Click on any of the tutor names below to read their biography.
Dance Tutors:Song Tutors:Percussion:Button Accordion:
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Fiddle Tutors:Flute Tutors:Garry Shannon Piano:Harmonic Accompaniment
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Colin Dunne
In 2008, International dancing sensation, Colin Dunne, tutored for the full two weeks of Blas 2008. Colin's agreement to join us for the full session is further evidence of his commiment to the Irish World Academy, his loyal association to the Blas Summer School and his personal attraction to tutoring on the Banks of the Shannon.
Colin Dunne is probably best known for his live and video performances in "Riverdance - The Show", and for his own critically acclaimed production of "Dancing on Dangerous Ground", for which he co-produced, choreographed and starred in with Jean Butler. See the Colin Dunne website for more information: www.colindunne.com ..>
Danny O'Mahoney
Danny O’ Mahony is a traditional button accordionist from Ballyduff in North County Kerry, recognised for his unique and virtuosic style of solo playing. In May 2011, Danny released his long awaited and highly acclaimed debut solo recording ‘In Retrospect’. This album features Danny playing alongside Patsy Broderick on piano, Cyril O’ Donoghue on bouzouki and Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh on bodhrán & bones. “In Retrospect is an instrumental fusion of generational tradition where nostalgic tones are enhanced by the innovative instrumentals of a serious talent. A debut delight” – Irish Music Magazine.
Danny presents and produces a weekly radio programme Trip to the Cottage which features Irish Traditional Music and Song for broadcast on Radio Kerry (www.radiokerry.ie). He has toured extensively in Europe, United States, Canada and Australia. Danny frequently attends festivals and summer schools as guest tutor, lecturer and performer. His current area of special interest is the music of Tom Carmody and the James Morrison Quartet.
Danny is regularly featured as a performer on RTÉ, TG4, RTÉ Radio One, Lyric FM, and Raidió na Gaeltachta. He has appeared on broadcasts such as Lyric FM’s Masters of Tradition concert series, RTÉ’s Céilí House and Forefront Productions’ Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and Geantraí. In 2009, Danny revived The Shannon Vale Céilí Band. The original band was formed in Ballyduff, Co. Kerry by fiddler Dr. Mick Sweeney in 1959. The Shannon Vale Céilí Band won the prestigious All-Ireland Senior Céilí Band title at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, in 2011.
Mel Mercier
Performer, composer, academic and teacher, Mel is Head of the School of Music and Theatre, University College Cork, where he lectures on Irish, African, Indian and Indonesian musics. He is the Director of the UCC Javanese gamelan Nyai Sekar Madu Sari.
He has performed and collaborated with pianist and composer Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin for over twenty-five years and throughout the 1980s he performed in Europe and the USA with John Cage and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (Roaratorio, Inlets, Duets). He has also performed and recorded with many of the leading Irish traditional musicians and has presented bodhrán and bones workshops in the USA and Europe for more than twenty years.
As a composer he works regularly with theatre director Deborah Warner and actor Fiona Shaw. Recent composition for the theatre includes: Sétanta (Fibín and Abbey Theatre), for which he was nominated for an Irish Times Theatre Award; School for Scandal (Barbican/Holland Festival) The East Pier/The Passing (Abbey Theatre); Mother Courage (NT London); Happy Days (NT, London/Greece/Paris/Madrid/New York/Amsterdam/Abbey Theatre).
Mel is the director of the FUAIM Music at UCC event series and a co-founder of the Cork-based, intercultural music ensemble TRASNA. He is the director of the From the Sources project and the project leader on the Henebry/O’Neill wax cylinder digitization project at UCC.
Nóirín Ní Riain
Nóirín Ní Riain is one of Ireland’s best known musicians, in one of the quietest ways possible. From a listening experience, it is obvious that the reason she is not talked about as much as she should be is because of the nature of her voice. No one who listens can stop, and all an eager fan can do is hear; hear Nóirín’s unique sound. Many’s the time people have found themselves, after a few hours of listening, with a few tears in their eyes. Her voice is beautiful, perfectly synced, limitless. Nóirín’s voice is the only such gift from God, so strong, that is can immediately hush the atmosphere around the listener and cast them into a gentle, but important stream of thought.
