This article is from page 10 of the 2014-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
THE promise of a belated Lisdoonvarna pub crawl is bringing Oscar winning director Cynthia Wade, to North Clare this St Patrick’s Day where she will film one of the most original musical groups ever to form.
Wade, who won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2008 and was nominated for a second Oscar in 2012, is currently producing a documentary on groundbreaking American group, the Hutchins Consort.
The Hutchins Consort is the only group in the world who play violin octets – a collection of eight violintype instruments, which are each of a different size and produce a different sound.
Wade is currently working on a new documentary on the group and its founder, the late Carleen Hutchins who invented the instruments. The family of the band’s leader Joe McNally visited the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoonvarna two years ago and that prompted him to bring filming all the way to Ireland.
“When I heard of the group I sent an email to them them over in San Diego, saying that they had got me interested. The man I spoke to was Joe McNally and as luck would have it his whole family had been in the Roadhouse in Lisdoonvarna two years ago and Joe had missed the night,” said Peter Curtin of the Roadside Tavern,
“So when he decided to come over, he said it was make up for the pub crawl that he missed two years before. It’s a very exciting event. Where else in the west of Ireland would you get an Oscar winning director coming to film this incredible group on St Patrick’s Day.”
Footage from the Roadside Tavern will be used as part of Wade’s latest film, ‘Second Fiddle’, which tells the story of Carleen Hutchins. Wade has won festival accolades all over the world including at the Academy Awards, Primetime Emmys, Sundance Film Festival, Palm Springs, Aspen and the Hamptons, as well as film festival awards in Spain, Italy, Argentina and Belgium.
The Hutchins Consort will perform at the Roadside Tavern St Patrick’s Day, Monday March 17, from 2pm.