Michael Cooney

Michael Cooney has achieved recognition and is regarded as one of Ireland’s foremost exponents on the uilleann pipes and whistle. 

From a well know traditional music family in Co. Tipperary, he grew up in the heart of a revival of traditional music in Ireland.

His own vibrant style has been influenced by listening to pipers and fiddlers from many generations.

Michael’s virtuosity and the timeless universal appeal of the pipes has put in popular demand.  He has toured extensively in Europe and America, performing with many well known musicians.  He has enthralled audiences throughout his travels. 

His first CD, “A Stone’s Throw”, has met with much acclaim and he has recently released his second CD, “Just Piping”.

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Albert Alfonso
Who is this man whom Mick Moloney dubbed “The Celtic-Cuban Connection?” The Cuban part comes from his father, a Cuban immigrant. (Albert’s mom is of Haitian descent.) Albert was born in Queens, New York City in 1948. The summer of his ninth year, Albert’s family went on vacation to Miami, never to return (forcing him to abandon his third grade Irish girlfriend). Albert studied art in Miami, Boston, and Los Angeles and logically became (what else?) a decorative faux painter. Albert lived in Miami until he reached his mid-20s, when he moved to Dallas.
He has taught at Irish Arts Week in the Catskills and held workshops throughout the US and at Royal Academy of Music in London, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and P.E.I. Canada.
As America’s premier bodhrán maker, Albert continues to lead the way in innovation, taking his drums to even greater heights. They are unmatched for sound, playability and ease of tuning.  His distinctive drums can be found on the concert stage and in sessions around the world.

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Kathleen Conneely

Kathleen was born in Bedford, England to parents from Galway and Longford.  She took lessons as a child, along with her siblings, from Brendan Mulkere, a well known teacher from Co.Clare, living in London.  She was heavily influenced by her father, Michael, a well known fiddle, accordion and tin whistle player.  The Conneely home itself was often filled with music from records, tapes and live tunes with such visitors as her uncle, Willie Vernon, accordion player from Longford, and Eddie Corcoran, a tin whistle player from Gurteen, Co.Sligo.  She grew up playing music with her brother and sisters.  In the mid 80’s they visited Birmingham on a regular basis to play in the thriving sessions scene there, along with Kevin Crawford and Joe Molloy to name a few.  Kathleen spent her years from 1986 – 1993 living both in Dublin and London and was heavily involved in the very lively music scene in both cities.  In 1991, she appeared with her father and brother (Mick Sr and Jr – fiddlers), John Carty (banjo) and Roger Sherlock (flutist) on RTE’s “The Pure Drop”.  She moved to Chicago in 1993 and enjoyed sessions with Windy City musicians living there at the time, such as Liz Carroll, Martin Hayes, and Jon Williams.  She moved to Boston in 1997 and now lives in Rhode Island.  She has taught at Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in both Dublin and Boston, at the Boston College Irish Studies Program, The Catskills Irish Arts Week in E. Durham,NY, and at the Swananoa Gathering near Asheville, NC.

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Tom Clarke

As a teacher of History and Irish in Dublin from 1972 to 1988, Tom Clarke had a parallel vocation - traditional music in general and the uilleann pipes in particular. He joined Na Piobairi Uilleann in 1973 and was strongly influenced by the generation of pipers whose music went back to the 1930s and '40s - Leo Rowsome, Tommy Reck, Willie Clancy and Seamus Ennis the foremost of these - and whose era was drawing to a close. He feels immensely lucky to have met and heard these and many other older pipers during his formative piping years. In 1976 he started teaching the pipes at Na Piobairi Uilleann regularly and also each July at the Willy Clancy Summer School in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. He also travelled widely throughout Ireland and Britain, giving concerts and workshops at festivals and summer schools.
His musical connections and marriage brought him to Belfast in 1988 where he continues to teach the pipes for The Belfast Traditional Music Society. In that year also he toured Estonia with a 15-strong group of musicians and singers from all over Ireland at the invitation of the Estonian government.
In 1991 he set up the Jigtime Programme, the first full-time, curriculum-
based programme of Irish music for schoolchildren and continues to direct it.To date it has been brought to over eight hundred schools of all kinds. In 2000 Jigtime completed a joint project of eighty performances with The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (Northern Ireland) in the twelve county area of Northern Ireland and the six border counties, which was funded by Co-operation Ireland. Tom is also an active social musician and plays at concerts, festivals and sessions, on radio and television, locally and nationally. For the past ten years he has organised a pipers Tionól, a weekend of classes and sessions of piping in Belfast. He is also Music Organiser for the Belfast & District Set Dancing and Traditional Music Society at the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast.      

