Sounds Like Folk

Sounds like Folk’s guest for this episode is the wonderful Jo Mangan. Jo first worked with Siamsa Tíre 12 years ago on our site-specific piece 'What the Folk' which toured to Dublin Theatre festival, Cork Midsummer Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe. Jo is Artistic Director of The Performance Corporation and ss recent Director/CEO of Carlow Arts Festival, she pioneered digital work including VR Cinema and a VR Festival Campus. Among other amazing things, she created the BIG House Festival and was Director of the Bram Stoker Festival. Her awards include multiple Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards, the UK based Clore Leadership Fellowship and the prestigious Fedora Digital Prize. Jo also founded The Performance Corporation’s SPACE Programme - Ireland’s longest-running multi-disciplinary international artists residency with a current focus on Arts and Immersive Technology. Jo never fails to inspire and ignite new directions and ideas in the world of creativity, it is always a pleasure to be in her company! Enjoy!

In this week's special episode of Sounds Like Folk Joanne presents a specially curated episode wrapped in the legacy of Siamsa’s choral work and music to date - highlighting some chosen pieces from the National Folk Theatre’s music catalogue. We hear some well-known favourites as well as some newly composed pieces from the repertoire down through the years, while celebrating the unique arrangement of traditional songs as large choral, harmonised works. As well as using dance, song and music from Ireland’s rich tradition, and newly composed pieces, Siamsa Tíre can share our unique embodiment of our particular type of folk theatre, a theatre for and of the people.

Joanne's next guest is multi-award-winning opera/music-theatre composer, librettist and stage director, Conor Mitchell. Joanne first met Conor in 2013 when he composed the score for Siamsa’s production Imigéin. Conor’s unique music blends the worlds of stage design with contemporary visual arts and finds new ways to engage his audience through socially relevant, politically charged subjects. A double Ivor Novello nominee and double Fringe First winner, he is the recipient of the Arts Council Northern Ireland Major Individual Artists Award - the highest honour bestowed by the agency - and a life fellow of the Arts Foundation for composition.

Sounds Like Folk has returned with host Joanne Barry at the helm! Her first guest in the new series is Aoife Spillane-Hinks, a director who works in both Ireland and the United States. Aoife is the founder and lead artist of the Literary Department at Axis Ballymun in Dublin, has trained as a director on the Rough Magic SEEDS programme and holds a BA in Folklore and Mythology from Harvard University and an MA in Drama and Theatre Studies from NUI Galway. She is also the co-founder of Then This Theatre. Joanne was delighted to reconnect with Aoife again after many years and chat with her about her passions and work to date. Enjoy!