Malachy Robinson

Malachy Robinson is a dedicated chamber musician, as passionate about Early Music as he is about New Music. He is a founder of the Gregory Walkers, a group performing “Early Music from Ireland and beyond” in which he plays the viola da gamba, and is director of the Robinson Panoramic Quartet, a revelatory alternative to the standard string quartet. Principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1995, he is also a founder member of the Crash Ensemble and was a founder member of the Irish Baroque Orchestra. He has appeared with period-instrument orchestras such as the OAE and the Academy of Ancient Music and has performed with the Vanbrugh, Callino, Parisii, T’ang, Con Tempo and Vogler String Quartets and the Phoenix Piano Trio. His Far Flung Trio (with Katherine Hunka and Dermot Dunne) is about as much fun as three people can have in public.

He has worked closely with and premiered pieces by many Irish composers including Kevin O’Connell, Ian Wilson and Raymond Deane. His double-bass playing has been described by the Irish Times as “rich in rhetoric” with “rhythmic life” and “unassuming virtuosity” and by the Irish Examiner as “remarkable virtuosity” employing a “variety of timbres”.

2022 Festival Performances include:
Kinsella Una giga para Carlos
Deirdre Gribbin Provoked City
Deirdre Gribbin Maps of Awakening