About

The Quiet Ones are a Irish traditional music duo based in Cork, Ireland.

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Patrick Egan (Pádraig Mac Aodhgáin)

Patrick Egan comes from County Wicklow in Ireland. He began studying the Concertina when he was 7 years old with great musician Larry Kinsella.

In 2007, he received his postgraduate degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick (Irish World Academy of Music and Dance). He teaches and plays at the oldest Irish festival, the Cooley Collins Trad Fest in Gort (Galway). In 2018 he submitted his PhD at the University of Cork, where he studied the manuscripts and musical projects of the great Irish composer Seán Ó Riada. In 2019, he resided in Washington DC where he explored Irish traditional music at the Library of Congress. Since 2020 he has been an assistant lecturer at King’s College London and University College Cork.

Nicola Stathers

Nicola Stathers comes from California and started to play Irish music and uilleann pipes when she was 12 years old.

She is a member of the legendary San Francisco Pipers Club. Her influences were Tom Creegan and Eliot Grasso, Paddy Keenan, Mick O’Brien and Maire Ni Ghrada. In 2003, she traveled to Ireland where she attended the Willie Clancy Summer School for several summers and studied with Jimmy O’Brien Moran and Nollaig Mc Carthy. In 2013, she was a finalist in the Uilleann Pipes category in the All-Ireland Fleadh musical contest.

The Quiet Ones are Formed in 2013

In 2012, Nicola was spending some time in London. Patrick was already living there, and very soon the two began sharing tunes at a number of great pubs for Irish music around the city. And so The Quiet Ones were formed.

They traveled to Ireland together and began to play quietly at festivals such as the Willie Clancy Summer School, a world renowned festival in County Clare.

They then moved to Cork in the south of Ireland and played regularly in bars off the beaten path there.

Cork 2014

Cork has such a great session scene, it became their bedrock and anchor point for four years. There were sessions every day of the week in Cork, more than enough to build the repertoire. And as the city is close to Kerry, a good few slides and polkas slipped into their shared basket of tunes! One bar in particular, the Sin É, became their regular session.

Le Bono, Brittany, France in 2014

They began to share their love of travel and music with people all over Europe as the opportunities arose. Le Bono Winter School in Brittany was one such opportunity. France is an amazing place for culture, holidays and especially FOOD! In 2014, a good friend Eddy Guilloteau invited a number of musicians to his festival in Le Bono, western France for a weekend. Patrick and Nicola went there not so much as concert performers, but as part of what they called the “craic team“. Basically, their job for the weekend was to bring good vibes with their music and conviviality …

England for Saint Patrick’s Day, 2015

In 2015, Patrick and Nicola visited some musician friends in England. They got to explore a number of towns including Rochester, Hastings, Aylesbury, Glastonbury, Stokerowe and London.

 

San Francisco, USA 2016

A trip to San Francisco in December 2016 proved to be great craic, especially the tunes at the United Irish Cultural Center. During this trip Patrick and Nicola had some great nights playing alongside some of the local musicians.

Athens, Greece in May 2018

As a duo, they’ve made many more friends along the way. In 2018, The Quiet Ones traveled to Greece for a festival of Irish traditional music.

They got to play at the James Joyce pub and met a whole bunch of enthusiastic, interesting and lovely Greek musicians, dancers and poets. They hope to continue to visit Athens, a place of high renown!

Cork City in November 2018

Back home in Cork in November 2018 Patrick and Nicola were honored to play at the opening of the poetry festival “Ó Bhéal” at the City Hall. A book launch of immigrant poetry was also launched on the night. An amazing book and well worth the read, of course an important mark to leave about the quiet immigrants who are scattered all over the Emerald Isle!

Washington DC, 2019

In 2019, they moved to the USA. The Quiet Ones lived in Washington DC, where they discovered a range of Irish music sessions, events and all sorts of Irish related activity!

Since 2020, The Quiet Ones have been based in Cork, Ireland.