Boyne Valley inspiration for Holohan music

'Fields of Blue and White', the first full-length CD of music by Drogheda composer Michael Holohan, launches next week. Eminent Irish pianists John O'Conor and Thérèse Fahy will focus on a wide range of the composer's piano music. The Drogheda launch and recital on Tuesday night next, 1st June, at 8pm, will include works which have been commissioned by the National Concert Hall and the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition. The pianists will also perform piano duets and a number of pieces by Chopin, commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the Polish composer's birth. This concert, in St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda, which is being presented by Droichead Arts Centre, is also funded by the Louth County Council and the Drogheda Borough Council. Admission is €20 and the ticket price includes complimentary CD. Michael Holohan was born in Dublin in 1956 and has lived in Drogheda for the past 27 years, close to the prehistoric and early Irish Christian sites of the Boyne Valley which have been a constant source of inspiration to him as a composer. He studied music in Ireland and France. He has won numerous prizes for his compositions and his music has been performed and broadcast both in Ireland and abroad. In 1999 he was elected to Aosdana, Ireland's state- sponsored academy of creative artists.