Performance Portfolio
CloudFest Tirana 2022 and 2023 (Albania)
In 2022 I was invited by the Irish Embassy and DoArt.al to perform at CloudFest, one of Tirana’s most anticipated annual arts and culture festivals. The event takes place in The Cloud - a striking architectural landmark by Japanese designer Sou Fujimoto - which has become a symbol of contemporary creativity in Albania. My debut performance at the festival marked my first solo appearance in Albania, where I presented a set of Irish and Balkan songs accompanied by Mitchell Keely. I was invited back in 2023, this time collaborating with the Oxford-based folk ensemble Moonaroon. Together we performed a programme of Irish and English folk songs with several Albanian classics woven in, celebrating cultural exchange and audience participation in the heart of Albania’s capital.
I have performed widely across Ireland, the UK, and internationally, from intimate venues to major festivals and concert halls. My work spans solo shows, ensemble collaborations, family concerts, and community projects, alongside appearances on radio, television, and online platforms. Whether on stage, on screen, or through digital performance, I aim to bring audiences into a musical journey that bridges traditions and contemporary sounds.
Solo Performance
Manchagen Festival 2025 (UK)
Following its acclaimed editions in Malmö, Manchagen Festival came to Manchester in 2025 as one of Europe’s largest celebrations of the Eurovision Song Contest. I was honoured to be invited as a special guest for the All-Stars Concert at Cruz101, performing alongside Eurovision icons including Niamh Kavanagh, Linda Martin, and Hera Björk. My set reflected my cross-cultural approach to music — blending Irish repertoire with Balkan and Albanian influences — and resonated with an audience of dedicated Eurovision fans from across Europe. The performance underlined my connection to the Eurovision community, whose spirit of internationalism has been central to my musical journey since first discovering Albanian music through the contest.
Folklore Hoxton, 2025 (UK)
In August 2025, I joined my long-time collaborator Yijia Tu at Folklore Hoxton for the launch of her debut album Tu. I opened the evening with an intimate solo set, performing folk and popular songs in Albanian, Serbian, Greek, Roma, and Romanian. The repertoire explored themes of migration, diaspora, and longing for home — ideas I have been developing as the focus of my current songwriting project. Later in the concert, I reunited with Yijia on stage for a special collaborative performance, echoing our years of partnership as co-founders of The Sages. This evening brought together my role as both a solo artist and a collaborator, and was one of my most personal London performances to date.
GAG LDN, 2024 (UK)
My true solo debut came at Gag LDN in 2024, a concert series rooted in queer, POC, and Irish heritage. Performing in this supportive and dynamic space was a milestone moment for me as I presented a set of Irish and Albanian songs accompanied on autoharp. The concert allowed me to share the threads of identity, queerness, and tradition that run through my music with an audience who deeply value representation and cultural dialogue. The atmosphere of Gag LDN - inclusive, political, and celebratory - made this debut particularly meaningful, situating my practice firmly within a community of artists who use music as a vehicle for identity and expression.
In 2017 I co-founded The Sages with Chinese singer-songwriter Yijia Tu, while both of us were studying at SOAS, University of London. Conceived as an Irish–Chinese fusion ensemble, The Sages brought together musicians from the SOAS Chinese Silk and Bamboo Ensemble to explore what happens when musical traditions from “East” and “West” meet in dialogue. Our performances combined Irish folk song, Chinese classical music, and new original compositions, often incorporating throat singing, autoharp, hulusi, bawu, pipa, and traditional percussion.
The ensemble’s name was inspired by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove in ancient China – artists and philosophers who sought spiritual fulfilment through music, art, poetry, and fellowship. In the same spirit, The Sages aimed to create a space where cultural identities could be shared and reimagined through sound.
Ensemble Performances
The Sages - Irish/East Asian Folk Fusion Duo
Between 2017 and 2020, The Sages performed widely across the UK, appearing at venues and festivals such as Rich Mix, The Green Note, The Golden Hinde, Victorious Festival, and Asia House’s Soundmapping the New Silk Roads concert series. We were featured on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune with Katie Derham, BBC Radio 3's Music Planet with Kathryn Tickell and DJ Ritu’s A World in London on Resonance FM, and in 2018–21 were the subjects of Asia House’s docu-series One Voice, which explored musical identity and collaboration.
Our work also reached community and intercultural platforms, with appearances at the Oxford Chinese New Year Galas(2018 & 2020), Faiths in Tune Festival at the British Museum, and the SOAS Graduation Ceremonies. Alongside Yijia and myself, musicians such as Gregor Bauer regularly joined the line-up, bringing Chinese percussion and pipa to the ensemble’s sound.
Although the project is now on hiatus due to geography, its legacy continues through my ongoing collaborations with Yijia, and through recordings from our repertoire that were later released on her debut album Tu (2025).
Music has always been at the centre of my family life. My father, composer Shaun Davey, and my mother, singer Rita Connolly, have long been central figures in Irish music, and performing alongside them has been one of the most formative parts of my career.
In 2019, I joined my parents and sisters at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, for The Music of Shaun Davey with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, opening their 2019–2020 season. The concert celebrated my father’s contribution to Irish composition, and I performed harmonies throughout the programme, including a solo of The Parting Glass. I returned to the NCH in 2024 to perform with my mother at the orchestra’s St Patrick’s Day concert, sharing Irish song in one of the country’s most prestigious settings.
Other memorable family concerts include Cartlann, Ceol, Cuimhní at the University of Galway (2018), where I provided both vocals and instrumental accompaniment as part of an intergenerational performance, and appearances at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Drogheda (2019) and the O’Malley Gathering in Westport (2023). These concerts gave me the chance to connect my professional work with my roots, sharing the stage with family in celebrations of heritage, memory, and community.
Family Performances
Performing in these contexts has been more than just family tradition - it has been an opportunity to merge my research interests and global influences with the music that first shaped me.
