An evening of two complementary halves, the first part of this concert is a beautiful and thought-provoking poetry cycle by multi award-winning poet Jane Robinson, set for Jane and the Far Flung Trio by Malachy Robinson. In the second half, the Far Flung Trio will take you on a rollercoaster tour of diverse music from Paganini to Piaf, Verdi to Gershwin, reveling in their remarkable rapport and virtuosity.

‘For the Atoll’ is a poem and song cycle with texts written by Jane Robinson set to music by Malachy Robinson. The piece is concerned with arms testing at Bikini Atoll and elsewhere, compounded now by rising sea levels resulting from climate change; and engages with the challenge to imagine a more peaceful and harmonious future. Premiered online at the Killaloe Music Festival and in-person at the Red Line Book Festival in 2021, ‘For the Atoll’ is to be enjoyed equally by music and literary audiences.

The Far Flung Trio are Katherine Hunka on violin, Dermot Dunne on accordion and Malachy Robinson on double bass. The trio’s eclectic and virtuosic performances have been rapturously received at festivals all over the country; Brendan Flynn (Clifden Arts Festival) called them “crazy and beautiful”. Their joyous album Live at the Large Room was released in 2020.

Jane Robinson’s new poetry collection Island and Atoll (Salmon, 2023) includes a sequence of poems for Bikini Atoll, written in collaboration with musician-composer Malachy Robinson. Her first collection, Journey to the Sleeping Whale received the Shine-Strong Award in 2019. Other recognitions include the Strokestown International Poetry Prize. She has taught eco-poetry, most recently for the Irish Writers Centre.

Supported by the Arts Council.

“The trio’s enthusiasm and sense of enjoyment in what they were doing simply oozed from the stage and the audience loved it” – Irish Examiner