Irish Arts Center Winter Solstice Celebration

Carlos Cuestas is a Colombian classical guitarist and plucked instrumentalist. He has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in both national and international stages. Currently residing in New York City, he is an active member of the Radio Jarocho ensemble, the Emericus ensemble and the Cline-Cuestas flute and guitar duo. Mr. Cuestas is currently a PhD Student in the Ethnomusicology department at the CUNY Graduate Center and an adjunct lecturer in CUNY’s Brooklyn College.

Liz Hanley, a native of Boston, is one of the top young musicians in the New York Irish music scene. She plays the fiddle with great energy and flair and is a fine singer whose repertoire spans multiple genres from Irish traditional and rock to hip-hop and classical. Liz graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s of Music in classical violin performance and has toured the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. She can be seen playing around New York in seisiúns and with the likes of Mick Moloney and Frogbelly and Symphony. Be sure to check out Hanley's debut album The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile

Brendan Dolan is the son of Irish traditional piano legend Felix Dolan, and has established his own reputation as one of the foremost pianists in Irish music. He is also an archivist with an M.A. in Irish and Irish-American Studies from New York University, where he processed the Mick Moloney Irish-American Music and Popular Culture Collection in the Archives of Irish America at Tamiment Library. Brendan's playing can be heard on Pride of New York, Live at Mona's, Billy McComiskey's Outside the Box, Brian Conway's Consider the Source, and Mick Moloney's Far From the Shamrock Shore, McNally's Row of Flats and If It Wasn't For the Irish and the Jews.  Brendan has also performed with such non-Irish musicians as classical violinist Itzhak Perlman and klezmer clarinetist-mandolinist Andy Statman. He has taught traditional music for many years at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia, and at the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York and teaches children in the New York City area year round. He currently teaches instrumental music at Avenues: the World School.

Billy McComiskey, originally from Brooklyn, has been playing the accordion for over 50 years studying alongside many of the finest Irish Immigrant musicians of the 20th Century. He has been hailed as “the best Irish accordion player in America” and at the center of the revival of traditional music with the trail-blazing group The Irish Tradition in Washington D.C., The Catskills and his adopted home in Baltimore, Maryland where he is considered the Godfather of Irish music. An All-Ireland champion in 1986, he either taught or deeply influenced many prominent traditional Irish musicians throughout the United States and he has performed with Mick Moloney since the late 1970s in The Green Fields of America Ensemble. He also plays in the quintessential Irish-American Trad band The Pride of New York a first-generation group of tradition bearers who have played in Ireland and major festivals in America.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

Mick Moloney, originally from County Limerick, Ireland, was a member of the Johnstons folk group in Ireland before coming to the US in 1973. In America, he teamed up with the much-loved fiddler Eugene O’Donnell while pursuing a Ph.D. in folklore at the University of Pennsylvania. They played together for over twenty years. He also performed during this time and recorded extensively with Robbie O’Connell and Jimmy Keane. Now a professor of Music and Irish Studies at New York University, Moloney is also a producer and performer in over sixty recordings and several documentary films, author of Far from the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish American History Through Song and editor of Close to the Floor: The Story of Irish Dance in America and the recipient of the National Heritage Award. He currently plays with a wide variety of musicians including The Green Fields of America, an all-star group he formed in 1978 which helped launch the careers of young artists such as Eileen Ivers and Seamus Egan, Jean Butler and Michael Flatley. In 2007, his album McNally’s Row of Flats on the Compass label was awarded the title of best Irish traditional music album of the year by the Irish Echo and also gained the Irish Livies top album of the year award. His 2009 album If It Wasn’t For the Irish and the Jews was once again awarded the title of best Irish album of the year by Irish Livies, and most recently he was awarded a 2013 Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Aboard, and a 2014 Gradam Ceoil Lifetime Achievement Award from TG4.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

Victor Murillo is a well respected bassist, film composer, arranger, and educator.  Victor currently resides in New York City, where he is actively involved in numerous projects.  After graduating from Berklee College of Music, Victor moved to New York to get his Master's degree at Aaron Copland School of Music.  Victor has studied under some heavy heavy hitters such as: John Patitucci, John Benitez, David Wong, Eddie Gomez, Antonio Hart, Michael Mossman, John Lockwood, Oscar Stagnaro & David Berkman.  Recently, Victor performed at Carnegie Hall with Paquito D'Rivera.  He has also shared the stage with Wynton Marsalis, Bob Mintzer, Kendrick Scott, Terence Blanchard, Luis Conte, Luis Enrique, Roberto Vilera, Plas Johnson, Antonio Anredo, Ali Jackson, Dan Nimmer and many more.  Victor's versatile talents keep him in demand.  He is currently a part of many projects in the New York City area including his very own jazz group.  Some other projects include: The Hot Sardines, Calpulli Mexican Dance Co., Folklore Urbano, Sonia de Los Santos, Jarana Beat, Radio Jarocho, Conjunto Guantanamo, Rebolu, & From Zion.

Victor Murillo was born in Santa Barbara, California and is a first generation Mexican-American.  Victor attended Santa Barbara High School from 2004-08, where he discovered and developed his passion for music. Victor picked up the guitar for the first time during his freshman year and without having formal training, Victor decided to play in the school’s jazz band. After three months of self taught experience plucking strings, Victor decided to start his own choir with his sister at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. There, he played for over 100 people, 3 times a week, for 2 years. It wasn’t until the end of his Junior year that the school’s jazz band was in need of a bass player. That was when Victor decided to take on the challenge. Once Victor got through the bloody finger phase most bass players go through, Victor was ready to play and began to gig around town with local Latin groups. At age 16, he found himself gigging three nights a week playing with all the local musicians. His main gig was playing with a popular group named Wayeri. The group covered most South American folklore styles. It was here where he discovered his forte in latin music. At this point in his life, Victor began to experiment in composing. He wanted to have the ability to create his own soundscape. Victor wrote music for his own band and for his school’s jazz band.