Nóirín has been a great force in music since the day she released her début album, ‘Seinn Aililiú’ in 1978 under the famous Gael Linn label. Some of her early recordings have recently been remastered, one of the essentials being ‘Caoineadh na Maighdine’, or ‘The Virgin’s Lament’. The first time one listens to such an album, they are guaranteed to produce a tear – the conviction in Nóirín’s voice so unique and so clear. The album’s beauty is indescribable, delicate, dríochta. One song, Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire, tells the story of the three Marys on Calvary and their lamenting conversations as they look on in disbelief and anguish: their beautiful Jesus on the cross, in pain. Following that album, many other labels have followed her journey, including recordings under CBS Records, Hummingbird Records and Sharon Shannon’s Daisy Discs with her sons Eoin and Mícheal as Amen, yet Nóirín continues to record in Glenstal Abbey, as opposed to the “stereotypical” studios that one would use as career gained foot, and Nóirín has more than gained foot.
Steve Cooney
Steve Cooney was born in Australia in 1953, and came to Ireland in 1980, where he has ancestral links with Tipperary & Cavan. He maintains his Australian links with the Aboriginal people & culture, into which he was initiated in the Northern Territory. Described by the Irish Times as a "musical polymath", he is most known for the development of an influential style of guitar accompaniment to traditional music, for which he won the National Entertainment Award in 1997. He has recorded, produced, or played on over 100 CD's of mainly traditional Irish music, including educational CD’s of Irish rhymes and stories from the West Kerry Gaeltacht. A poet and songwriter, his songs have been recorded by Mary Black among others. He is a visiting lecturer on music in a number of Irish tertiary institutions. He has developed the concept of ‘Geometric Visualisation’ - a new system of teaching music to children and is currently researching its educational potential for a PhD with SMARTlab at the School of Education in UCD, where he is an Artist in Residence. He was the founder of FACÉ (Filí, Amhránaithe, Ceoltóirí na hÉireann), an organisation supporting traditionally based musicians, singers & poets. He won the 2007 Creative Arts Award at the Fiddler’s Green Festival, Rostrevor Co.Down where Seamus Heaney wrote: ‘Master Cooney restores the ancient link between lyre and lyric, between poetry and performance, the rhapsody and rascality’.
Seamus Begley
Accordion player and singer Séamus Begley is one of the most popular Irish traditional musicians, coming as he does from one of the most musically acclaimed Irish families.
Seamus is the quintessential Irish musician, an eager storyteller known for his sharp wit and famous for pumping out tune after tune at all night sessions. He plays with an energy that is alarming, bringing a frisky spontaneity to his box-playing, belting out jigs, slides and polkas with rapid sprays of reckless ornamentation before making a sudden key change into a bitter-sweet air, sung or played on the accordion. His repertoire reflects his own place and his style of playing is much influenced by a now gone generation of accordion and fiddle players who came to céilí in his family home.
Seamus’s style is unique and he is considered by many to be one of the finest players of the dance music of West Kerry and is never happier than when people are dancing to his music. Séamus divides his time between his small holding in the West Kerry Gaeltacht and travelling Ireland and the world playing music. He has toured extensively with Jim Murray, Altan, Steve Cooney and Mary Black to name but a few.
Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh
(pronounced MWI-ren Nick OWL-eve). Muireann toured and performed with various musicians and groups before joining the group Danú in 2003. In 2004 they won the BBC 2 Folk Award for "Best Group". At the same awards, the song "The County Down" by Tommy Sands that Danú had recently recorded, won "Best Song". Muireann herself won "Best Singer" at the liveireland.com Awards in 2005. Now a regular contributor to television and radio programmes at home and abroad, she featured prominently in the recent "Highland Sessions" BBC television series, celebrating the best of Irish and Scottish traditional music and song.
