By: Matthew Halpin, Presidential Scholar, Tenor Saxophonist, Composer and Bandleader. See Ireland Gets the Presidential Treatment for more on the Matt Halpin Group Tour of Ireland.
The past two weeks have been extremely busy for all of us, and hugely successful too. The four Dublin performances were all packed and very well received. The workshop and the two performances in Sligo also had really good numbers, especially for a Sunday and Monday night. The Headford workshop was tied in with a summer school that’s was going on at the time so there were about 30 students between the ages of 8 and 18, many of which came to the performance that night with parents and siblings. So, again the room was filled to capacity! The workshop at the Berklee International Network partner Newpark Music Centre in Dublin was attended by several of the degree students and a number of younger students who had heard about it either on the internet or from their teachers.
Pianist Christian Li, drummer Roberto Giaquinto, saxophonist/leader Matt Halpin, bassist Jared Henderson and guitarist Mike Bono on tour in Ireland.
Also, we made it up to Belfast to record in the BBC radio studios live and to do some interviews. These recordings have been broadcast several times on BBC Northern Ireland as well as on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 3. These stations are available throughout England and Ireland.