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Oisín ac Diaramada

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John Skelton

John Skelton is one of the leading Irish flute players in North America. He is probably best known to American audiences from his work with The House Band with whom he has recorded 7 albums on the Green Linnet label. He has also released a solo album "One at a time". He was born in London and learned his Irish music in that city before coming to live in the US several years ago. John has performed at all of the major folk festivals in Europe, North America and Australia and has give concerts in over 25 countries. He is on experienced and highly respected teacher, and has taught at summer schools in North America, Europe, and Africa. In addition to his background in Irish music, John is also well schooled in the music of Brittany He spends much time here and is a highly regarded player of the Bombarde (the Oboe like instrument of Brittany)' he was recently described as "the best bombarde player outside of Brittany" by NPR's "Thistle and Shamrock". In 1988 he was the guest soloist, playing Bombarde, with the Chicago Metropolitan Orchestra in the North American premiere of Shaun Davey's "Pilgrim Suite"

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Rodger Landes

Roger took up the bouzouki in 1981 and quickly set about learning Irish tunes, playing tenor banjo, mandolin, bodhran and uilleann pipes; as well as co-founding the popular Celtic band Scartaglen. When that group disbanded after a decade, he decided to concentrate on exploring the melodic capabilities of the bouzouki.
In 1998 and 1999, he hosted the first international gatherings devoted to the Celtic bouzouki, "ZoukFest, " in Weston, Missouri. Late in 1999 he relocated to Taos, New Mexico, where he maintains a busy schedule performing, producing, composing and organizing ZoukFest. Roger appeared in and contributed to the soundtrack of the 1999 film Ride with the Devil, directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). He has appeared on the National Public Radio shows Mountain Stage and A Prairie Home Companion. In April 2001, his music was featured in a PBS documentary, Last Stand of the Tallgrass Prairie. In October 2002, Roger joined Galician piper and Chieftains alumn Carlos Nuñez in his first US tour, and in December of that year he toured in a trio with Irish fiddle phenom Frankie Gavin (De Dannan) and harmonica virtuoso Rick Epping (Pumpkinhead). In April of 2004 he had the pleasure of accompanying legendary Irish fiddler Tommy Peoples (Bothy Band) for a week of concerts during Tommy’s first visit to New Mexico.

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Grainne Hambly

Gráinne comes from County Mayo in the west of Ireland, and is a music graduate of Queen's University Belfast. She began to play traditional Irish music on tin whistle at an early age, before turning to the concertina and later the harp.
Over the past few years, Gráinne has toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States. She is also a qualified teacher of traditional Irish music and is in great demand at summer schools and festivals both in Ireland and abroad.

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Clodagh and Sean Ryan

Clodagh Ryan (née Boylan) grew up in County Derry and began to play music at an early age along with her three brothers and three sisters.  Clodagh has won multiple All-Ireland solo and group awards on fiddle, concertina and piano in Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, Slogadh and Scor na nÓg competitions in Ireland.  In 1987, Clodagh and members of her family formed the Gleann an Iolair ceili band, which is in high demand on the Irish set dancing circuit.  Following her move from Derry to Dublin in 1993, Clodagh took part in Comhaltas (CCE) tours of Britain, North America and Australia.  She joined the traditional Irish band “Providence” in early 2000, with whom she toured extensively in Europe and the US.  Clodagh’s fiddle playing is featured on four CDs:
1994 – Echoes of Erin, CCE  Tour of North America
1996 – The Derry Boat, Gleann an Iolair Ceili Band
1997 – Echoes of Erin, CCE Tour of Australia
2001 – A Fig For A Kiss, Providence