Gary Shannon
Garry's music has been very influential and many of the current crop of youngsters - soloists and groups - bear his unmistakable stamp. Since beginning his recording career in the 80s, Garry has turned out a fine body of work on vinyl, cassette and C.D. as a member of various respected groups and currently with the legendary Kilfenora Band. His solo albums, the most recent entitled Punctured! have pride of place as classics in many enthusiasts’ collections. His is the first track on the definitive flute collection Wooden Flute Obsesssion of which there are 3 volumes. More on Garry at www.irishflute.ie
Alan Colfer
Originally from Waterford City, Alan Colfer is a graduate of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, where he now works as principal guitar tutor. He has played extensively throughout Ireland and Europe, and his repertoire draws influence from music the world over.
Tom Doorley
Born in 1972, Tom, from Glenageary, Co. Dublin has been playing for some years in both classical and traditional music circles, in Ireland and abroad. With lessons from Vincent Broderick and influences from many musicians including Séamus Mac Mathúna and Matt Molloy, Tom has established his own style over the years. Widely regarded amongst musicians as a master flautist, he is known for his wild and unpredictable melodic and harmonic variations and for his tenderness of treatment in playing for songs.
As a young musician himself, Tom is very aware of the knowledge and encouragement he was given whilst learning by the musicians he regarded highly, so when not on tour performing with Danú, he pursues his second love in life - teaching both classical and traditional flute to the next generation.
He's is currently teaching in DIT on the BMusPerf in Irish traditional music and the BMusED.
Iarla Ó Lionáird
Iarla Ó Lionáird (pronounced ear-lah o-linnard) was born in the West Cork gaeltacht area of Cuil Aodha in 1964. The area was rich in singers and the 12 Ó Lionáird children were no exception. Their mother taught them many traditional songs, passed down from her own mother, and her sister, Elizabeth Cronin. Iarla began performing at the tender age of 5, his first radio broadcast was at age 7, and he recorded Aisling Gheal at age 12 for the Gael Linn label. He also performed with the Cor Chuil Aodha (choir of Chuil Aodha), founded by Sean O'Riada.
Since then he has worked in radio, film and TV production, and is the lead singer for the Afro Celt Sound System. Not just a pretty voice, Iarla has a B.Ed from Carysfort College in Dublin and taught primary school for 7 years, while still maintaining a strong interest in matters musical and performing as time allowed. In 2003 he completed a MA in Ethnomusicology at the University of Limerick.
Francis Ward
Francis plays piano with Éalú, and contributes to the arrangement and composition of tracks. Francis is a one of Ireland’s most dynamic young piano players. He has performed all over the globe, at music festivals including Celtic Connections and the Tønder Festival, and provided musical accompaniment for all major Irish dance competitions including the World Irish Dance Championships.
In addition to performing with Éalú, Francis current performance activities include playing with bands Ciorras and the Five Counties Céilí Band (Awbeg Ceili Band). Francis has several national TV appearances to his credit including a performance with Ireland’s most vibrant young ceili band, The Five Counties Ceili Band, at the Rose of Tralee festival, as well as on RTE’s programme showcasing young Irish traditional musicians, ‘The Reel Deal’.
Francis is also a gifted arranger and composer and his talent is in much demand by traditional musicians and Irish dance companies alike. His compositions are recorded and performed regularly in the Irish music and dance worlds.
Derek Hickey
Derek Hickey hails from Adare, Co. Limerick. Both his grandfathers played fiddle and his own musical career began at ten years of age when his uncle left an accordion in the family home. Derek progressed to dance tunes within weeks though he didn’t begin lessons - under the tutelage of Dónal de Barra - until he was 12.
Derek’s professional career began three years later when he joined the Shannonside Céilí Band. Formed by the Liddy family the band was particularly popular in the north of the country. It also toured extensively in England and made regular trips throughout Europe.
In 1991 Frankie Gavin asked Derek to join him for regular sessions in his then leased hotel in Kinvara, Co. Galway. One year later, at just eighteen years of age Derek joined Arcady, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonagh’s band. Frances Black, Brendan Larrisey and Patsy Broderick were also members of the band at that time and many other household names have played in the line-up including Sharon Shannon, Cathal Hayden and Gerry O’Connor.
