Una Keane

Úna Keane is a composer, producer & performer from Dublin. She blends piano, electronics, movement & film. A life-long musician, Úna approaches her artistic practice from 3 perspectives: theoretical, experimental & improvisational. Her use of cyclical patterns and looped motifs produces music that mines deep whilst conjuring cinematic landscape; recurring themes in her work link music, nature & science.

She has self-released 3 critically-acclaimed albums of ambient neoclassical music in the past 7 years, financed primarily through crowd-funding. Each release has been supported by an Irish tour, which she booked & promoted herself. In the past few years she has performed headline shows at Dublin’s Pepper Canister Church, The Unitarian Church, Block-T (now Flux Dublin), D-Light Studios, City Assembly House and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Most recently, she was invited to perform at The Hugh Lane Gallery as part of a special evening of music for Culture Night 2023.

Her debut piano solo album 'As I Wake, Still I Dream' was released in 2017 ("a testament to the wonderful mysteries of sound” - John Kelly, Mystery Train). The Album was conceived and composed over 3 trips to Paris between 2015 - 2016 while staying at Centre Culturel Irlandais. Recording took place at The Live Room in Dublin in 2016, co-producing with Ben Rawlins. This record speaks to the idea of how we owe who we are to all those who have gone before us : how they paved the way.

Lauren Murphy, reviewing sophomore LP ‘In the Deep’ (2019) for The Irish Times drew comparisons to the work of Ólafur Arnalds and Max Richter, citing her use of looped tracks and field recordings, while RTE 2FM's Dan Hegarty heralded it as a "stunning piece of work that will have you floating from tears to joy". Tony Clayton-Lea has named her "probably one of the best exponents of instrumental music that comes from a quiet, calm place”. Recorded in an old railway worker's cottage in Dublin 8 on her 100 year old Steck baby grand piano, the record explores themes of connection, communication & flow. 

She released live Album 'Collaborations' at the end of 2020. Recorded live at The Pepper Canister Church a week before the pandemic hit, it featured Stephen Shannon, Liam Ó'Maonlaí, Lōwli, Gareth Quinn Redmond & Ronán Conroy. Named Irish Album of the Year by Broadsheet.ie ("unforgettable ... improvisation of the highest calibre"), it garnered a glowing 8.5/10 review from Hot Press Magazine and 4 stars from The Irish Times. The concert was recorded, mixed and mastered by Adam Kilbey Johnston, and Úna & Adam co-produced. Following the warm reception to the record, a limited edition vinyl pressing of the album was released on her UKM imprint label in 2021.

In addition to composing & releasing her own music, she's also been building a portfolio of film scoring & collaborative dance commissions: 'La Petite Mort' (2019) written & directed by Michael Smiley (Kill List, The Lobster) was short-listed at Galway Film Fleadh and Film Festa Roma. In 2020 she was invited to score the music for Dance Film ‘Silvaticus’ – a 3-way collaboration between Contemporary Dancer / Choreographer Jana Castillo (AUS) & Film-maker Sinéad McDevitt (IRE). The film was subsequently premiered by Hot Press. In 2021 Úna was commissioned by Photo Museum Ireland to take part in a collaborative Audio / Visual project called 'Galleries With[out] Walls', in association with RCC Letterkenny & the Museum of CryptoArt NYC. February 2023 saw the release of 'Astraphene' - an experimental, collaborative dance film project between New York-based Film Repertory Group (John Noel & Sarah Misch), Dublin-based composer Stephen Shannon & Úna. The film was premiered by RTE Culture.

She was delighted to have Arts Council-funded project 'TIDAL' premiered as part of Royal Hospital Kilmainham's inaugural Earth Rising Festival in October 2022. From June - Oct 2022 she played 3 Solo Audio / Visual shows in Dublin: at Block T, IMMA and City Assembly House (the latter recorded and filmed with funding from Dublin City Arts Office & Department of TCAGSM). These live performances have just been released as part of her 'LIVE TAPES' Project, and are available to watch in 5 installments on her YouTube channel.

Her work has received regular airplay on RTE Radio 1, RTE 2FM, RTE Raidió na Gaeltachta, Newstalk & RTE Lyric FM.

Úna’s main focus over the past year has been on developing her practice around composition & performance through study and research. She’s been widening and deepening her artistic practice to develop both Audio & Visual aspects of her work. This time has proven to be deeply meaningful and she’s excited to bring this expanded multi-sensory approach to new projects.
.
.
.
"Beautiful music to get lost in" – The Sunday Times

"Testament to the wonderful mysteries of sound" – John Kelly

“A live release is a rarity in 2020 but the hush and rapture that Keane evokes is something to treasure in more ways than one” – The Irish Times

“Keane's magical creations knit together layer after layer of sonic soaring and swelling for an immersive live experience” – Hot Press

"Go and experience the genius that is Úna Keane. She'll take you away and hopefully you'll make it back" - Michael Smiley

“..sparse electronics and the nature theme pervading most of the album elegantly evoke at times the music of the late Mayo pianist Conor Walsh”– Spellbinding Music