2023 Artist Bios

The Kane Sisters - fiddle

From North Connemara, Liz and Yvonne Kane, known as The Kane Sisters, are much respected musicians and educators. They were taught music by the great Sligo musician and music teacher, Mary Finn and by their grandfather, local fiddle player, Jimmy Mullen. From a young age, they have been very influenced by the traditional music of Sligo and East Galway,  in particular the music of the master composer and fiddle player Paddy Fahey.

Liz and Yvonne first came to national and international prominence when they toured with accordion player Sharon Shannon as members of her band The Woodchoppers. At that time, a Hot Press review by Siobhan Long confirmed  ‘...while 'Fire in their Bellies' (with Liz and Yvonne Kane) is ensemble playing at its best and most naked.'

Following this period of touring with Sharon Shannon, they decided to embark musically on their own and they recorded their first album in 2002 entitled ‘The Well Tempered Bow’. The Kane Sisters toured Ireland and the United States following the release of their first album and  they followed up with a second album ‘Under the Diamond’ in 2004 and third album 2010 called ‘Side by side’. In 2022 they released their fourth album ‘In Memory of Paddy Fahey’ featuring 15 of his compositions as well as newly written tunes from both Liz and Yvonne. They have also guested on a number of albums with renowned artists such as Sharon Shannon, Maighread and Tríona ní Dhomnaill, and Cherish the Ladies.

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Gráinne Hambly - concertina, harp

Gráinne Hambly from County Mayo is an internationally recognized exponent of the Irish harp, and is in great demand as a performer and teacher, both at home and abroad. She studied music at Queen’s University Belfast and also plays concertina.

Gráinne has toured and recorded with various artists, including performances as far afield as Japan, Brazil and Colombia as well as frequent tours to the USA. She has released 3 critically acclaimed solo CDs, as well as 2 books of harp music.

Her most recent collaboration is with her husband Scottish harper William Jackson, with whom she frequently tours. They have released a recording Music from Ireland and Scotland (2009) as well as publishing some arrangements of Irish music for harp ensemble.

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Seán Gavin - flute, uilleann pipes

Founder and director of the Irish Music Institute, Seán Gavin is one of the most highly regarded Irish musicians of his generation. He’s the author of the popular new instructional book, The Tin Whistle Method, published by Hal Leonard and in 2016 he became the first musician born outside Ireland to win the prestigious Seán Ó Riada gold medal. Seán tours regularly with his critically acclaimed new concert series, “From Shore to Shore,” as well as with the groups Téada and Irish Christmas in America.

In addition to performing, Seán was Musical Director for the PBS program “I Am Ireland”, and for the long running “Atlantic Steps," and is a highly-sought instructor, having lectured at institutions around the world.

Seán was encouraged in music by his father Mick, a fiddler from Co. Clare, and his brother Michael. At age 12, he started work on the uilleann pipes with the late Al Purcell, former pupil of piper Leo Rowsome. Seán moved to Chicago at age 20 where he spent a decade playing and studying with the windy city’s finest musicians, particularly Sligo flute-legend Kevin Henry. Since then he has toured extensively around the globe, with multiple radio, TV, and festival appearances.

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Máirín Uí Chéide - song

Máirín Uí Chéide was born in Galway Ireland and grew up in Ceantar na nOileán in the Connemara Gealtacht. A Boston resident since 1986, she has immersed herself in the cultural and language movement since her arrival to the United States, traveling around the country teaching and performing the art of Seanós singing. She has recorded many of her songs and has a collection in Burns Library of Boston College. She has many awards from Oireachtas na Gaeilge including the coveted Corn Uí Riada. Máirín was inducted into the North American Comhaltas Ceolteoirí Éireann Hall of Fame in recognition of her ardent championing of Irish cultural traditions. She has also taught Irish language and singing for many years to students from across the globe, maintaining the oral nature of the transmission of the culture as much as possible. She is a cofounder of Boston le Gaeilge, and has presented successful Irish Language Radio programs both in the US and Ireland for many years.

She is a frequent participant, adjudicator and teacher in Toronto, Oireachtas Gaeilge Chanada, Seanós NorthWest held in Olympia, Washington State, Seanós Cois Locha, Irish Arts Week, Catskills NY, NYU Glaukam House, Silver Spring MD, Irish Nashville Tom Crean Festival and Center for Irish Music.

