Cormac deBarra at Goderich Celtic Roots Festival 2023
b'CORMAC DE BARRA Cormac De Barra is a harper and television presenter and comes from a family of traditional Irish musicians and singers. He is the third generation of harper in the family and first studied with his grandmother, R\\xf3is\\xedn N\\xed Sh\\xe9, in Dublin. He went on to study concert harp in the USA. As a traditional harper, Cormac has recorded and toured with his brothers Fion\\xe1n and \\xc9amonn in the family group Barc\\xf3 and performed with many groups and musicians including fiddle player M\\xe1ire Breatnach, Sligo-based trad group Dervish and Brian Kennedy. Cormac has pushed the boundaries of Irish harp beyond the traditional and the classical through his collaborations with a variety of artists including actress and punk icon Hazel O\\u2019Connor, Grammy Award-winning Clannad and composer and singer Julie Feeney. Theatre performance credits include music for Playboy of the Western World at the Ambassador in Dublin, Tine Chn\\xe1mh and Mallachta\\xed Muintire at Project Arts Centre, Mysteries 2000 at the SFX, Dublin and W.B. Yeats\\u2019 Cuchulain Cycle at The Riverside, London. He also made his acting debut alongside Hazel O\\u2019Connor in a show called O\\u2019Carolan\\u2019s Dream at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Cormac has also found time to work in television for nearly two decades now. He presented the award-winning traditional music series Flosc on TG4 and also hosted TG4\\u2019s flagship weekly arts show IMEALL, for three seasons. His first solo recording \\u2018Barc\\xf3\\u2019 and his duo CD \\u2018Double Strung\\u2019 with harpist, Anne-Marie O\\u2019Farrell, recieved much critical acclaim. Other releases include \\u2018Music of Great Irish Houses\\u2019 with Austrian classical flute virtuoso Karin Leitner and \\u2018Tarraing T\\xe9ad \\u2013 Pulling Strings\\u2019 with M\\xe1ire Breatnach on fiddle & viola. Cormac has also been collaborating with US-based singer and songwriter, Ashley Davis, since 2008 and they have toured extensively throughout the United States since.'