8.00pm Traditional and Contemporary Ards Arts Centre £10 SUNDAY 7 APRIL with Donal Clancy and TIME EVENT VENUE PRICE Shane Hennessey 11.30am–1.00pm Rory Gallagher Brunch Ards Arts Centre £8 with Ralph McLean 12.00pm–1.30pm Guitar Clinic with Alexandr Misko Ards Arts Centre £10 FRIDAY 5 APRIL TIME EVENT VENUE PRICE 2.00pm John Tracey and Síomha Ards Arts Centre £10 1.00pm–2.00pm Amanda Agnew Ards Arts Centre FREE 4.00pm Weekend Wind Down with The Ivy Bar £5 Megan O’Neill and The Dunwells 8.00pm Mike Dawes The Queen’s Hall £15 Support from Amanda Agnew Support from Alexandr Misko and Ali Tod 10.00pm The HardChargers The Ivy Bar £5 Why not buy a Weekend Pass See pages 22-23 Special thanks to Anthony Toner as guest programmer and to Marty Coney at the Ivy Bar, ITAR CLINI weekend for access to all gigs for the GU C for details of all Ernie McMillen The Guitar Doctor, Lowden Guitars and to Paul McMordie, Paul O’Neill and pass bargain price of £60 Guitar Clinics Darren Porter. 2 ardsguitarfestival.co.uk ardsguitarfestival.co.uk 3 ITAR CLIN Gary Ryan GU IC The Classical WITH SUPPORT FROM THE CLASSICAL Guitar Society of GUITAR SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND Northern Ireland Wednesday 3 April, 8.00pm Venue: The Queen’s Hall Tickets: £12, includes refreshments IN SUPPORT OF GARY RYAN Gary Ryan has performed to international After an acclaimed recital debut, he was CGSNI aims to promote locally the classical guitar and its music. The Society meets critical acclaim for two decades, becoming appointed – at only 27 – Professor of Guitar once a month in the Ulster College of Music and is open to players of all ages and the first guitarist since John Williams in at the Royal College of Music, and currently abilities as well as those who simply have an interest in the classical guitar. 1983 to be awarded a Fellowship of the combines that role with an international The Society meetings provide an opportunity for amateur players to perform for Royal College of Music in recognition of his career. His celebrated compositions are often each other in a supportive environment, and experienced players are on hand to contribution to the instrument. broadcast on Classic FM. Following a joint offer advice and encouragement. performance at London’s Globe Theatre in Ryan studied at the Guildhall School of Music, 2015 Gary Ryan was invited by John Williams There are many opportunities for ensemble playing and the Society promotes where he won the Director’s Prize, and was to form 6 Hands, a new trio with the jazz a number of workshops each year assisted by guitarists Sean Woods (Derry/ later awarded a scholarship to study at the guitarist John Etheridge, which has since Londonderry) and Patrick Zeoli (Berlin). Royal Academy of Music in 1987. In 1991 he toured extensively. graduated with first class honours and many cgsni.org awards – and was made an Associate of the ‘...one of the most accurate guitarists in the Academy in 1997. business... a level of precision that could easily have been released on CD with scarcely a retake. I promise this is no exaggeration...’ – Classical Guitar Magazine garyryan.co.uk 4 ardsguitarfestival.co.uk ardsguitarfestival.co.uk 5 FILM SCREENING METALLICA: Dea Matrona Some Kind of Monster and Hugo Boitel-Gill (2004) Thursday 4 April, 8.00pm Venue: Molly Browns (upstairs) Wednesday 3 April, 7.30pm, 2hrs 21min Tickets: £5 Venue: The Ivy Bar Tickets: £5 includes a drink and a basket of chips Join us upstairs at Molly Brown’s for foot stomping rock gig with two legends of the local busking scene: Dea Matrona and Hugo Boitel-Gill! Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky The momentum is building for what will undoubtedly be one of THE gigs of 2019... the Mighty Metallica at Slane Castle this June! Join us in the Ivy Bar for this special screening of the bands controversial film ‘Metallica: Some Kind of Monster’, that has now gained somewhat of a cult status amongst music documentary fans. ‘Metallica: Some Kind of Monster’ follows the band through three of the most turbulent years in their over three-decade long career. It gives viewers an incredibly raw and intimate look into the lives and psyches of the members of one of the most successful rock bands in music history as they battle their way through addiction, domestic life, backlash from their