Niall O’Leary is an architect and a former All-Ireland and World Champion dancer originally from Dublin. He runs his own architectural practice in NYC, as well as the Niall O’Leary School of Irish Dance. His Irish dance teachers have included Kevin Massey, proclaimed by Michael Flatley to be the greatest Irish dancer ever, and Rory O’Connor, the first man to do Irish dancing on the radio. He is the artistic director of the New York City Irish Dance Festival presented by Irish Arts Center in May each year, and performs regularly as a solo artist, in duet with Darrah Carr, and with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America, as well as with his company The Niall O’Leary Irish Dance Troupe. He is in constant demand as a performer, choreographer and master instructor and conducts regular workshops and master classes around the US, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. He is the founding chairman of Ull Mor CCÉ, the Manhattan branch of Comhaltas, and was president of the Irish Business Organization of NY Inc. from 2010-2011. In 2004, O’Leary was honored by Irish America magazine as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans of the Year.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

Born and raised in Mexico, Julia del Palacio learned the traditional son jarocho zapateado under the instruction of renowned dancers Dora Robles, Rubí Oseguera, and Martha Vega in Veracruz and Mexico City. Since 2007, while pursuing her doctoral degree in Latin American history at Columbia University, Julia has been the lead dancer and director of Radio Jarocho, a New York-based ensemble dedicated to the preservation of Mexican traditional music and to the creation of new rhythms in the son jarocho tradition from Veracruz. With Radio Jarocho, as well as with other projects with which she has collaborated, including Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and The David Wax Museum, she has performed at Lincoln Center, Joe’s Pub, El Museo del Barrio, Kennedy Center, SXSW, Pregones Theater, Chicago's Old Town School, and the Newport Folk Festival. Julia was the Executive Producer of Radio Jarocho's new album, "Rios de Norte y Sur," and  has also guest-recorded for Arturo O'Farrill, Sonia de los Santos, and other artists in New York and Mexico. 

Mexican mezzo-soprano, producer and arts promoter Guadalupe Peraza has been a featured performer in Mexico, Europe and the U.S., has participated in various productions at the New York City Opera and at Bard Summerscape, and has sung at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall and Lincoln Center in NYC. She was awarded “Mexican Woman of the Year” in 2016 by the Mayor and the Board of Commissioners in Union City, NJ for her contributions to the Latin American community. Tonight marks her Symphony Space debut.
Peraza is the creator and artistic director of Mexamorphosis (2016), an interdisciplinary project which incorporates music from different cultures, visual arts, and dance. Its initial performances emphasized the relationship between Mexican Son Jarocho, Baroque and Renaissance music.
Earlier this year, while working as a cultural adviser to the Irish Embassy to Mexico, she was exposed to Irish music traditions thanks to the support and guidance of Irish Ambassador Barbara Jones, who introduced her to Mick Moloney and the Green Fields of America. Realizing that Irish traditional music could also be paired with Son Jarocho music, Peraza brought them together with independent Son Jarocho performers based in Mexico and NYC for the embassy’s 2018 St. Patrick’s Day celebration concerts in Mexico. Having co-produced and performed in those concerts, she is delighted and honored to be the guest of Mick, Athena, and the Green Fields of America as the collaboration develops today, hosted by the Irish Arts Center. 

John Roberts sings the traditional folksongs of his native Britain. He developed his interest in folksongs at high school, and determined to teach himself to play guitar, took one off to Manchester University, where he soon became a singer at local clubs during the "folk revival" of the early '60s. His initial repertoire of predominantly American songs gradually gave way to more British and Irish material as he explored and absorbed his own native traditions. He sang in a duo with fellow-Brit Tony Barrand, performing at concerts and festivals throughout the USA and Canada, and with him developed and performed in Nowell Sing We Clear, which brought a fresh look at the Christmas season through traditional songs and customs, touring throughout the northeastern US for 40 years. He has been a featured and supporting singer and musician for many of the concert productions that Mick Moloney has produced under the auspices of the IAC, and has recorded with Mick, singing harmony on several of his recent recordings. His own recordings can be sampled at goldenhindmusic.com.

Athena Tergis hails from a musical family in San Francisco where she released her first album at age 16. She followed her passion for traditional music to Ireland and joined the Sharon Shannon Band. Athena was also the featured violinist in the production of Riverdance on Broadway. She spent over a year on tour with Bruce Springsteen’s sax player, Clarence Clemmons. In 2001 she joined Mick Moloney and Billy McComiskey in The Green Fields of America releasing their self-titled album on Compass records along with her solo album A Letter Home and a PBS documentary: Absolutely Irish! Athena is a regular principal soloist and composer with the Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Photo credit: Amanda Gentile 

An internationally acclaimed poet, jarana player, singer, and composer from Veracruz, Mexico, Zenen Zeferino has been a featured performer in Asia, Europe, South America, and North America. Born in a family of traditional musicians, Zeferino has been one of the major figures in the field of son jarocho and is largely responsible for reviving the genre in contemporary performance and recording. He is also the author of Zoóngoro Bailongo: Cuentos de Raíz Jarocha, which highlights the importance of preserving traditions and the environment. During November 2018, he performed at The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts), Mexico City’s premier performance hall, under the direction of renowned conductor and viol player Jordi Savall with whom, earlier this year he was also featured as the first Traditional Son Jarocho cantador (folk singer) at the Sydney Opera House.

Having several artistic residencies, including a collaboration with Radio Jarocho in NYC, where this group has pioneered the preservation of the son jarocho genre, Zeferino is currently teaching multiple apprenticeship communities in the United States and Canada.