Born and raised in Chicago, Sean began playing the tin whistle and flute at the age of six, progressing to the uilleann pipes at the age of 15.  He studied under Dublin piper Mick O’Brien for several years, and also credits Chicago piping legend Joe Shannon (1920 – 2004) as a major influence on his piping.  He has won multiple All-Ireland awards on all three instruments and has featured in many festivals and productions throughout the United States and Europe.  In 2000, Sean performed on Broadway with the Trinity Irish Dance Company.  He has been a soloist on the uilleann pipes at Chicago’s Symphony Center on several occasions.
While living in Dublin, Ireland, from April 2001 to November 2002, Sean and Clodagh were members of the Na Comharsanna Ceili Band.  They are currently members of the Broken Pledge Ceili Band and Errigal, a traditional Irish band they founded in 2002.   Sean and Clodagh, proud parents of Orla, Liam and Fiona, teach traditional Irish music to children in their spare time.

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Benedict Koehler

Born in Boston, Benedict grew up listening to recordings of Irish music sent over by his mother’s family in Dublin.  He took up the pipes in his twenties and has listened to and learned from a wide range of the older players.  Particularly strong influences are the musical tradition of East Galway and the piping of Liam Flynn and Seamus Ennis.  Known as an insightful and generous teacher,  Benedict is talented performer as well.  He lives in Vermont with his wife, Hilari Farrington, where he works in association with David Quinn making and restoring uilleann pipes. 

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John McEvoy

John was born in Birmingham to parents who had emigrated from Co. Roscommon in the 1940’s.   He turned to the fiddle at an early age and became active in the music scene in Birmingham at a time when the Birmingham Ceili Band was in its heyday.  One of his early teachers was Paddy Ryan and he later studies with Brendan McGlinchey and Brendan Mulvihill who were both in Birmingham at that time.  He later moved to Dublin where he became a fixture in “Thursday Night Club” as wel as being a member of Bakerswell and Kelp, both well known band of that time.

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Patsy O'Brien

A Cork native, now based in Minnesota, Patsy has toured nationally with Teada, Cathie Ryan and Paddy Keenan among others, and his award-winning songwriting skills have prompted one music critic to describe him as "Ireland's best kept secret".
As well as supplying the driving guitar rhythms on Irish/World Music diva Eileen Ivers' last European tour, and frequently treading the boards and collaborating with Piping legend Paddy Keenan, who also sprinkles some of his own magic onto a few tracks on Patsy's last album, Patsy has been busy gathering material for a new album , which should see the light of day later this year, we hope.
Along with his connection to Irish music, Patsy's interest in contemporary songwriting as well as his Jazz influences are also apparent on "WHAT YOU KNOW" his second solo Cd,- a 14 song testament to his abilities as songwriter, guitar player, singer and interpreter, the jazz influence being most evident in a blistering jazz/blues version of "Star of The County Down" with Paddy Keenan on low whistle, an arrangement of the old Irish ballad that has been featured on NPR's "All Songs Considered".
On Line: www.patsyobrienswebsite.com

