LISSYCASEY native and virtuoso concertina player, Dr Jack Talty has been appointed to the staff of University College Cork (UCC).
The multi award winning performer, composer, producer and educator has a diverse range of academic interest and will join the staff of The Department of Music, as a Lecturer in Irish Traditional Music.
Dr Talty is the founder of the traditional music label, Raelach Records, and, as a performer has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia. To-date, he has contributed to over 80 albums to date as a musician, producer, composer, arranger, and engineer, most notably with Ensemble Eriu.
A Licentiate of the London College of Music, and a BA and BMus graduate of University College Cork, Dr Talty has been awarded the Mary V Hart Memorial Award; The Seán Ó Riada Memorial Award; a UCC Societies Guild Bene Merenti award, and a UCC Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann award.
He holds an MA in Music Technology from The University of Limerick (UL). In 2013, Dr Talty he was awarded the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Award by the Irish Research Council for PhD research at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, under the supervision of Dr Aileen Dillane. The research explored the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music pedagogy in Irish higher education. His most recent publication is a chapter contribution to College Music Curricula for a New Century, edited by Robin D Moore, and published by Oxford University Press in April 2017. The chapter is entitled Non-Canonical Pedagogies for Non-Canonical Musics: Observations on selected Programmes in Folk, Traditional, World, and Popular Musics.
An experienced educator, Dr Talty has taught undergraduate and postgraduate classes (in topics as diverse as performance (concertina, piano, and ense at UCC, the Irish World Academy, Maynooth University, and the National University of Ireland, Galway. He has also tutored at a diverse range of festivals such as the Willie Clancy Summer School and the New South Wales Fleadh Nua Festival Australia.
In November 2016, he released his debut solo concertina album, In Flow on Raelach Records. In September 2018, he was appointed Traditional Artist in Residence at UCC. In 2019, Dr Talty and photographer and filmmaker Maurice Gunning were appointed as the inaugural Clare Arts Office Creators in Residence at the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Duala, the film produced during this residency premiered at Glór, Ennis, on Culture Night 2020.
Dr Talty is also a research consultant with Trad Ireland/Traid Éireann, a new entity founded by Oisín MacDiarmada and Tristan Rosenstock, established to promote the traditional arts throughout the island of Ireland and support practitioners through advocacy and professional development opportunities. The subsequent Arts-Council-funded report, “Navigating the Traditional Arts Sector in Ireland: A Report on Resources, Challenges, and Opportunities”, was published in November 2020.
Dr Talty works regularly as a peer advisor to the Arts Council of Ireland, and has contributed to the Council’s Making Great Art Work 2020-22 strategy, and he has acted as a consultant on Council policies relating to artist pay and remuneration, and mentorship initiatives.