Brothers serenading Hollywood crowd

Chance has been significant in the careers of singers Owen and Moley Ó Súilleabháin, but the sons of composer and musicologist, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and Dr Nóirín Ní Riain, have had the musical schooling to take advantage of these moments.

They have entertained Steven Spielberg, Star Trek director JJ Abrams, and actor Russell Crowe. “We met Russell Crowe on the west coat of Ireland at a Richard Harris memorial,” says the younger brother, Moley.

A year later, they met Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, who were in the Burren as part of an annual tour organised by Seattle poet and speaker, David Whyte. Ní Riain is a friend of Whyte’s, so the brothers were invited to perform for the visitors. The Spielbergs were impressed. “They got to see the breadth of everything that we do, from the ancient sacred songs to the modern stuff to the more trad. We became fast friends with them, really,” says Moley.