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Mirella Murray

MIRELLA MURRAY grew up in Claddaghduff, near Clifden, on the north west coast of Connemara. Her father John Joe, a notable sean nós dancer, comes from Inishark Island and has a deep understanding of, and love for, traditional music. Mirella learned the piano accordion from Mary Finn, herself a great player from the musical Finn family of Ballymote, Co. Sligo. She met up with fiddler Liz Kane from Letterfrack, and they played and learned a lot of their music together going through the Fleadh Cheoil competitions. They won the All-Ireland duet in 1995, while Mirella gained the title on the piano accordion that same year. The pair performed together for years and toured in France and in North America with Comhaltas. They formed the Hydledoodles, a short-lived band which featured at the Fiddle and Accordion festival in Shetland and returned to the Folk Festival there the following year.
Later Mirella teamed up with the great fiddle player Tola Custy from Co. Clare, since the pair have played all over Ireland and Europe on various tours and festivals. After many year of being coaxed by people they went on to make an album "Three Sunsets" which has received many rave review and was voted top five albums of 2002 by The Irish Times, they were one of the nominee's as 'Best Newcomers' by the Irish Music Magazine in 2003.
Mirella has also toured Austria with the Bumblebees; performed with harper Laoise Kelly at the International Women's Day Festival in Moscow; featured in the Galway Arts Festival 2001,2002 and 2003 with Laoise and young fiddler Michelle O'Brien; toured with various line-ups in Scandinavia, Switzerland, Spain and France; and also recorded with Laoise on the Geantraí Christmas Special 2001, TG4. From September to November 2002 Mirella joined up with the late Johnny Cunningham to perform in the theatrical production, "Peter & Wendy", winner of two OBIE Awards which Johnny composed the music and lyrics for this adaptation of J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan".
Mirella also has a flair for teaching, and it is a credit to her musicianship that twenty of her pupils have gained All-Ireland titles. She has accumulated a vast store of tunes from her travels, and musicians such as Sharon Shannon, Lunasa and the Bumblebees credit her as a source for many uncommon melodies.

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Darren Maloney

Darren Maloney is regarded by critics and peers alike as one of the most outstanding musicians to emerge in Irish music.“Darren’s abilities as an Irish tenor banjoist are truly remarkable’,
says Dr. Mick Moloney, Global Distinguished Professor resident at NYU.Darren has toured the world and been sought after as a recording artist for many years. In 2004 Darren recorded a solo album, not a spur-of-the-moment decision but one that had been planned for some time. That album ‘who?’ has received world-wide acclaim and marked Darren as a future star. “The evidence is clear, unquestionable and resounding – this really is one of the best albums of the year and sets a benchmark for not just future banjo albums, but future independent releases”, wrote Geoff Wallis for fRoots Magazine.

In May 2006 Darren was selected for a world-class string workshop at Carnegie Hall led by stellar tutors, Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall and Jerry Douglas — each worshipped in their various fields of acoustic music. The tutors hand-picked the participants from 150 entries sent from 32 countries. The workshop culminated in a performance on the most famous of musical stages — Carnegie Hall.In 2005 Darren became the first Irish banjo player to be endorsed by the prestigious Deering Banjo Company, based in California. He joined musicians such as Béla Fleck, Rod Stewart and Garth Brooks as an ambassador for their instruments.

“Finding consummate musicians to represent our banjos is not always an easy task. Darren Maloney falls into a level of musicianship that has a limited membership. His technical expertise is beyond compare”, says Carolina Bridges, Marketing Manager at Deering Banjos. At the moment, Darren is working on material for two albums to be released in 2010. The first will see him revisiting music from his years growing up in County Cavan, Ireland. The second album will be almost entirely self-penned.

Bryan Kelso Crow

Bryan Kelso Crow (whistle instructor) is an Associate Professor of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He spent a year in Belfast on a > teaching exchange at the University of Ulster, 1985-86. As a member of Carbondale's Celtic band The Dorians, he plays concert flute, whistle, and keyboard, and also sings. He is the host of the nationally syndicated public radio program, Celtic Connections, which he started as a local program in 1991 http://www.celticconnectionsradio.org. He is also affiliated with the university's Irish & Irish Immigration Studies program, and is an organizer of the Southern Illinois Irish Festival, held each year on the last weekend of April www.silirishfest.org. . He has taught tin whistle classes over a number of years in Carbondale, and has taught for the Mississippi River Celtic Festival since 2000. Whistle students please note: come with a whistle in the key of D.

