Events
Wicklow Arts Festival 2010 invites you to Be Part of the Art from Thursday 27th to Sunday 30th May and join us in a four day celebration of culture and creativity in the capital of the county, Wicklow Town.
Festivities for this year will be officially opened on Monday May 17th when Senator David Norris will do the honour of launching the Wicklow Arts Festival 2010. Master jazz musicians, the Alex Mathias Quartet, will get the festival celebrations swinging in style for our 7th annual outing with familiar favourites and a flavour of their exciting new compositions from their latest album Goin’ Roamin’.
So, download our programme or look through our website to see which part of the art suits your taste!
Festival Launch: 6.45pm, Monday 17th May. By invite, email info@wicklowartsfestival.ie for enquiries.
Alex Mathias Quartet
“The audience was captivated by the notes of a true master musician” (Bray Arts Journal, January 2010). Since graduating as a scholarship student from the prestigious Berklee College of Music in 2006, Bray-based saxophonist Alex Mathias has established himself as a major performer on the Irish jazz scene. The Alex Mathias Quartet consists of some of Ireland’s most creative and versatile young jazz musicians (Johnny Taylor -piano, James Little -bass, and Dominic Mullan -drums). They perform for the launch of the Wicklow Arts Festival in anticipation of their upcoming album, Goin’ Roamin’, (released June 5th at Mermaid Arts Centre) which features Alex’s enthralling compositions. You can listen and download their Debut Single Goin' Roamin' at alexmathias.com or myspace.
Alex Mathias – Tenor Sax
Born in 1985, Alex Mathias has come a long way since being taught his first chords on the guitar by his father at the tender age of 8. After a short period of studying piano, Alex eventually discovered the saxophone at his school when he was 12 years old. A year later he received a scholarship to the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin where he studied for five years. At the age of 17, he attended the Berklee College Of Music (USA) Summer Program on a scholarship and during that time received another scholarship to study full time. Alex spent three years at Berklee studying performance, composition, arranging, and music therapy and received tuition from heavy weight saxophonists Joe Lovano and George Garzone among other great teachers. After graduating with a Bachelor of Music at the age of 21, Alex returned to Ireland and has since been making an impression on the Irish music scene. He has played with a variety of different groups both nationally and internationally, including The Commitments, RTE Concert Orchestra, Dublin City Jazz Orchestra, The Republic of Loose and has shared the stage with high profile musicians Claire Martin, Mary Coughlin, Shane McGowan, Dana, Johnny Logan and Amy Winehouse and has performed with many of Ireland’s leading jazz musicians. Alex is also a prolific composer and teaches jazz improvisation privately at his home in Bray.
Johnny Taylor – Piano
Johnny began studying classical piano under John Wood in his home town of London at the age of eight. Whilst living in Ireland and studying Music at TCD, from which he graduated with a First Class Honours, he increasingly turned his musical energy towards playing jazz. Although largely self-taught in this area, he has taken several jazz courses over the years including the Newpark Ensemble classes (with Tommy Halferty), two stints at the Berklee in Umbria clinics and a five-week performance program at Berklee College of Music in Boston (under Frank Carlberg and Tiger Okoshi), for which he was awarded a full scholarship. Johnny currently plays with his own trio and also as a sideman to musicians including guitarist Nigel Mooney, singer Cormac Kenevey and saxophonist Alex Mathias. He has performed with different bands in Ireland, the UK, Italy and Finland including jazz festivals in Cork and Bray, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, a tour in Helsinki and the Umbria Jazz Festival amongst other events. Johnny teaches jazz piano and theory at Walton's New School of Music and plays with various different groups and jazz musicians in Dublin and around Ireland.
Dominic Mullan – Drums
Dominic Mullan is a graduate of Newpark School of Music. He holds a Diploma is Jazz performance from the Guild Hall (London). Dominic has been working in Dublin as a professional musician for 6 years in which time he has played with many successful working bands and jazz musicians on the Irish music scene including Honor Heffernan, Richie and Hugh Buckley, Nigel Mooney and Tommy Halferty.
James Little – Bass
James Little started playing electric bass at fifteen years of age. He has studied under Brendan Sheeran, Dave Redmond, Ronan Guilfoyle, Anthony Vitty and Reggie Washington. From 2004-2006 he was a full-time student at Newpark Music Centre. In 2005 James received a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music summer performance program. James works with Lauren Kinsella and Simon Roth in the Weide Trio, a group which focuses on original compositions. He also plays in the Matthew Halpin Quartet. He has appeared on RTE television with singer Gavin Ryan. In 2008 James received his LGSMD in Jazz Performance from Trinity College, London.
