As part of the Creative Ireland Programme, Paul Dooley (harp) and Kseniya Rusnak (bandura) will perform a series of recitals at a number of venues throughout Co. Clare during the month of April. These events are the continuation of a successful musical collaboration undertaken by both artists almost a year ago, shortly after Kseniya arrived from Kyiv to live in Lisdoonvarna. Their repertoire comprises an eclectic selection of traditional music from Ireland and Ukraine. Their first public performances have wowed audiences at the Willie Clancy week in July 2022, and since then on the Aran Island, Newmarket (Cork) and Glór, Ennis.
Paul Dooley is one of the leading exponents of the Irish harp in its historical form and style – playing a metal-strung harp with the fingernails. He has studied the construction of the medieval Irish harp and built several instruments. Playing mostly Irish dance music, he has performed worldwide as a soloist and with some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians. He has also spent recent decades researching the music of the Robert ap Huw manuscript, the oldest collection of harp music in existence.
Kseniya Rusnak is a musician, teacher and composer from Kyiv, Ukraine. She plays the bandura – a traditional instrument of the harp family, which is also the national instrument of Ukraine. She is a founder member of the band Mosaic, an ideologist, and moderator of a number of charity art projects – ‘Music in every Heart: Children for Children’, ‘Winged Dreams’ for children with special needs. She is also curator of the ‘Constellation of Arts’ cultural project.
The events are funded by the Creative Ireland and the Clare Arts Office (Clare County Council).