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Ciara Considine: Biography

From an early age Ciara Considine was humming and harmonizing along with her older sister and brothers. She was the youngest of four children of Irish parents from Counties Clare and Galway - they'd met in London as fresh immigrants in the 1950s. Theirs was a musical family, with a whole range of instruments filling the family home in Maidstone, Kent, UK. She gained a County Scholarship to study the flute (with Nancy Strevens) and piano (with Andrew Haigh) and toured Brazil and Argentina with the Kent Youth Orchestra; she was selected to join the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, touring the US, Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. She then went to Manchester to train as a classical concert-pianist at the Royal Northern College of Music (with Helen Krizos). After getting her Bachelors Degree in Music, she went on to gain both a Masters Degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance. Meanwhile she spent 12 yrs teaching the piano, flute and singing in Manchester, inspiring many children in that time.


However, she came full-circle and returned to her cultural roots when the seed was set after hearing 'Once I Loved' sung by Rita & Sarah Keane from Co. Galway. Learning it by ear, she intrigued listeners with her untrained talent at Irish folk singing. She then taught herself the celtic harp, celtic lyre, Irish tin-whistle and Irish flute in January 2007: just four months later, she was ready to go into the studio. Learning all these songs by ear, she stripped them down to their original lyrics and melody, then harmonized and arranged them herself to draw out the individual characters of each story.


Steeped in history, these stories emerge from the wealth and beauty of Irish folk culture; the rawness of the material is never compromised as she sings each with intimacy.

Recording 'She Moved Through The Fair' Ciara and harp in studio
Recording 'Farewell My Love Remember Me' Ciara and piano in studio
Noel Rafferty recording this album "Ó Mo Chroí"Noel Rafferty MA Studios
Recording 'The Parting of Friends' Ciara and Irish flute
Practising 'Kilkelly Ireland' between takes! Ciara and harp in studio

 

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