James Joseph Sheridan
James Joseph (J.J.) Sheridan (September 26, 1951 in Borris-in-Ossory, County Laois–December 31, 2014 in New York City) was an Irish pianist, composer, arranger and music historian who specialized in preserving and recording Irish music.[1][2]
Education and career
Sheridan attended the Royal Irish Academy of Music where he studied piano with John O’Sullivan and Valerie Walker, as well as composition with A.J. Potter. He also attended the London College of Music.[2][3]
His compositions include "Saint Canice's Mass" (1969, published when he was only 18) and other choral works, and a huge output of piano arrangements and transcriptions of "ancient" Irish music.
He emigrated to the United States in 1980 and lived for many years in Atlanta.[3]
It was Sheridan's ambition to honor and preserve Irish music through his concert appearances and recordings. In 1988 he founded Trigon Recordings[4][5] as a vehicle for preserving Irish music, especially the works of Turlough O'Carolan, Edward Bunting, Patrick Weston Joyce and George Petrie.[3] In 2006 Sheridan released a highly praised collection of Ireland's greatest slow airs titled Soul of the Irish Piano.[3] An eight-disc set, The Complete Works Of Turlough O’Carolan, was released in 2007.[6] This was the first and still the only complete edition of all 214 pieces by the great eighteenth-century Irish harper known as “the last of the bards.”[7][8]
In 2011 Sheridan received Irish America’s Stars of the South award which honors notable Irish people in the southern United States.[9] He died in New York City on December 31. 2014.[10]
Discography
- December 2010: Edward Bunting's The Ancient Music of Ireland -- the 1840 Edition [8-cd set, 151 tracks]
- 2010: Edward Bunting's The Ancient Music of Ireland -- the 1840 Edition [Trigon, 22 tracks]
- 2007: The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland (the 1855 Edition of 147 Airs & the 1882 Edition of 40 Airs) [8-cd set, Trigon TRD 1526, 187 tracks]
- February 2007: Ancient Music of Ireland: From the Petrie Collection [Trigon, 18 tracks]
- February 2007: Piano Magic [15 tracks]
- December 2006: Soul of the Irish Piano [Trigon TRD 1522, 24 tracks]
- 2006: The Complete Works Of Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738) [8-cd set, Trigon, 214 tracks]
- August 2005: An Irish Piano Christmas [12 tracks]
- December 2004: Sydney Smith - Original Piano Compositions and Transcriptions [5 tracks]
- September 2002: The Art of Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738) [Trigon TRD 519, 15 tracks]
- August 2002: Irish Piano Memories
- May 2000: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Piano Album
- 2000: Irish Piano Classics-the RCA Sessions [Trigon TRD 511, 12 tracks]
- 1996: Romantic Piano Discoveries [Trigon TRD 515, 15 tracks]
- 1990: Greatest Hits - Irish, Classical and Broadway Selections [Trigon TRD 517, 22 tracks]
References
- ^ Sheridan, James J. : Wednesday, December 31, 2014 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Obituary Index
- ^ a b James Sheridan Obituary Reprinted from Irish Voice, January 14, 2015
- ^ a b c d Stars Of The South - 2011: J.J. Sheridan Irish America Magazine
- ^ sheridan J.J. Sheridan Piano from Atlanta, GA GigMasters
- ^ James Sheridan: President at Trigon Recordings LinkedIn
- ^ Folk music of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and America: The Complete Works of O'Carolan Published by Ossian Publications, Ireland in 1984, ISBN 0946005168
- ^ The Music of J.J. Sheridan CD Baby
- ^ The Complete Works Of Turlough O'Carolan (1670 - 1738) by J.J. Sheridan, CD Baby
- ^ 2011 Honorees Irish America’s Annual Stars of the South
- ^ The death has occurred of J. J. Sheridan RIP.ie