Over 60 established and emerging musicians are set to take part in a week-long festival of original live music at Theatre Royal Waterford this Easter.
Starting today (Easter Monday), 42 teenage musicians will arrive at the theatre for Jam@TheRoyal, an intensive live music experience for young creatives in partnership with Music Generation Waterford.
Many of these young musicians don’t know each other and have never played in a band before, though they’ve been playing music on their own for at least three years.
They’ll be put into bands by the Jam@TheRoyal team and spend three days rehearsing a set, working with a team of professional gigging musicians and technicians.
On Wednesday night, six brand new bands will perform on Theatre Royal’s main stage in front of a live audience.
The tunes continue throughout the week, with solo gigs in Theatre Royal’s intimate Backstage venue from some of Ireland’s critically-acclaimed, Mercury and Choice Prize-nominated artists, featuring Gemma Hayes on Thursday night and Lisa Hannigan (Damien Rice band) and Paul Noonan (BellX1) on Friday night, supported by Waterford artists Tara Ní Chinnéide (Aliens in Caves) and Naoise.
The teenage musicians will be joined by more established Waterford musicians in the theatre on Saturday afternoon for ‘In Conversation…’ a masterclass with BellX1 frontman Paul Noonan and artist manager, booking agent, tour manager and event producer Una Molloy, who runs the Dublin-based music agency Turning Pirate. Paul and Una will share their knowledge and insights about the Irish live music industry, offering advice on how to approach and work with an agent, negotiating fees and touring.
Live@The Royal will culminate with a main stage gig on Saturday night, with Gemma, Paul and Lisa presenting a collaborative new show featuring songs, stories and craic, supported by Tara and Naoise.
Theatre Royal Director Mary Boland said Live@TheRoyal, which is supported by The Arts Council, was built on an ethos of collaboration and sharing:
“The live music industry is all about meeting people, learning from the people you meet and taking it all in”, she commented.
“With Live@TheRoyal, our aim is to provide space for musicians to meet and collaborate with each other, as well as introducing younger artists to some of the most experienced gigging original artists in the country.
"The first half of the week, during Jam@TheRoyal, we will have young musicians jamming in literally every corner of our building, meeting other young artists with similar musical tastes and also benefitting from working with a team of professional musicians and technicians.
"After putting on a live gig of their own, they then get the opportunity to hear from professionals who are making their living in the Irish music industry, so all the benefits of their hard-earned wisdom is passed down to the next generation of musicians.”
Tickets for Live@TheRoyal gigs are available from www.theatreroyal.ie or call the box office on 051 874402.
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