Malachy Robinson is a dedicated chamber musician, as passionate about Early Music as he is about New Music. Principal double-bass with the Irish Chamber Orchestra since 1995, he is also a founder member of the cutting-edge Crash Ensemble as well as appearing with period-instrument orchestras such as The Sixteen, the English Concert, the OAE and the Academy of Ancient Music. He was a founder member of the Irish Baroque Orchestra (with whom he played for ten years) and the Nuevo Tango Quartet (playing the music of Astor Piazzolla). He has performed with the Vanbrugh, Callino, Parisii, T’ang, Con Tempo and Vogler String Quartets, Daghda Dance Company, the Brian Byrne Big Band, and the cabaret diva Camille O’Sullivan. His quintet Lunfardia led by Argentinean guitarist Ariel Hernandez received four-star reviews from the press for their recordings. Regular solo double-bass performances have included many Irish premieres, including Serbian composer Zoran Eric’s concerto “Off” which he performed eight times on tour with the ICO. He has worked closely with and premiered pieces by many Irish composers including Kevin O’Connell, Judith Ring and Ian Wilson. His double-bass playing has been described by the Irish Times as “rich in rhetoric” with “rhythmic life” and “unassuming virtuosity” and by the Irish Examiner as “remarkable virtuosity” employing a “variety of timbres”. The Classical Review magazine (reviewing a recording by the EQ Ensemble) recently praised his “adroitly lowering, often exquisitely bathetic double bass” !