"a concertina renaissance man...with an ear for the sublime...who has continually sought out the rarely illuminated corners where the concertina thrives"
The Irish Times
"one of the leading traditional Irish musicians of his generation, among a versatile new wave"
The Journal of Music
"informed, virtuosic, and thoughtful...He is possessed of a rare combination of technical mastery, intelligent artistry, and soul"
Ellen Cranitch, RTÉ Lyric FM
Jack Talty is a traditional musician, composer, producer, and educator from Lissycasey in county Clare. As a performer Jack has travelled extensively throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, and Asia, and has contributed to over 80 albums to date as a musician, producer, composer, arranger, and engineer. A regular contributor to traditional music programmes on television and radio, Jack is also the Artistic Director of Raelach Records, a label that he founded in 2011
In 2011 Jack released the critically acclaimed Na Fir Bolg with fellow concertina player Cormac Begley on the Raelach Records label, and also formed Ensemble Ériu with double bass and flute player Neil O’ Loghlen. The band’s eponymous debut album, released by Raelach Records in October 2013 was described by Jim Carroll of The Irish Times as “one of the best Irish albums of 2013”. In January 2015, Ensemble Ériu were awarded the prestigious Gradam Comharcheol TG4 (musical collaboration award presented by Ireland's national Irish language broadcaster). Ensemble Ériu’s second album, Imbas (Ensemble Music and Raelach Records) was nominated as an Irish Times Best Traditional Album of 2016 and was described by RTÉ Culture as “stunner”. The band’s third album, Stargazer on Diatribe Records, was listed at number 3 in Songlines’ Top Essential Irish Albums of all time. Since 2013 Jack has also performed as a section leader with Dave Flynn’s Irish Memory Orchestra.
A Licentiate of the London College of Music, and a BA and BMus graduate of University College Cork, Jack has been awarded the Mary V. Hart Memorial Award, The Seán Ó Riada Memorial Award, a University College Cork Societies Guild Bene Merenti award, and a University College Cork Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann award. In 2009 Jack completed an MA in Music Technology at the Centre for Computational Musicology and Computer Music at the Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick.
In 2013 Jack was awarded the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Award by the Irish Research Council for PhD research (2018) at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, under the supervision of Dr. Aileen Dillane. The research explored the institutionalisation of Irish traditional music pedagogy in Irish higher education. Jack's most recent publication is a chapter contribution to College Music Curricula for a New Century, edited by Robin D. Moore, and published by Oxford University Press in April 2017. The chapter is entitled 'Non-Canonical Pedagogies for Non-Canonical Musics: Observations on selected Programmes in Folk, Traditional, World, and Popular Musics'.
An experienced educator, Jack has taught at numerous festivals including the Willie Clancy Summer School, the South Sligo Summer School, the Joe Mooney Summer School Drumshanbo, Meitheal, Corofin Traditional Festival, Return to Camden Town, London, New South Wales Fleadh Nua Festival Australia, Ennis Traditional Festival, Scoil Ceoil an Earraigh, Scoil Cheoil na Botha, Éigse Mrs. Crotty, The Concertina Cruinniú Miltown Malbay, Consairtín Concertina Festival Ennis, the Fleadh Nua, the Joseph Browne School of Traditional Music, Ceardlann Earraigh, and also teaches regularly on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.
In November 2016, Jack released his debut solo concertina album, In Flow on Raelach Records. In September 2018, Jack was appointed Traditional Artist in Residence at University College Cork and he is currently working on an audio-visual installation project with photographer and filmmaker Maurice Gunning as Clare Arts Office Creators in Residence at the Irish Traditional Music Archive.
In February 2019, Jack was appointed as research consultant with Trad Ireland / Traid Éireann, a new entity founded by Oisín MacDiarmada and Tristan Rosenstock, established to promote the traditional arts throughout the island of Ireland and support practitioners through advocacy and professional development opportunities. In March 2020, the research will be presented in the form of a written report that will outline its findings and recommendations.
Jack works regularly as a peer advisor to the Arts Council of Ireland, and has contributed to the Council's Making Great Art Work 2020 - 22 strategy, and he has acted as a consultant on Council policies relating to artist pay and remuneration, and mentorship initiatives.