From violinist Edwin Huizinga and guitarist William Coulter:

A few years ago, we began to explore the idea of performing concerts featuring a combination of traditional Folk music and Baroque music. Our love for this music runs deep, and it is from this love that Fire & Grace was born.

In the Fall of 2017, Fire and Grace went on a journey to perform in venues and festivals in Ireland. In addition to performing a series of concerts with our dear friend/vocalist Éilís Kennedy, we realized it would be an opportune time to capture live footage of us playing as well.

The music we wanted to share is called The Liquid Gold Suite, a fusion of 4 movements from Partita #2, by J.S. Bach, and four pieces of traditional Irish dance music. Although the Partita was composed for solo violin,  William crafted a guitar accompaniment based on the piano accompaniment of Robert Schumann. In doing so, he brought his passion for Irish dance music, and his love of classical music, to his accompaniment of Baroque dance music - and the results are, quite simply, breathtaking.

The Liquid Gold Suite has 8 short movements, played as one continuous suite of music to form a lively and expressive musical journey that moves seamlessly from Baroque to Folk... and back again.  Our goal was to capture LIVE performances of each of the 8 movements in a different venue in County Kerry, Ireland, with the music being the continuous thread that navigates the viewer/listener to each spectacular location. 

In order to make the dream of this film a reality, we knew we needed help.  It didn't take long for filmmaker Andy Zenczak, our friend and colleague, and recording engineer Collin Atkinson to commit to joining us on our adventure.

With the invaluable assistance of an experienced Irish filmmaking team (led by co-producers Paul Dolan and Jim Twomey) and a team of students from Ireland's prestigious Kerry ETB Centre, Andy was able to lead us on a 13-day filming expedition to capture the magic that is County Kerry.  From the pastoral settings of a sheep farm in the rural countryside to Kerry's crown jewel of the magnificent Killarney National Park, our team was led to some of the most spectacular settings in Ireland, where we were able to capture each movement of The Liquid Gold Suite in a uniquely magical environment.
 

From Director Andy Zenczak:

As an artist, I have identified as a musician and music producer/engineer for over 20 years.  I am fortunate to have been rewarded with the privilege to work with countless musicians in their recording processes, helping them find inspiration in the recording studio.  Now, as a filmmaker, I am at my best when I am helping to document and capture their creativity and uniqueness for all to experience - both sonically and visually.

When William first approached me with the idea of accompanying Fire & Grace to Ireland, it took an enormous amount of effort to contain myself.  I was immediately thrilled by the idea, and although I had worked with Fire & Grace previously, this would be the first time I would have the opportunity to travel with them, get to know their chemistry and camaraderie, and join them in exploring the beauty of a suite of music that I know is near and dear to their hearts.

I took the limited amount of time and resources I had to task as I set about thinking how to best capture this truly "once-in-a-lifetime" experience.

In an effort to ensure that the live recording experience would be optimal, I looked no further than my longtime assistant, recording engineer Collin Atkinson, whose perseverance and attention to detail would be an asset to our mission well beyond the scope of recorded sound.  Keeping the integrity of the recording quality was an absolute priority, and with the combination of indoor and outdoor venues we knew we had in store for us, it was important to me to have my most trusted "audio accomplice" at my side.

We knew that we needed a strong contact in Ireland to help us sort through the logistics and location scouting of a project of this magnitude from abroad, and through the help of my dear friend Cian Riordan, we were introduced to what I have since dubbed the 'dynamic duo' of filmmaking in County Kerry - Paul Dolan and Jim Twomey.

Paul and Jim (and their talented and patient assistants and students) were able to help pave the way for our team to have access to some of the most breathtaking sites we could have ever asked for as settings for this film.  From the likes of Diesert Chapel in Dingle and the awe-inspiring coastline of Slea Head to the  grand and stately Muckross House and mysterious Muckross Abbey ruins in Killarney National Park, Paul and Jim helped us carve out a path through County Kerry that would give us the variety and beauty we could only dream of being able to film in - and then proceeded to help us make this dream a reality on a daily basis. There are few words that could show our appreciation for exactly how grateful we are to the both of these men for opening their doors and their hearts to our 'dream' - and giving us what in essence was the 'key to the kingdom.'

