Trad music finalists vie for Ó Riada gold medal

Fifteen talented traditional musicians will take to the stage of the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork this Friday to compete in the final of the Séan Ó Riada Gold Medal Competition, broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.

Composer, musician, and broadcaster Peadar Ó Riada, who presents Cuireadh Chun Ceoil on Raidió na Gaeltachta, initiated the competition, following in the footsteps of his famous father, Seán Ó Riada, who ran a similar competition on his radio programme in the 1960s.

Now in its fourth year, the competition has a four-year cycle in terms of what family of instruments is used. For this year’s competition, the instruments are the concertina, accordion and mouth organ.