In 1995 Derek joined the legendary De Dannan. The De Dannan sound has always been based around the interaction between Frankie Gavin’s virtuoso fiddle and the box. Other great box players in De Dannan’s colourful history have included Jackie Daly, Mairtin O’Connor and Aidan Coffey. His pairing with Gavin proved to be one of the best box and fiddle duets ever. He toured with De Dannan until they disbanded in 2003. Derek is a button accordion tutor on the BA Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy.
Seán Óg Graham
From Portglenone, Co. Antrim, Seán Óg Graham is one of Ireland’s most dynamic young button accordion players. He has achieved numerous All-Ireland titles and is also a gifted, self-taught guitarist.
He has several television appearances to his credit, and has appeared as guest soloist with the Irish Harp Orchestra, the Canadian Youth Orchestra and Alan Kelly’s ‘Celtic Legends’ show. He has recorded with various Irish musicians and recently he has been accompanying Solas members Winifred Horan and Mick McAuley at their ‘Serenade’ concerts in Ireland and Europe.
He is also a talented composer and a wide range of influences is evident in his music writing. Seán Óg is a graduate of the Limerick based Irish World Academy of Music.
Mats Melin
Swedish born Traditional Dancer, Choreographer and Researcher Mats Melin has worked professionally with dance in Scotland since 1995. He has been engaged in freelance work nationally and internationally as well as having been Traditional Dancer in Residence for 4 Local Authorities. Mats co-started the dynamic Scottish performance group ‘Dannsa’ in 1999 and have been commissioned to choreograph for the Northlands and St Magnus Festivals. Mats was a former member of the Scottish Arts Council's Dance Committee. In 2005 Mats graduated with first class honours the Master of Arts degree in Ethnochoreology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick, Ireland. He is currently working as a dance teacher and lecturer at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.
Dr. Orfhlaith Ni Bhriain
Dr. Orfhlaith Ni Bhriain is a registered Irish Dance teacher T.C.R.G. and adjudicator A.D.C..R.G. with An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha. She has travelled extensively to workshops and Step Dance Competitions throughout Europe and North America as a tutor from the renowned Scoil Rince Ui Ruairc and dance accompanist.
In 1998 she completed a Masters in Ethnochoreology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. Orfhlaith is Dance Co-ordinator on the BA Irish Music and Dance at The University of Limerick and also worked as assistant lecturer in Dance in the Physical Education Department, Mary Immaculate College , Limerick. In 2010 Orfhlaith completed her doctoral thesis at the University of Limerick. Her research interests include, Irish Dance among the Diaspora and examining creative processes in the context of Competitive Irish Solo Step Dance.
Recently she completed a residency at Williams College MA where she was employed as guest artist in dance. During her residency there, she also gave workshops in Irish dance at the American Colleges Dance Festival in Plymouth New Hampshire.
Dr. Catherine Foley
Catherine Foley designed and is course director of both the MA in Ethnochoreology and the MA in Irish Traditional Dance Performance (one of the two streams of dance performance within the MA in Dance Performance), at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. She is also the director of Trath na gCos, an annual festival of traditional dance which records and contextually explores the diversity within Irish traditional dance practices; and is dance consultant for Blas the international summer school in Irish traditional music and dance at the centre. She has published internationally while continuing to perform.
Catherine is a native of Cork city whose upbringing was steeped in Irish traditional music and dance. She is a qualified Irish step-dance teacher (T.C.R.G.), and also holds a B.Mus. and a H.Dip. in Education from University College, Cork. Her Ph.D. thesis on Irish Traditional Step-dance in North Kerry, was the first on the topic in the world and this she completed at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, London. For six years Catherine taught music and Gaeilge in Baile Mhuirne, the west Cork Gaeltacht; she worked as a collector of Irish traditional music, songs, and step-dances for Muckross House Folk Museum, Killarney, Co. Kerry; and is an Associate of LAMDA in acting. Together with her academic work in Ethnochoreology, Catherine is a performer and a choreographer of Irish step-dance, and a musician.
