Seamus McGuire and Niamh Crowley (violin), Kenneth Rice, (viola), Neil Martin (cello)
The West Ocean String Quartet formed in 1999. The four members have very considerable experience across many genres of music and they display a happy disregard for where the boundaries of classical and traditional music meet. The Quartet's debut CD, Unwrapping Dreams, which appeared in the summer of 2004, was released to very considerable acclaim both in Ireland and around the globe. It won the award for Best Newcomers Album in the American Live Ireland Awards that year and a BBC television documentary on the quartet followed. Their second CD, The Guiding Moon, featuring The Chieftains' flute player Matt molloy, was released in the autumn of 2006. Their latest recording, Ae Fond Kiss, with special guest Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, was released at the end of 2009.
The quartet has performed throughout Ireland, including sell-out performances in Dublin's National Concert Hall, Belfast's Waterfront Hall, and in Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall. Their music has also taken them to USA and Paris and between stage and studio they have collaborated with, amongst others, Mary Black, Liam O’Flynn, Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, Matt Molloy, Sinead O’Connor and Brian Kennedy.
