The Delta Blues Project

David O’Rourke conductor/arranger

Anthony ‘Big A’ Sherrod voice/guitar
Jeremy Pelt trumpet
Lewis Nash drums
Caili O’Doherty piano
RTÉ Concert Orchestra

Celebrating its 75th Anniversary in 2023, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra is bringing the gritty and heartfelt sounds of Mississippi Delta Blues to this year’s UCD Festival.

A collaboration between the orchestra and US-based Irish jazz impresario David O’Rourke, The Delta Blues Project features the music of blues and blues-influenced greats including Eric Clapton, Ray Charles, BB King, Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker, and introduces some of today’s finest American jazz and blues musicians to Irish audiences.

The first half of the concert features music by the extraordinary trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, recently voted ‘Trumpeter of the Year’ by the Jazz Journalists Association, and whose latest album, The Art of Intimacy Volume 2: His Muse, shot to Number 1 in the jazz charts this year.

The second half of the concert showcases blues and blues-inspired music from the Mississippi Delta, and features blues vocalist and guitar player Anthony ‘Big A’ Sherrod, a regular performer at the legendary Ground Zero Blues Club, as well as acclaimed drummer Lewis Nash and award-winning pianist Caili O’Doherty.

Academy Award Winning Actor Morgan Freeman will serve as honorary MC to set the scene for this extraordinary musical collaboration. Freeman is co-founder and co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club, which is considered the #1 Blues Club in the World and is located in Clarksdale, Mississippi the proverbial ‘Birthplace of the Blues’.

Please note this is a seated concert with unallocated seating.

Presented in partnership with: