Continuo Connect — Profile // Irlandiani Players

Irlandiani Players are a collective of historical and traditional instrumentalists, founded by Carina Drury in 2020. They explore Italian and Irish musical connections in the 18th century, and recreate this cross-genre musical exchange in their present-day performances and arrangements.

Irlandiani Players hugely enjoyed delving into Geminiani, Bocchi and O’Carolan’s music for their first album. It was released to critical acclaim in November 2020 with thanks to Arts Council of England funding. The album has been played on BBC Radio 3, RTE Lyric FM and Deutschlandfunk Radio. Carina was awarded an Arts Council Ireland Emerging Artist Grant in 2021 in order to perform the album programme live with Irlandiani Players in Dublin, and they have since toured the album programme in London, Dublin and Cork.

In 2022 Irlandiani Players were awarded a Continuo Foundation grant in order to record a new album programme which will be released in 2023. Their second album focusses in on the vibrant musical life of 18th century Dublin at the Smock Alley Theatre and it’s surrounding streets.