With the help of some of Jim's very capable students at the Kerry ETB Centre, we were able to spend our 13 days in Ireland with an amazing amount of efficiency and productivity - and the results speak for themselves: over 100 hours of footage from all over County Kerry, capturing the duo of Fire & Grace playing their hearts LIVE among some of the most picturesque and stunning settings a filmmaker could ever ask for. (be sure to check our gallery at the top of the campaign for many great still images and screen captures from our adventures!)

With the help of this incredibly talented team, we captured live performances of
The Liquid Gold Suite in 8 different venues, each of them inspiring us to create a unique visual and sonic film experience to match each movement in the suite.

In addition to the mesmerizing beauty of Ireland and the inspired performances of guitar and violin captured in each of the live performances of The Liquid Gold Suite, one more exciting element came into play that succeeded in broadening the depth of the story of this film and touching the hearts of us all.

With the help of Jim Twomey, we were able to connect with several artists and craftspeople living and working in County Kerry that were moved enough by our story to help us deepen our connection with the people of Ireland and film a visual 'microstory' of their process to share alongside the music. These "microstories" promise to offer a more intimate glimpse of some of the people that live and breathe in Kerry, dedicating their lives to their passion and seizing the opportunity to collaborate with us to make this film a transcendent look at the some of Ireland 's rich history and culture. [actual screen captures below]

In this film, we want you to meet Milo O’Brien, a sheep farmer, working with his award-winning dogs, calling his herd in after a day of grazing.

We want to introduce you to the work of Mary J. Leen, a stained-glass artist who hand-crafts beautiful installations of color for churches and cathedrals throughout Ireland.

We wish to show you a glimpse of a good man named Mike O'Neil, a pub owner whose job is not only to pull a perfect pint of Guinness, but more importantly to provide a space- a space for people to gather, to share their time and to share their experiences together.

We want you to meet Sarah Fennell and young Holly Ryan, two dedicated dancers who are exploring and creating movement to music in both traditional Irish and contemporary dance.

And we want you to have a look at the work of Brian Phelan, an artisan luthier who handcrafts gorgeous violins that help bring the music of Ireland to life. 

In short, this is an artistic film that blurs the lines between live music performance, travelogue and cultural documentary, and lets the viewer steep in the culture of one of the most beautiful places on Earth - all the while being serenaded by the passion and musical brilliance that is Fire & Grace!

________________________________________________________________________________

WHERE WE ARE AT:

We emerged from Ireland with over 100 hours of raw footage to look at, listen to, organize and process.  Between still images, personal videos, drone footage and numerous musical takes captured in each of our eight locations, there is still a great deal of work to complete before this film can be released in a way that captures the magic of the experience and integrity of all of the people that have contributed time, energy and boundless resources to help us come this far (thank you!)

In order to make this film come to life, we need to pay for hundreds of hours of post production, including video editing, audio mixing, mastering color correction and final color grading.  

Enclosed below is a detailed look at the remaining process with an approximate number of hours necessary from each stage of the process:

WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT:

We learned so much from the making of this film, and we are profoundly moved by what were able to capture on film.  The combination of Baroque music and Irish Folk music recorded LIVE in the pastoral settings of County Kerry, Ireland, together with an intimate look at the passion of the artisans and craftspeople that reside there - makes for a unique visual and sonic experience that we believe is among the first of its kind to emerge from County Kerry.

We want to make something beautiful for our students, for our colleagues, for your students, for our children, and for your children. We hope to share this music and this journey to encourage possibility. We want to show that making beautiful art- and sharing music with the world- makes the world a brighter and better place.  And we want to help others realize not to give up on your dreams - for had we done that, we would not be where we're at right now, and we would NOT have had the experience we are grateful to have had.

Your contributions will go toward funding the exhaustive post-production of this film, so that the wonderful footage we captured in Ireland can be assembled into the visual story it has the potential to be.  No donation is too small.

We hope that once this film emerges that it will give you refuge for a few moments.... a bit of time with some timeless and beautiful music, a group of gifted artists and craftspeople, and the magic and splendor of Ireland.  With your generous support we will be able and ready to get into the studio to complete what promises to be a film that will serve many generations to come.

Our world is becoming more and more visual, and younger generations are learning about music and culture through film and video. We hope that our film can reach a younger audience that might not have access or exposure to our music. 

We know that there are a myriad of good causes in the world that need support. If you are unable to help us financially, please share the campaign link with anyone you know that might be interested and excited about our music and Ireland!

Thank you so much for your invaluable support!

Edwin, William and Andy - and the entire Fire and Grace team