Ballina Fringe Festival looks to shine a light on Mayo born artists or creatives with a local connection. For that reason we’re delighted to screen a new film Conor Walsh: Selected Piano Works, a celebration of the Swinford musician, who died tragically at the age of 36. The film is directed by Keith Walsh and produced by Enniscrone native, Jill Beardsworth.

The director Keith Walsh will also do a Q&A after the screening.

Conor Walsh was a minimalist composer from Swinford, Co. Mayo. He drew inspiration largely from the wild Mayo landscapes. As a keen fisherman along the River Moy in Mayo and Lough Corrib in Galway, Conor would take note of his surroundings, introducing these dramatic scenes into his deeply expressive melodies. He died tragically of a heart attack at the age of 36.

It was at home on a 100 year old piano that Conor began his early compositions. These compositions drew from a variety of genres that span Minimalist to IDM, Chopin to Tool and have been likened to the music of Hauschka, Aphex Twin, Nils Frahm and Philip Glass.

A well regarded live performer – Conor performed at major festivals including Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, Another Love Story, and Other Voices in Dingle and Derry. He also opened for Hozier on a sold out Irish tour in Waterford, Cork and Limerick in 2013.

His minimalist piano compositions have been described as ‘meticulously crafted’ and ‘genuinely spellbinding’. His album The Lucid was released posthumously.

This film is a musical reverie that celebrates the work Conor left behind when he died tragically of a heart attack, just when his music was beginning to flow out into the world.

It pulses with the influences that went into the creation of his art – the windings of the river Moy, the human traffic of a small Mayo town, the migratory movements of swallows, a creaking 200-year-old hotel, the maternal melodies of his childhood.

The film received its premiere at the 2024 Dublin International Film Festival. 

A Reel Art Film, funded by the Arts Council.

Links

https://conorwalshmusic.com/

www.rte.ie/radio/doconone/1145635-conor-walsh-passing-through

https://conorwalsh.bandcamp.com/

Keith Walsh bio

Keith Walsh’s work has screened at over 50 festivals worldwide and picked up several awards, most recently the Torc award for his documentary Bloody Sunday 1920 (Best Historical Documentary).

His critically acclaimed When All is Ruin Once Again (2018) won best film at Kerry International Film Festival, best cinematography at the Galway Film Fleadh and was  IFTA nominated for best feature documentary in 2020. It was described as ‘a masterpiece of cinema’ by RTÉ Entertainment.

Documentaries include I Was You (2004); Children of Allah (2006) and Apples of the Golan (2012) explored the survival of a community in the Israeli occupied Syrian Golan Heights in the face of a 47 year occupation.

Other films include Analogue People in a Digital Age (2014); When All Is Ruin Once Again (2018). He has also edited and filmed for some of the country’s finest documentary makers, including Pat Collins (‘Henry Glassie: Fieldwork’ and ‘The Dance’) and Ruán Magan.

This event is presented by NCF & October Nights.
https://www.instagram.com/octobernightsfest/
We thank Mayo County Council for their support.