Jim Moray
-
Fri 30 Jan ’26
- Doors open
- 19:30
- Start
- 20:00
Chapel Arts Centre, BA1 1QR
Maz O'Connor's ace, apart from her remarkable songwriting talent, is her captivating voice
Described by The Observer as ‘a highly individual singer-songwriter’, Maz O’Connor is a truly unique artist.
From Cumbria with Irish roots, Maz is known for her haunting, emotive vocals and her poetic lyricism. Her songs are most often short stories inspired by her love of literature, folklore and mythology. She wrote her first song aged four, whilst making a ‘radio show’ with a cassette player and her older brothers, and grew up singing folk songs in her local Cumbrian venues.
Winning a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship in 2014 (once won by Adele) brought Maz to wider attention, and later that year she was nominated for a BBC Folk Award for her first album, ‘This Willowed Light’.
Maz has since released 3 further albums, toured the U.K., Europe and Canada, played live sessions on BBC Radio 2 and 3, and appeared at major U.K. festivals, including Glastonbury and WOMAD.
Her upcoming album, ‘Love it is a Killing Thing’ is a collection of her favourite folk songs re-composed, recorded live to tape. It will be released in 2026.
As a composer, Maz has written book, music & lyrics for the folk musical 'The Wife of Michael Cleary', which won the Stiles + Drewe Prize 2023 and is currently in development with DEM Productions in association with Jessie Anand.
“BBC Performing Arts Fellowship graduate Maz O’Connor is a real find, fusing influences from the past (Joni Mitchell) with those of the present (Bon Iver) to concoct a dazzling array of part electric, part-acoustically crafted folk that occasionally borders on the experimental.” (Drowned in Sound)