Robert’s dad is the well-known local photographer Ken Finegan, whose work can be seen in The Argus every week, and Tara’s father is a visual artist.
Having crowd-funded for the EP, they decided to embrace modern technology, so not only would the music be available on streaming platforms, but listeners could use a QR which links to images provide by their fathers.
“While this EP is available on traditional streaming platforms, we are also collaborating with our fathers, who are both visual artists, by attaching QR codes with links to our music to prints of their works,” explains Robert. “Each artist has chosen two works which they feel has a strong link to the music making it a true collaboration of the arts. As both of us have grown up in these artistic households, this collaboration has personal significance and value, making it a truly exciting project.”
“As the modern age progresses, we are using CDs less and less, and streaming platforms more. This takes away the physical and emotional connection we had when we bought our first CD or Vinyl. They hope that “this collaboration will bring back this connection to music and the arts.”
The duo launched the EP in London last week and are having the Irish launch in The Oriel Centre on November 17.
“We are really looking forward to that as it will be great to have our family and friends there as a lot of the time we are playing in London and people can’t travel over.”
“The Oriel Centre is a fantastic venue and as well as the music from the EP we willb e playing a peice which John Buckley has arranged for us.”
Since graduating from the Royal College of Music, London in 2021, Robert has been carving out a name for himself as a talented young musician who is pushing out the boundaries, and has received a number of awards and bursaries which have allowed him to commission exciting new works for the saxophone.
He is equally at home playing works by contemporary composers, folk, and jazz.
Being based in London allows him to have a foot in the music scene in both Ireland and the UK and continental Europe is only a short hop away thanks to the Eurostar.
“I’m back in Ireland quite a lot. There’s definitely a good scene in Ireland and we’re very much part of it,” he says. “I’m really lucky that I get a lot of work in the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin and recently did Culture Night there.”
The Finegan-Viscardi Duo also performed in Farmleigh in September, playing some of the music from their debut EP.
“It’s a really beautiful venue and while the concert was on the night of the Ireland v South Africa came there was still a nice crowd!”
As well as performing in the duo with Tara, Robert is involved in a number of other projects. These include the ‘Paris Chapters’ project which is centred around new commissions based on works by Irish writers who lived in Paris (James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, W.B Yeats etc.) for voice, saxophone and piano.
It sees Robert Finegan, French singer Clara Barbier Serrano and British-born Chinese pianist Tia Ling, who are all passionate about Irish literature, coming together to explore the possibilities of contemporary music and the idea of having a programme that can grow over the years and be flexible to suit different audiences and spaces. This project has been presented at the Festival de Lussan, France, the Irish Embassy, London, Institut français du Royaume-Uni, London and Bloomsbury Festival 2023.
Robert has also commissoned a series of works for saxophone and electronics by Irish composers for his project ‘Modern View of Ancient Ireland’, which has been presented at the Bloomsbury Festival 2021, London, Crescent Festival of Contemporary Irish Music 2021, Wexford, and Culture Night, Dublin, 2021. In December, Robert will present this project at the World Saxophone Congress in Gran Canaria.
“I like doing a mix of everything,” says Robert.
When he’s not actually playing music, Robert can be found teaching, and of course, there’s his regular job of doing marketing for a company that represents musician.,
“I’m flat out, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he says.
