Zoë Conway is an Irish violinist, trained in both

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

and traditional

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

-playing. She is married to fellow

Irish traditional music Irish traditional music (also known as Irish trad, Irish folk music, and other variants) is a genre of folk music that developed in Ireland. In ''A History of Irish Music'' (1905), W. H. Grattan Flood wrote that, in Gaelic Ireland, there we ...

ian John McIntyre.

Early life

Born in

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

in 1981, attended St Louis Secondary School, Dundalk, where she served as the leader of the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland. She received a Diploma in Music Theory from the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama and Performance Diploma in 2003 from the ABSRM.

Career

She has performed with the RTE Concert Orchestra, the

Irish Chamber Orchestra The Irish Chamber Orchestra (ICO) is an Irish classical music ensemble, administratively based at the University of Limerick. János Fürst founded the ICO in 1963. The ICO consisted only of strings as its regular ensemble for many years, adding wi ...

and as a member of Bill Whelan's "

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions J ...

". Alongside traditional musicians

Donal Lunny Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterp ...

and Mairtin O'Connor, she is a member of the group ZoDoMo. Conway has released 2 solo albums and 2 albums with her husband John with whom she also organises the Féile na Tána traditional music festival. In 2019 she was awarded the Best Folk Instrumentalist prize at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards.

Discography

* ''Zoë Conway'' (2002) * ''The Horses Tail'' (2006) * ''Go Mairir I Bhfad'' (2012) * ''Zoë Conway and John McIntyre Live In Concert'' (2017)

Allt

*'' Allt'' (2018 - with Éamon Doorley,

Julie Fowlis Julie Fowlis (born 20 June 1979) is a Scottish folk singer and multi-instrumentalist who sings primarily in Scottish Gaelic. Early life Fowlis was born and grew up on North Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides, in a Gàidhealtachd, Gaelic-s ...

and John McIntyre) *''Allt: Volume II Cuimhne'' (2024 - with Éamon Doorley, Julie Fowlis and John McIntyre)

References

External links

*
Irish Times
coverage of Conway {{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Zoë Irish women classical violinists Irish women fiddlers Living people People from Dundalk 1981 births People educated at St Louis Secondary School, Dundalk Musicians from County Louth 21st-century Irish fiddlers 21st-century Irish women musicians 21st-century Irish classical violinists