Breandán de Gallaí
Breandán de Gallaí is a professional Irish dancer, who is most famous for his lead role in the famed Riverdance show. Born into a family of seven, by his father Gearóid who's from Belfast and mother Nellie, originally from Gaoth Dobhair. In 1987 he went to the USA and joined the Gus Giordano's dance academy and there he studied Ballet, Jazz, Modern and Tap dancing. Back in Dublin, Ireland he worked as a teacher teaching Applied Physics and Irish after completing a four year degree at Dublin City University. He was first picked by Michael Flatley to join Riverdance for the interval of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest. In the meantime de Gallaí set up his own dance company called Dualta with few other friends. In 1998 de Gallaí took the lead role in Riverdance and has been honoured to perform for and to meet the late King Hussein of Jordan, the Emperor of Japan, the Crown Prince of Japan, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Queen Sonja of Norway and Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. He states Vaslav Nijinski as one of his biggest influences. Breandán has completed Balor, a 90 minute contemporary Irish dance show to music composed by Joe Csibi. A former artist-in-residence at the Irish World Academy, Breandan is now one of the first students of the new PhD Arts Practice programme at the Academy, along with singer Iarla O Lionaird, musician Michelle Mulcahy and singer Sharon Lyons.
Niall Keegan (Flute)
Niall Keegan was born in the south east of England and began playing Irish traditional flute at an early age amongst the community of first and second generation musicians in and around London.
In 1990 Niall began studying under Dr Mícheál Ó Súileabháin for a Masters degree which he completed in 1992 with the submission of a thesis entitled The Words of Traditional Flute Style.
Since moving to Ireland Niall has performed extensively throughout the country and abroad in a variety of contexts and venues, including the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican, Project Arts Centre in Dublin, the University of Limerick Concert Hall, The National Concert Hall in Dublin, The Waterfront Hall in Belfast and the Galway Arts Centre. Niall’s solo recording, Don’t Touch the Elk, was released in June 1999 on his own independent label.
Niall is the course director of the MA Irish Traditional Music Performanceat the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick.
https://www.ul.ie/~iwmc/research/niallbio.html
John Carty
John Carty is one of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians having been awarded the Irish Television station, TG4’s Traditional Musician of the Year in 2003. He joins previous acclaimed winners Matt Molloy (Chieftains flautist), Tommy Peoples (Master Fiddler), Mary Bergin (whistle player, Dordan), Máire Ní Chathasaigh (Harpist) and Paddy Keenan (Uilleann Piper), all of whom are considered to be the leading exponents of their instruments within the Irish tradition.
Carty already has three solo fiddle albums, two banjo albums, two group albums and a sprinkling of recorded tenor guitar and flute music recordings under his belt so it's little wonder he should have joined such elusive ranks. John is a tutor at the Irish World Academy.
Martin Hayes
Martin Hayes’ accomplishments extend far and wide, both artistically and geographically. He has been an All-Ireland fiddle champion six times over, and has taken home a National Entertainment Award, the Irish equivalent to the "Grammy."
Born in Ireland and now residing in Seattle, Martin plays in the slow, lyrical style of his native East County Clare. He grew up playing traditional music with his father, P.J. Hayes, leader of the famed Tulla Ceili Band. The younger fiddler has a great reverence for the old players, whose music contains the longing and essence that moves you at the level of your soul. Martin brings that same depth to his own playing, rendering it unique with passion and intimacy.
(Extracts from the official Martin Hayes website: www.martinhayes.com)
Donal Lunny
Donal Lunny is an Artist-in-Residence at the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick. He is the first traditional music-linked member of the Irish Arts Council-sponsored Aosdána and has been a central thread in the tapestry of Irish traditional music in its most creative interactive modes over a generation. He was was born in Tullamore Co Offaly before moving to Newbridge, County Kildare. In 1971, he was one of the founding members of Planxty, for whom he wrote the countermelodies and arranged harmonic structures and chord patterns for guitar and harmonium. He also played bouzouki, guitar, keyboards and bodhráns on all Planxty's recordings. 'Planxty' recorded three albums in the period 1971-1973 and redefined traditional Irish music. Their albums included 'Cold Blow and the Rainy Night' and 'The Well below the Valley'. In 1975, he joined the Bothy Band, producing four albums in four years including 'Out of the Wind and in to the Sun' and 'After Hours'. In 1980, Planxty reformed and Donal produced the three resulting albums before finally forming Moving Hearts with some of his former Planxty band-mates. Moving Hearts', who were responsible for such albums as 'Dark End of the Street' and 'The Storm,' were a hybrid, incorporating contemporary folk music, jazz and other influences with elements of rock. Donal has also composed for stage and television including the soundtrack for 'Eat the Peach' (1985) and 'This is my Father' (1997) and the opening title music for the series 'Bringing it all Back Home' (1991) and 'River of Sound' (1997). In 1996 he won the IRMA Producer of the Year award and in 1998, the National Entertainment Award.
