Méav Ní Mhaolchatha - Sweet Sorrow Album Launch Concert

Méav celebrates the launch of her new album Sweet Sorrow with a special concert at the Whyte Hall, RIAM

Sweet Sorrow features ten original songs written by Grammy-nominated Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and multi-award-winning film composer Stephen Rennicks.

This song collection brings Méav's distinctive blend of Irish traditional and classical influences into conversation with Stephen's acclaimed contemporary minimalist writing, creating a deeply personal musical landscape. Following recent taster performances of her new music at Summer festivals which brought many audience members to tears, Méav’s crystalline vocals will guide the audience through this meditation on grief, memory and consolation in an intimate concert featuring strings, piano and layered vocals that bring the soundworld of Sweet Sorrow to life.

Although they grew up only a short distance from one another in Dublin, Méav and Stephen did not meet until 2023. Their musical backgrounds could hardly have been more different. Méav was raised in an Irish-speaking household immersed in traditional music while studying classical voice, harp and piano. Stephen grew up singing Protestant Baptist hymns before discovering punk rock as a founding member of The Prunes, later becoming one of Ireland's most celebrated film composers.

Their paths eventually converged through the remarkable success of The Quiet Girl. Stephen composed the film's acclaimed score, while the film's young star, Catherine Clinch - Méav's daughter - received the IFTA Award for Best Actress. Stephen was honoured with the IFTA for Best Original Score that same evening. Introduced through mutual friends, the two musicians quickly discovered a shared artistic language.

A Christmas concert given by Méav in RIAM's Whyte Hall later that year became the catalyst for a series of conversations about music, loss and the enduring power of song. Both had recently experienced profound personal bereavements and found themselves drawn to the idea of creating music that could offer solace without sentimentality.

The result is Sweet Sorrow.

For Stephen, whose internationally acclaimed work has largely been written for film, the project marks his first collection of original songs created outside the cinema. For Méav, whose career has included worldwide success as a solo artist and as a founding member of Celtic Woman, it represents one of her most personal artistic statements to date.

Rather than writing together in the same room, much of the album emerged through an extended exchange of melodies, harmonic sketches, poems and fragments of text sent back and forth over many months. Gradually these separate ideas were woven into songs that speak quietly but powerfully about love, absence and remembrance. Stephen also performed many of the instrumental parts heard on the album, helping to shape its distinctive musical character.

The album was recorded with engineer Hugh Drumm at his Dún Laoghaire studio, where many of Stephen's celebrated film scores have been created. It was mixed in New York by Thomas Bartlett, whose collaborators include Taylor Swift, Norah Jones and The Gloaming, and mastered by Josh Bonati. 

Released by Anthem Vinyl, Sweet Sorrow is produced by Méav Ní Mhaolchatha and Stephen Rennicks. All songs are published by Juliet Martin at Silverstream Music.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Méav Ní Mhaolchatha

Méav is one of Ireland's most celebrated vocalists, known internationally for her luminous voice and distinctive interpretations of Irish traditional and classical repertoire. Following early work with Chamber Choir Ireland and Anúna, she enjoyed international success as a solo recording artist before becoming a founding member of Celtic Woman, whose recordings have sold more than ten million albums worldwide and earned six Billboard World Music Artist of the Year awards.

A Grammy nominee as both performer and composer, Méav has toured internationally with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Riverdance, appeared as a soloist in Carnegie Hall, and continues to collaborate across Ireland's classical, traditional and contemporary music communities. Recent performances include Sounds from a Safe Harbour festival, the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival, Kilkenny Arts Festival and Martin Hayes' Masters of Tradition Festival.

Stephen Rennicks

Stephen Rennicks is one of Europe's leading film composers. His long creative partnership with director Lenny Abrahamson includes the scores for Adam & Paul, Garage, Frank, the Academy Award-nominated Room, and the television phenomenon Normal People. His other work includes Boy Eats Girl, The Little Stranger, Rosie and the Oscar-nominated Irish-language film The Quiet Girl. Known for his understated, emotionally resonant musical language, Sweet Sorrow marks his first non-soundtrack album of original songs.

Presented by SoSimpatico