St. Patrick’s Open Day 2021

Branar Téatar do Pháistí is one of the leading theatre companies making work for children in Ireland, creating beautiful, innovative, high quality work that inspires children and their families. They tour work to venues and festivals locally, nationally and internationally, and support artists to make work for young audiences through tailored programmes of resource-sharing and Tiny Show creation. They create opportunities for children to explore their own arts practice in school settings.

“Simply one of the best folk duos on the planet”—BBC 

Husband and wife duo Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre bring an eclectic blend of classical, jazz and world music to traditional Irish compositions and songs. They have released two recordings to date, including their debut, Go Mairir I Bhfad (Long Life To You), which received five stars from the Irish Times. 

Zoë has performed with many international artists, including Riverdance, Damien Rice, Lou Reed, Nick Cave and Rodrigo y Gabriella, and has appeared as a soloist with acclaimed orchestras including the Irish Chamber Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and German WDR Symphony Orchestra. Her work has also been featured in major film soundtracks including Float Like A Butterfly (Samson Films 2018), Artemis Fowl (Disney 2020) and, with John, Finding You (Red Sky Studio 2021) and Riverdance: The Animated Adventure (Universal 2021). 

John grew up in the Cooley Mountains of north County Louth, where he took up guitar at eight years of age. He began his career as electric guitarist with the indie band the Revs, with whom he toured internationally and performed in famed festivals including Oxygen and Slane in Ireland and Reading and Leeds in the UK. He has worked alongside many world-renowned producers, and is now also producing and recording in many genres. From early childhood, John has been immersed in the language, songs, and traditional dance music of southwest Donegal, his father's homeplace.

Niall O'Leary is a former All-Ireland and World Champion dancer from Dublin, Ireland. His teachers included Kevin Massey, proclaimed by Michael Flatley to be “the greatest ever Irish dancer,” and Rory O'Connor, the first man to do Irish dancing on radio. The Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance has been building the Irish dance community and training champions since 1995, and currently has locations in New York City, Miami, and Mexico. Based in New York City for more than 20 years, O’Leary performs regularly as a solo artist, in duet with Darrah Carr, with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America, and with his professional company, the Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe. He is a performer, choreographer, master instructor and adjudicator in Irish dance, and most recently a performer and instructor in Celtic Tap Improv, a new genre he created. He is the artistic director of the New York City Irish Dance Festival presented by Irish Arts Center in May each year. O’Leary was honored to be an adjudicator for the 2018 World Irish Dance Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. He has recently recorded a new video, Celtic Tap Improv: Introduction, Instruction and Deconstruction. O’Leary is a regular feis adjudicator and musician, playing piano-accordion and keyboards; he also plays spoons and bodhrán. He was founding chairperson of Úll Mór CCÉ, the first Manhattan branch of Comhaltas (1997), and served as president of the Irish Business Organization of NY Inc. (2010-11). He is founding president of the new Manhattan branch of Conradh na Gaeilge (2017). Additionally, O’Leary practices as an architect. O’Leary has been honored by Irish America magazine as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans of the Year, and by the Irish Echo as a community champion.