Mairtin O'Connor to Play Irish Arts Center This March

Legendary accordion player Máirtín O'Connor brings his remarkable trio to Irish Arts Center on March 30 for a vibrant evening of tunes that will redefine your understanding of Irish traditional music.

Drawing on elements of swing, bluegrass, and more, Máirtín's fluid accordion style blends seamlessly with the fiddle playing of Cathal Hayden, an All-Ireland champion and member of Four Men and a Dog. Rising young guitarist Patrick Doocey rounds out the trio. Born in Worcester, Massachusetts and raised in County Mayo, Patrick is an All-Ireland multi-instrumentalist who has toured with such Irish stars as Lúnasa and Sharon Shannon.

Máirtín O'Connor is from Galway, Ireland and began playing button accordion at the age of nine. Over the course of his career, he's been a member of various traditional music groups including Skylark, Midnight Well, De Dannan, and The Boys of the Lough. O'Connor was one of the major forces of the music in the world-renowned Riverdance.

Tickets for the performances start at $24 and are available by visiting www.IrishArtsCenter.org or by calling 866-811-4111. Irish Arts Center is located at 553 West 51st Street.

The trio's 2017 US tour is made possible in part by the generous support of Culture Ireland.

Founded in 1972, Irish Arts Center is a New York-based arts and cultural center dedicated to projecting a dynamic image of Ireland and Irish America for the 21st century, building community with artists and audiences of all backgrounds, forging and strengthening cross-cultural partnerships, and preserving the evolving stories and traditions of Irish culture for generations to come. Our multi-disciplinary programming is centered around three core areas: Performance - including live music, dance, theatre, film, literature, and the humanities; Exhibition - including visual arts presentations and cultural exhibitions that tell the evolving Irish story; and Education - with dozens of classes per week in Irish language, history, music, and dance.

Located in New York City, a global capital of arts and culture, Irish Arts Center serves as a dynamic platform for top emerging and established artists. Irish Arts Center is currently developing plans to construct a new facility to serve our multi-disciplinary program and will be the strongest possible gateway for artists to reach into our cultural community and nourish their work, to connect with our partner institutions who help them innovate, and to become visible in the New York City media market which enhances their ability to achieve U.S and further international success.

The New Irish Arts Center will contain a purpose-built, state-of-the-art contemporary performance space for music, dance and theatre seating up to 160; industry-standard back of house and support facilities to allow artists to achieve their vision; a second, intimate performance space - the renovated historic Irish Arts Center theatre - optimized for live music, literature, film, talks, large classes and special events; classrooms and studio space for community education programs in Irish music, dance, language, history, and the humanities, and for master classes and workshops by visiting and resident artists; technology capability to project the Irish Arts Center experience on the digital platform; an avenue-facing café lobby to engage with the neighborhood and provide a social setting for conversation and interaction between artists and audiences; a beautiful new courtyard entrance on 51st Street where the historic Irish Arts Center building and the new facility meet.