Sunday 15th March 2026
Location: Rothe House & Garden
An evening of conversation and music. Get to know one of Ireland’s leading hammered dulicmer players. Live performance and audience Q&A.

An evening of conversation and music. Leading hammered dulcimer player Brian Leach will give an intimate performance of Irish traditional music, with a pre-concert talk between Brian and musicologist Oisín Quigley exploring how Ireland’s music tradition is evolved by reaching into the ancient world. Q&A with audience will follow.

Brian Leach is a multi-instrumentalist, experimental instrument maker and film composer from Cork City and one of Ireland’s most prominent hammered dulcimer players. He performs regularly as a member of Lisa O’Neill’s band, with which he has toured across three continents and has appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts (2023) and the Tommy Tiernan Show (2025). He plays both uilleann pipes and hammered dulcimer in the group MacBóchra, whose music is inspired by the folk tales of the oldest known seanchaí, Fintan mac Bóchra, and who are also collaborating with Strive Theatre to stage a bilingual theatrical production based on their music, called Goll.

Brian’s debut solo album, Dulcimer Dreams, was recently released to critical acclaim and explores the traditional Irish music repertoire on the instrument, in support of this release Brian has embarked on a national tour of Ireland, with a European leg happening later this year.

Oisin Quigley is a guitarist, composer, event manager and musicologist from Kilkenny, specialising in folk music representations in media. In 2023 he became Chair of the Irish Composers’ Collective and has since produced many workshops and concerts in collaboration with some of Ireland’s top performing artists, including: Adrian Mantu, Lina Andonovska, Anne-Marie O’Farrel, David Bremner and Sebastian Adams. He is on the board for the AKA Fringe, and as part of last year’s festival he collaborated with Cartoon Saloon on Quay Notes, a live outdoor music event which reimagined the film scores of the studio’s animated short films. He has composed music for the ConTempo Quartet, Kirkos Ensemble and Éire Guitar Duo. His latest venture, Scattered Sessions, seeks to bring musicology to the public sphere through events that blend intimate musical performances with conversations featuring leading artists.
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