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Gerry O\u2019Connor \u00a0is from Dundalk, Co. Louth, where he grew up in a family of musicians, dancers and singers, all taught at home by his mother, Rose. His father Peter was himself a singer whose seven uncles all played music. Rose was the doyenne of fiddle teachers, passing her skill on to hundreds of others over the next four decades, students travelling from Armagh and Dublin as well as counties Meath and Louth to learn from.<\/p>\n
From an early age Gerry was involved Irish music, winning numerous All Ireland awards in a range of duets, trios and c\u00e9il\u00ed band titles. Playing with Michael Coleman\u2019s contemporary John Joe Gardiner in the 1970s shaped Gerry’s style in the form of the fluid, lyrical fiddle-playing of the great Sligo masters. He was a step-dancer too, a grounding which complements his music,\u00a0 imbuing it with vibrancy, a pulsating rhythm for which he is noted, marking him today as one of the great fiddle players of his generation.<\/p>\n
Gerry O\u2019Connor has played and recorded\u00a0 with L\u00e1 L\u00fagh (Eithne N\u00ed Uallach\u00e1in,\u00a0Sony Music) and Skylark\u00a0 (Len Graham, Gary O\u2019Briain & M\u00e1irt\u00edn O\u2019Connor),\u00a0recording\u00a0four CDs on the Claddagh label. He has toured and recorded with members of all the legendary Traditional music ensembles, including Planxty, Bothy Band, De Danann, Boys of the Lough\u00a0and The Chieftains. \u00a0L\u00e1 Lugh’s album\u00a0Brighid\u2019s Kiss \u00a0was voted Album of the Year in 1996 by readers of Irish Music magazine, and Gerry\u2019s solo CD Journeyman was rated in the top five Albums of 2004 by The Irish Times. This critically acclaimed\u00a0 recording, co-produced with his son D\u00f3nal (At First Light), was heralded as a milestone in the recorded music of the Oriel region of\u00a0South Ulster.<\/p>\n
Gerry has also toured for more than fifteen years celebrating Irish and Breton music links with Gilles le Bigot (Barzaz, Skolvan), recording with him a live album in 2006 (In Concert). In the same period Gerry recorded and toured with The Irish Baroque Orchestra under the direction of Elizabeth Wallfisch, recording Ardee Dances, a piece commissioned from Rachel Holstead. He continued\u00a0to perform with Wallfisch in The Wandering Fiddlers project at the Wigmore Hall, Belfast, and the Brighton Early music Festival.![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tur.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/drogheda-09-trad-gerry-Oconnor-12-394x530.jpg\")
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His recording continued in 2010 with Jig Away the Donkey, an album \u00a0focusing on the music and song of South Ulster, performed with Martin Quinn and Gabriel McArdle; in that year Gerry also produced an album of Fermanagh fiddler Se\u00e1n Nugent\u2019s compositions The High Hills of Largy, featuring many of Sean\u2019s students, music friends and family. From 2005 -2010 Gerry taught Traditional Music Performance at Dundalk Institute of Technology, during which time he completed a Masters by Research on Luke Donnellan\u2019s Dance Music of Oriel. (2008) In 2011 he produced the song collection\u00a0 I Have Travelled this Country with 123 unrecorded songs of Boys of the Lough musician Cathal McConnell. His most recent project has been the 2012 album Oirialla recorded with Nuala Kennedy, Martin Quinn and Gilles le Bigot, Gerry released. Recent re-releases of his music are Cosa Gan Bhr\u00f3ga (with Desi Wilkinson and Eithne N\u00ed Uallach\u00e1in on Gael Linn) and Senex Puer (on IML).<\/p>\n
Gerry has toured too with the a cappella vocal trio White Raven led by Kathleen Dineen, with whom he has recorded and performed at European international choral festivals including RheinVocal and Merano. He is also currently touring and has recorded with the celebrated Irish-Canadian band The Irish Rovers.<\/p>\n
A four times winner of The Fiddler of Oriel competition, Gerry has lately adjudicated both it and the Gael Linn\u2019s Siansa and RAAP \/RTE sponsored Breakthrough competitions. He was co-founder and first Artistic Director of Ceol Chairlinn, an annual teaching festival in Carlingford , Co Louth. \u00a0He is also the Traditional Arts coordinator\u00a0 at the newly established Creative-Connexions Irish\/ Catalan Arts festival in Sitges, teaches fiddle at the Willie Clancy Summer School and at master-classes throughout Europe. He has been working and playing with Tiarn\u00e1n \u00d3 Duinnchin and Fintan Vallely in the Comp\u00e1nach project since 2013.<\/p>\n