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Keith Reins

The son of a former big band saxophonist, Keith began his musical life at the age of five with piano lessons.  In junior high and high school, he played clarinet and saxophone in concert and jazz band.  At fourteen, he started playing professionally at country clubs and dance halls with his father and older brother.

After a brief flirtation with rock'n'roll piano in high school, Keith started hugging guitars and quickly became obsessed with traditional music.  At various times throughout the past three decades or so he has played bluegrass, old time, classic country, country blues, all manner of American folk songs, and most recently, traditional Irish music.

The eclectic, improvisational nature of Irish guitar accompaniment allows Keith to synthesize all of his diverse musical influences.  Though he flatpicks and fingerpicks Irish tunes on guitar, his true love is exploring the harmonic and rhythmic complexity—and simplicity—of the tunes as an accompanist.

Learning to play Irish guitar in rural Iowa, Keith had to figure it all out on his own.  He remembers his first steps making the transition from American to Irish style accompaniment (It was while playing “The Star of Munster,” in fact.) As a teacher he will answer such vexing questions as: “What makes Irish guitar playing so much different from American folk styles, both rhythmically and harmonically?” “How do you do those cool moving chords up and down the guitar’s neck?” “Why don’t some tunes seem to be in either major or minor keys, and what are modes all about?” “What are passing chords?”  And, he will teach a collection of techniques your can begin using at your next session.

Keith will teach in standard tuning and also provide an introduction to Dropped D tuning, the most simple and accessible alternate tuning commonly used in Irish music by such greats as Arty McGlynn and John Doyle.

Keith performs in Iowa and Illinois with The Beggarmen (www.beggarmen.com) and Blackthorn Stick.

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Eilleen Gannon

A St. Louis native, Eileen Gannon was the 2000 All-Ireland Senior Harp Champion. She was the first performer from the midwest and only the third American to win this prestigious world title. Several of Eileen's students have also gone on to win honors in the All-Ireland competitions. Eileen holds a master's degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick and the TTCT teacher's certificate awarded by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eirreann. An accomplished classical and traditional harpist, Eileen has co-produced two successful recordings for the St. Louis Irish Arts School of Music, Song and Dance. Her family have been pivotal figures in the reanaissance of Irish music in the Midwest since the 1970s

