Listowel musician Pádraig Enright will be amongst the fifteen flute players competing in the final for the Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Friday 7 February, and the event will be broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
Pádraig, 20, is currently a physics student in Trinity College Dublin and says that his interest in music began in Dromclough National School where Willie Larkin was his teacher. He became a member of Lixnaw Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, and was taught by Maura Walsh. Other music teachers he has had over the years include Cailín O’Shea, Conal Ó Gráda and Louise Mulcahy. Pádraig has All-Ireland medals in tin whistle and flute at both underage and senior levels. In recent years he’s enjoyed performing in Siamsa Tíre and touring with dance shows abroad. He’s a member of ‘Fuinneamh’, a Limerick-based trad band.
Peadar Ó Riada will present the event live from the Rochestown Park Hotel from 7 pm – 10 pm. Esteemed musicians Michael Tubridy, Mary Bergin and Gary Hastings will have the difficult job of choosing the winner, and the criteria will include not only technical proficiency, but playing that demonstrates musicality and soul as well. The winner will take home the prestigious Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal, as well as €2500. As part of the weekend events, there will be a musicians’ conference on Saturday morning in the hotel, and the Coirm Órdha concert with past winners including box player Keelan McGrath and harper Úna Ní Fhlannagáin will take place on Saturday night.