fans, and near-total disintegration during the making of their St. Anger album. Dea Matrona Hugo Boitel-Gill Winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature. Teenagers Orlaith Forsythe and Mollie Hugo Boitel-Gill is a 17 years old guitarist and McGinn, took up busking when they decided singer (he is also a chorister at St Peter’s it would be a happier alternative to getting a Cathedral Schola Contorum in Belfast) who part time job! began busking in Belfast at the age of 11. The success of the duo’s busking videos, He has performed in the City Centre reaching up to 60K views online, encouraged regularly since then, and his intuitive them to take things more seriously. After improvisation and distinctive playing of a a year of playing around Belfast they were wide blues/classic rock repertoire influenced joined by drummer Mamie McGinn and have by Hendrix, the Stones, Rory Gallagher, Led gone from street buskers to a bona fide band. Zeppelin, Neil Young, Radiohead, Bowie and many others, is very well known. The girls took their live show over to London this year as part of the Busk In London Hugo has won prizes at the Banbridge and Competition where they were the only Irish Dungannon Busking competitions and has act to qualify for the finals out of over 1000 performed at festivals including Bluesberry applicants. at Warrenpoint and Lurgan Live, and at Ards Guitar Festival last year. Showcasing their interpretations of old classics by bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, they also proved their capabilities of writing and performing their own material releasing their debut EP ‘Chains’ last year. facebook.com/deamatronaband 6 ardsguitarfestival.co.uk ardsguitarfestival.co.uk 7 DÓnal SHANE Clancy HENNESSEY WITH SHANE HENNESSEY WITH DONAL CLANCY Shane Hennessy is a virtuoso fingerstyle Thursday 4 April, 8.00pm guitarist and composer from Carlow, Venue: Ards Arts Centre Ireland. His energetic contemporary Tickets: £10, BYOB guitar playing style and cinematically vivid compositions tie in multiple influences from various world and ethnic Now rightly regarded as one of Ireland’s music. finest Trad guitarists, Dónal Clancy is the son of the world-renowned singer He has caught the attention of big Liam, of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy names like guitar legend Tommy Makem fame. Emmanuel and super-producer Nile Rodgers. His background in Irish Since the death of his father, Dónal traditional music has created a solid has focused his attention on the family base for his genre-defying musical repertoire, a collection of songs that explorations. he grew up with, and on keeping the Clancy tradition alive with his solo Achievements to date include a sold-out performances. solo show in The National Concert Hall in Dublin, a commission with Bill Whelan In 2006 he released his first solo guitar of Riverdance fame, and a billing at the album ‘Close To Home’, which The prestigious MerleFest in Wilkesboro, Boston Globe described as ‘a sweet North Carolina. He has also featured on masterpiece of melodic grace and the St Patrick’s Day mainstage in Dublin, riveting groove’. held solo tours of Europe, the US, and In 2014, to much critical acclaim, Donal Russia, and appears at Irish festivals and released ‘Songs of a Roving Blade’, and music festivals around the world. his latest album ‘On the Lonesome Plain’ Shane has released two albums of features a mix of seven vocal tracks and original music to date and works six guitar instrumentals, including two of frequently as a songwriter and his own compositions, which showcase composer. Donal’s wonderful fingerstyle playing to great effect. shanehennessy.ie donalclancy.com 8 ardsguitarfestival.co.uk ardsguitarfestival.co.uk 9 ITAR CLIN GU IC Mike Dawes IN SUPPORT OF MIKE DAWES WITH SPECIAL GUESTS ALI TOD AND ALEXANDR MISKO TWO EXCEPTIONAL CONTEMPORARY PERCUSSIVE/FINGERSTYLE GUITARISTS Friday 5 April, 8.00pm Venue: The Queen’s Hall Ali Tod Tickets: £15, Bar available Building upon a classical guitar training, Ali Tod has developed a genre-defying style that has taken her Hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitar performers, Mike Dawes is on a whole new journey into the possibilities of the a master of technique – composing, arranging and performing multiple parts simultaneously on instrument.