His residency at the Irish World Academy to date has included an intensive week-long workshop at the Blas Summer School in July 2009 and 2010. He has also worked intensively with students of the Academy’s BA and MA Irish Traditional Music Performance as part of this year-long residency.
Sandra Joyce
A native of Tuam, Co. Galway, I am a graduate of University College, Cork. I am currently finishing my PhD at the University of Limerick under the joint supervision of Professor Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, University of Limerick and Dr. Paul Everett, University College, Cork. The subject of my research is Turlough O' Carolan, the late seventeenth- / early eighteenth-century blind harper / composer. (I have been asked to contribute a paper entitled "An Introduction to O' Carolan's Music in Eighteenth-Century Printed Collections", to the forthcoming publication Proceedings of the Maynooth International Conference, 1995, due to be published early 1996). I have also done some research on the ballad and ballad singing in Ireland, especially among the travelling people of my own home area, and this is of great importance to me.
I have taught and continue to teach extensively in a variety of capacities. I am currently involved in the teaching of an Irish Music Studies course at the University of Limerick, which is aimed primarily at Study Abroad American students and Erasmus students. I also teach ear / notation classes at Maoin Cheoil an Chláir , based in Ennis, Co. Clare, a music school which equally recognises and promotes Irish music and European classical music.
However, my first love is Irish traditional music and singing. My main instrument is the bodhrán, and I play mostly with the innovative flute player Niall Keegan . I am also a singer of traditional songs in the English language.
Sandra is the Course Director of the MA Irish Traditional Music Performance
Siobhán Peoples
Siobhán Peoples is a mighty fiddle player, and a highlight of a trip to Ennis for many a musical tourist has long been the chance to hear her play in a session around town. With the recent release of a duet album with accordion player Murty Ryan, Time On Our Hands, many more people will have the pleasure of hearing her play. She is also a strong argument for a gene of musical talent that’s yet to be found on the DNA maps: her father, of course, is the legendary Tommy Peoples, and her grandmother on her mother’s side was Kitty Linnane, the piano player with the storied Kilfenora Ceili Band. For all that one might expect a certain quest for fame, or sense of self-importance, but Siobhán is interested only in the music. In here own words, she’s “mad for it.”
She may be a Clarewoman but Siobhan Peoples is also heir to a peerless Donegal fiddling tradition. The precision and intricacy of her performance of both Clare and Northern music has made her one of our most sought-after fiddlers. She has carved a niche as an outstanding performer and teacher. Siobhan presently lives and plays music in Ennis. There is a huge catalogue of recordings by Siobhan, the most recent being Time on our hands, a collaboration with box-player Murty Ryan. Siobhan is a fiddle tutor on the BA Irish Music and Dance at the Irish World Academy.
Ernestine Healy
Ernestine hails from County Mayo. From an early age she was surrounded by music. A qualified secondary school teacher, she is presently working as a lecturer in the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, in the University of Limerick. Having occupied the position of Acting Course Director on the Graduate Diploma in Music Education postgrad programme during 2008/09, she is now lecturing on the BA in Irish Music and Dance undergraduate programme.
Ernestine is an internationally recognized concertina player, as well as a tutor and producer on the Irish musical scene. She has been engaged for events such as the ‘Milwaukee Irish Music Festival’, workshops in Germany, ‘Tocane’ in France, ‘Scoil Eigse’ as part of the All Ireland Fleadh, ‘Eigse Mrs.Crotty’ in Kilrush, Co Clare, Corofin Traditional Festival, as well as numerous other festivals & workshops around Ireland, Europe & America. Ernestine is a regular performer on both local and national radio, and has made numerous TV appearances including ‘The Fleadh Programme’ & ‘The Reel Deal’ (2009 Broadcast).