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Leo Rickard

It is extremely rare and refreshing nowadays to hear piping in it’s pure state. Many recordings are smothered with excessive overlays of accompaniment. In recent years the level of appreciation of Irish traditional music has risen considerably and I suspect that many students and enthusiasts of the uilleann pipes are eager to hear the instrument without any props, played by a highly skilled and mature piper. In this long awaited CD Leo Rickard has gone for his inspiration back to the old recordings of the masters: Leo Rowsome, Liam Walsh, William Andrews, Liam O’ Flynn, Seamus Ennis and the legendary Johnny Doran and his brother Felix.
Leo Rickard was born in the scenic fishing village of Howth, Co. Dublin. His people were fishermen who also had a keen interest in Irish music. Leo’s brother, Dave, joined the St. Lawrence Pipe Band in Howth in his early teens and is a highly regarded warpiper. Kevin is a fine concertina player and plays mainly around Howth. Their uncle Jimmy Rickard1 played the uilleann pipes. He played with the now famous Rowsome quartet for a period before he emigrated to London in the late 1930’s. Leo only met him once when he came home for his Mother’s funeral in 1974. Sadly he died a year later.
Leo started his piping career in 1976 when he enrolled for lessons in the Piper’s club at No. 14 Thomas Street. This was an important link as his tutors Peter and Kevin McKenna were pupils of the celebrated piper Leo Rowsome. The Piper’s Club had links going back to 1900 and miraculously the piping tradition had survived battered but unbroken. Leo enjoyed going to the Club. There was a great atmosphere and the lessons were very good.
In 1978 Leo was fortunate to be introduced to Paddy Keenan2. They struck up a friendship which lasts to the present day. Paddy lived in Clontarf and Leo lived in Howth. They had plenty of opportunity to play tunes and have the ’craic’ . Paddy gave Leo great encouragement. Leo considers Paddy Keenan to be the greatest living uilleann piper, with unrivalled technique and the skill of a supreme virtuoso. Paddy’s innovation with the pipes and his modesty have impressed Leo. Around the same time Leo met Martin Nolan who is a very good friend and piper. They would meet up two or three times a year and have fun playing and carousing at various Tionols and sessions around the country.
Leo has played with a number of contempory bands, namely “Clann Eadair”3, a local group from Howth.(This band was associated with the late Phil Lynott), the Wexford based band “Cry Before Dawn” and “In Tua Nua”. He has toured Sweden and Germany with the “Work and Play Band” in 1991 and 1994.
Since then Leo has mainly been involved in session work and teaching pipes for Na Piobairi Uilleann, mainly at the Willie Clancy Summer School and regional Tionol.
One of the musical highlights of his career occurred in February 2000, when he was one of the tutors at the Tionol in Wicklow Town to commemorate the great travelling piper Johnny Doran. At the piping concert on Saturday (19.2.2000), Leo gave an outstanding and memorable performance.
In the piping fraternity, Leo Rickard is a highly regarded and respected piper-a piper’s piper. (see the tributes by his peers, Paddy Keenan, and Martin Nolan). He is totally committed to his art and is known for his musical integrity.
This is Leo’s first solo CD and all the tracks are piping classics. Most of the tunes were recorded by the great pipers and a few of Leo’s contemporaries. It is one of the hallmarks of a good musician to be able to play in the different styles and Leo has demonstrated his ability in this regard. He has also added his own personal stamp with subtle variations and tasteful embellishments. There are many gems on this CD but my favourites are “The Fairies Revels” selection with the Rowsome style of regulator playing and the Johnny Doran touches in the “Job of Journeywork” set dance.

So if it’s uncluttered piping by a great piper you are looking for, this is it!

Brían Ó hAirt (Brian Hart)

Brían Ó hAirt’s (Brian Hart) anomalous voice stands as a testament to the power of tradition.  His ability to share the mind’s eye of an older generation of singers has afforded him great acclaim at his young age.  He became the youngest and first ever American to win the coveted Sgiath Uí Dhálaigh shield at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Listowel, Co. Kerry in 2002—adding his name to the shield’s long list of noted singers including Joe Heaney, Frank Harte and Paddy Berry.    

His dedication to traditional song and more specifically to the sean-nós style of singing encouraged him to learn the Irish language to an uncanny fluency and along the way introduced him to the close-knit singing community of the Conamara Gaeltacht where Irish is still the commonly spoken language.  He has since taught the Irish language tirelessly throughout the Midwest. 

Brían has performed extensively in the United States at the Milwaukee Irish Festival, Chicago Celtic Festival, Sean-nós Milwaukee and the Traditional Singers Club of the Twin Cities and in Ireland at Lá na nAmhrán, Cruinniu na mBád, the Ennis Trad Festival and Cuairt na mBàrd.  He has also had the distinction of being a singer to the President of Ireland, Dr. Mary McAleese.  His recordings have been featured on many radio programmes in Ireland including Céilí House on RTÉ and Lán a’ Mhála on RnG as well as on various NPR programmes in the States.  

In 2003 Brían established Sean-nós Milwaukee, the first festival in North America to focus on the sean-nós singing tradition.  Its success has merited the production of a compilation album entitled Sean-nós Cois Locha consisting of festival recordings from 2003-2005.  Produced with the help of Cló Iar-Chonnachta publishing company, this album showcases some of America’s finest proponents of the tradition, both native Irish as well as American-born.

He is likewise a noted instrumentalist of accordion, concertina and whistle and plays with Milwaukee-based group Cé, and more recently with Chicago-based Bua, both of which Irish Music Magazine has lauded for their distinct talent and innovation in the vein of traditional music.

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