University News Last updated 23 August 2024
Third-year BMus student Jemima Soper has received a bronze medal in the Senior Fiddle Slow Airs competition in the All-Ireland Fleadh, the world championships for Irish music.聽
The Fleadh is an Irish music competition run by聽Comhaltas Ceolt贸ir铆 脡ireann聽(CC脡), a non-profit organisation which aims to promote the learning and performance of聽Irish traditional music聽and聽dance聽internationally. The group has international branches in several countries.
This year鈥檚 event was held in Wexford, Ireland. To compete in the All-Ireland Fleadh, Jemima first had to pass a regional 鈥� in this case, Midlands 鈥� round and a provincial round, which was an All-Britain round held in St Helen鈥檚 this year. The final round 鈥� the All-Ireland Fleadh 鈥� sees players from across the world compete in Ireland, with Jemima bagging third place.
Jemima said: 鈥淚 was delighted to be awarded a bronze medal. The competition standard at the All-Ireland Fleadh is always extremely high, and although I鈥檝e competed a few times in under-18 competitions, this was my first time in the over-18 Slow Airs competition.鈥�
Slow Airs are instrumental interpretations of traditional Irish songs and tunes, and competitors are required to learn eight slow airs by memory for the adjudicators to select two for performance and adjudication.
Jemima is a violinist and traditional fiddler based in 探花直播 and a member of the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble. She is part of the only CC脡 branch in Wales, called Amairgin the Gael.
Jemima added: 鈥淚 was very proud to represent Wales, the Midlands region and Great Britain, especially as my wonderful Irish fiddle teacher, Mike Lease,聽passed away just before Christmas last year. I know he would have been delighted to know that his teaching led to this achievement.
鈥淐ompetitors at the All-Ireland Fleadh travel from all over the world to Ireland to compete, where there is a huge and competitive tradition of playing. This year I met players from Ireland, the UK, America and Japan.鈥�
The competition is held alongside a parade, impromptu jam sessions and performing musicians鈥攊ncluding many globally renowned and previous All-Ireland winners.
Jemima continued: 鈥淎lthough I鈥檓 studying for a classical music degree at RBC, I鈥檝e also been playing and enjoying folk music, especially Irish and Welsh traditional music since I was around eight years old.
鈥淚 was lucky enough to have a local branch of CC脡 in my hometown of Newport, South Wales.
鈥淚 also attended Welsh music residential folk music courses as a teenager. My involvement with Comhaltas led to me gaining experience playing dance music for ceilis, sessions and for competitions such as this one.
鈥淚鈥檓 about to enter my third year at RBC. Playing with the Conservatoire Folk Ensemble and attending Irish music sessions in 探花直播 have helped me to keep up with folk music during my busy classical music schedule.鈥�
According to estimates, up to 650,000 people visited Wexford over the course of the eight-day festival,聽with more than 7,000 competitors from all over the world.