In addition to being an engaging performer and teacher, Ernestine’s portfolio also extends to research on Irish traditional music, Composition & Music Education for which she was duly awarded a First class Masters degree from the University of Limerick in 2008.
She is also a well-known composer of traditional Irish music in Ireland, with compositions featuring on numerous albums. In 2004 along with a school colleague, she composed and scripted her first musical based on the children’s story ‘The Wind in the Willows’. After completing her Masters in 2008, she scored her first suite ‘The Meitheal Suite’ which was performed by a 100 strong orchestra of Traditional Musicians as part of the Meitheal Summer school week subsequently followed by a performance in the National Concert Hall in Dublin. Ernestine is currently working on a recording project utilizing numerous of her compositions and arrangements for traditional music with string, brass & percussion ensembles, along with recording an album with her band ‘The Attic Jacks’.
Having worked as the Director of Meitheal Residential Summer School since its inauguration in 2004, she was appointed the Director of Blas International Summer School for Traditional Music and Dance in January 2010.
Dennis Cahill
Dennis Cahill is a master guitarist, a native of Chicago born to parents from the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. He studied at the city’s prestigious Music College before becoming an active member of the local music scene. Cahill’s spare, essential accompaniment to Martin Hayes’ fiddle is acknowledged as a major breakthrough for guitar in the Irish tradition. In addition to his work with Martin, Dennis has performed with such renowned fiddlers as Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers and Kevin Burke, as well as many Irish musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. He is a sought after producer for musical artists whom he records in his own Chicago studio and is also an accomplished photographer.
Majella Bartley (Flute, Tin Whistle)
All Ireland champion flute player, Majella Bartley, hails from Corcaghan in Co. Monaghan. She is a respected flute and fiddle teacher, tutoring at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance as well as at national and international summer schools and workshops such as Scoil Egise, Fiddle Festival of Wales, Kilenny Celtic Festival. She holds the TTCT traditional music teaching diploma awarded by Comhaltas and is also a qualified adjudicator and has adjudicated many competitions including the all-Ireland fleadh. She has toured with Comhaltas in Britain and Ireland in 1995 and 1997 respectively and has travelled America, Germany, France, Cyprus, Finland and Belgium playing at various festivals and events. Majella holds a Masters in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the University of Limerick.
Matt Cranitch
Matt Cranitch is renowned as a fiddle-player and teacher, both at home in Ireland and abroad. He has performed extensively at concerts and festivals, on radio and television, and has presented lectures, master-classes and workshops on various aspects of Irish music. He has won All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles, as well as The Fiddler of Dooney and Oireachtas Crotty Cup. Author of The Irish Fiddle Book, first published in 1988 and now in its fourth edition, he has also contributed to other books on Irish traditional music. He has made various albums including three with Sliabh Notes, in addition to �istigh Seal which consists entirely of slow airs. His most recent recording is The Living Stream with Jackie Daly. He is an authority on the music of Sliabh Luachra, and received a PhD from the University of Limerick for his study on the fiddle-playing tradition of this region. A long-time consultant for the Geantra� series on TG4, he is also an advisor to the Arts Council Deis scheme for the traditional arts, and has served on the board of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (2007–2010). In 2003, he received the Hall of Fame Award from University College Cork where he currently teaches a number of courses in Irish traditional music.
Ciaran Coughlan
From Roscrea in Co Tipperary, Ciaran Coughlan is piano player with acclaimed traditional group North Cregg. He completed a B.A. in Music at U.C.C. in 1991. Coughlan's distinctive syncopated accompaniment approach is rooted in ragtime, rock 'n' roll, similar to the Cape Breton accompaniment style. He has an MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance from the Irish World Academy and is now a regular piano tutor at the University of Limerick.
