Music Generation Laois held their Trad Summer School from Friday 21 July to Sunday 23 July in a number of venues across Portlaoise.
Laois welcomed over 100 students from Tipperary, Cork, Cavan, Mayo, Galway and the United States for the three days.
The students were attended three days of intensive workshops, taught by renowned tutors such as Rachel Hair (Harp), David Power (Uilleann Pipes), Laoise Kelly (Harp), Alexander Suarez Mendez (Uilleann Pipes) and Tommy Hayes (Bodhrán).
These workshops took place in the Portlaoise Adult Education Centre, Tower Hill and were followed by a variety of concerts and performances.
Performances
On Friday 21 July, the Trad Summer School tutors took to the stage of the Dunamaise Arts Centre performing as soloists, duos, trios and groups.
There were also performances from two Music Generation Laois Trad Groups who had worked with tutors Ernestine Healy, Siobhan Buckley, Denise Boyle and Peter Browne in the week prior to the camp.
Trad band Beoga, who shot to fame after collaborating with Ed Sheeran on his hit single ‘Galway Girl’, gave a high energy performance which was seem by many as the highlight of the weekend.
The group performed on Saturday 22 July in the Courtyard at Kavanaghs, Main Street, Portlaoise, to a packed house.
Music Generation Laois Trad Groups were the opening acts before Beoga took to the stage for a fantastic performance.
The final day saw the Trad Summer School students take to the stage of the Portlaoise Adult Education Centre with their tutors to perform what they learned over the weekend for their families and friends.
The weekend was huge increase in the number of students and tutors coming to Portlaoise for the weekend.
Music Generation Laois hope to carry this momentum into their Tionól, a national gathering of harps and uilleann pipes, taking place in Portlaoise on Friday 3 November to Sunday 5 November.
SEE ALSO – A MUST-WATCH: Music Generation Laois perform beautiful rendition of Carrick-a-Rede