Jim Higgins
Jim hails from Renmore in Galway. Born into a musical family, he went on to study music in University College Cork under Micheal O Suilleabhain amongst others. While in Cork, Jim caught ‘the bodhran bug’, playing alongside players such as Mel Mercier, Colm Murphy and Frank Torpey. During this period Jim was an active member of ‘The Stunning’ rock band playing trumpet and keyboards as well as percussion. He went on to play drums with fellow Galwegians ‘The Sawdoctors’ following a four year stint with ‘The Riverdance Show’ which took him around the world.
He is an honorary member of the Donegal based traditional group ‘Altan’ having recorded and toured extensively with them for the last fifteen years from the Hollywood Bowl to the Sydney Opera House. He has recorded and performed with such luminaries as Paul Brady, Christy Moore, Liam O’Flynn, Donal Lunny, Bill Whelan, Martin O’Connor and Lunasa. Jim also specializes in ethnic percussion encompassing the djembe, the darabukkas, the dumbeq and the mbira.
Aileen Dillane
Flute and piano player with interests in ethnomusicological theory and practice, critical and cultural studies and traditional, ethnic, and popluar musics of Ireland, USA and Australia.
- Undergrad: B. Mus, University College Cork
- MA thesis: The Ivory Bridge: The Introduction of Piano Accompaniment to 78rmp recordings or Irish Traditional Music in America, 1910-1945 (UL 2000)
- PhD thesis: Sound Tracts, Songlines, and Soft Repertoires: Irish Music Performance and the City of Chicago. (University of Chicago 2009)
- Fulbright Scholar and Century Fellowship recipient
- Ethno Editor on the Journal for the Society of Music in Ireland.
- Lecturer on of the BA in Irish Traditional Music and Dance
- Currently vamping with the Templeglantine Ceili Band (Munster champions).
- Learning the trad bouzouki, doing a little song-writing (with guitar) re-engaging with classical music repertoire on piano.
- Avid sci-fi fan, interested in all things green (sustainable living), eclectic reader, listens to trad, techno, ambient, singer-songwriter, pop, art music, some jazz�
Kevin Crawford
Born in Birmingham, England, Kevin Crawford’s early life was one long journey into Irish music and Co. Clare, to where he eventually moved while in his 20’s.
He was a member of Moving Cloud, the Clare-based band who recorded such critically-acclaimed albums as Moving Cloud and Foxglove, and he also recorded with Grianán, Raise The Rafters, Joe Derrane and Sean Tyrrell and appears on the 1994 recording The Sanctuary Sessions.
Kevin now tours the world with Ireland’s cutting edge traditional band, Lúnasa, called by some the “Bothy Band of the 21st Century,” with six ground breaking albums to their credit; Lúnasa, Otherworld, The Merry Sisters of Fate, Redwood, The Kinnity Sessions and Sé.
A virtuoso flute player, Kevin has also recorded two solo albums, D’Flute Album and the more recent In Good Company.
Read more: https://www.myspace.com/kevincrawfordlunasa
Michael Ryan
Michael Ryan is a native of Co. Tipperary and has been teaching Irish-dancing for over 20 years throughout Waterford, Cork and Tipperary. There are 400 pupils currently in his school, which is recognised internationally as one of the premier Irish-dancing schools. Competitive solo dance is taught as well as the traditions of figure and ceilí dance. Pupils have won Championship titles in such competitions as All-Ireland, Munster, Great Britain, British Nationals, All-Scotland, and of course the World Championships. His classes are well-known for the extremely high standards that they set, and students train hard to achieve their fullest potentials.
These standards are also expected in his classes in the University of Limerick, where he is a tutor of the B.A. and M.A. programme in The Irish Academy of Music and Dance. When not in class in Ireland, he is often invited to teach dance workshops in Australia, Canada and the U.S.A.
Michael is also well-known for his part in the choreography of such well-known shows as Ragús, Flames of the Dance, Draíocht, as well as our own "Booley House" show. He has been involved in "The Booley House" since it's inception in 1991, treating us to more varied and intricate routines year after year. He believes in encouraging his pupils to take part in these shows, when they are not busy practising for dance championships. "Traditional shows like the Booley House lie at the heart of the living tradition of music and dance in this country, and are a great showcase for the student's talents" comments Michael. As a result, many of his former pupils have gone on to have successful dance careers in their own right.