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Sean McComiskey - accordion

Sean McComiskey is among the most innovative young performers on the button accordion, with a unique harmonic style that has earned him a spot in the pantheon of Irish accordionists far beyond his native Baltimore. As the son of legendary button accordion player and National Heritage Fellow Billy McComiskey, Sean has been surrounded by Irish Traditional music his entire life and has developed a deep appreciation for the tradition of which he is a part. This has helped Sean establish a reputation as a highly regarded teacher and promulgator of Irish music and earned him teaching positions with the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Augusta Heritage Center’s Irish Arts Week, the Chris Langan Traditional Irish Music Weekend in Toronto, the CCE Musical Arts and Dance (MAD) Week in Washington, DC, the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest, and the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.

In addition to being a highly regarded teacher, Sean has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He's recorded albums and toured with groups including NicGaviskey and the Old Bay Ceili Band. In 2014, Sean formed the Baltimore-based acoustic roots group, Charm City Junction, with Patrick McAvinue on bluegrass fiddle, Brad Kolodner on Appalachian old-time clawhammer banjo, and Alex Lacquement on upright bass. In 2015, they released their self-titled debut album and in 2016 were nominated for the International Bluegrass Music Association's Band Momentum Award. This collaboration has enabled Sean to bring his unique style of Irish button accordion to the old-time and bluegrass music communities as a featured performed at venues including the Grand Ole Opry, the Kennedy Center, the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, the National Folk Festival, and numerous other folk and acoustic music festivals, concerts, and performing arts centers around the country. They are currently working on their third album to be released in 2023.

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Marla Fibish - mandolin

One of the prominent voices of the mandolin in Irish music, Marla brings a deep and distinctive sensibility to the music on one of its lesser-heard instruments. Her playing is featured on her 2020 album The Bright Hollow Fog, the 2017 Noctambule release A Sweetish Tune, and The Morning Star, a duo CD with legendary Irish singer and bouzouki player Jimmy Crowley, as well as on the eponymous Three Mile Stone recording.

Marla also plays mandola, tenor guitar and button accordion, and is a singer and a composer. She is known for her musical settings of works from a variety of poets, as well as original tunes written in traditional forms. This work is featured in the duo Noctambule, her longtime collaboration with guitarist and husband Bruce Victor. Together they have released 4 albums, most recently Every Migrant is My Fellow in 2021.

An experienced and sought-after teacher, Marla teaches private students and classes, online at Peghead Nation, and has been on the faculty of many music camps including The Swannanoa Gathering, The Mandolin Symposium, O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, Portal Irish Music Week, Lark Camp and others. Her instructional DVD has been a popular self-learning tool, focused on acquiring the foundational technique for playing Irish music on the mandolin.

www.marlafibish.com
www.noctambulemusic.com

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Gavin Strappe - banjo, mandolin

Gavin Strappe hails from County Tipperary and is a former Senior All-Ireland champion. Gavin graduated with First Class Honors in Music Performance from Dublin Institute of Technology and also completed a Masters of Education from The University of Limerick.

He is a member of the Irish band JigJam and tours extensively throughout America performing at a number of major music festivals & venues. Their latest release ‘Phoenix’ won best Americana album at the Independent Music Awards. Gavin has performed at a number of prestigious venues including The Grand Old Opry and Ireland’s flagship late night show ‘The Late Late Show’.

Photo By Ray Keogh

Brian Miller - guitar, bouzouki

A native of northern Minnesota, Brian Miller fell in love with Irish traditional music as a teenager in the crowd at the Winnipeg Folk Festival. His passion led him to spend a college semester abroad at University College Cork and to dive head-over-heels into the rich Irish music scene of the Twin Cities where he has lived since 1998.

Brian is active as a performer, teacher, researcher and librarian. He has travelled all over the US as guitar and bouzouki accompanist for the band Bua. These days, he performs with Belfast-born fiddler Danny Diamond, duo The Lost Forty and the Two Tap Trio. As a researcher and singer, Brian revives Irish-influenced songs collected in the Great Lakes region and the stories of the people that sang them. He directs the Eoin McKiernan Library, writes the blog “Northwoods Songs” and has taught at the Center for Irish Music since 2006.

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Danny Diamond, fiddle

Danny Diamond is a musician from Ireland, who plays fiddle, sings, composes music, and works as a recording engineer/producer. He comes from a renowned family of traditional musicians with a deep cultural heritage in the North of Ireland. Previously fiddle player with the bands Slow Moving Clouds and Mórga, Danny has toured worldwide, playing venues such as the Sydney Opera House, The Southbank Centre (London) and National Concert Hall (Ireland); and has shared the stage with artists such as The National and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). Danny is currently based between Minneapolis, USA and Ireland. He currently tours internationally as fiddle player and Music Co-Ordinator with Teac Damsa’s multi award-winning dance theatre show Swan Lake /Loch na hEala, for which he also co-wrote and arranged the score. Other collaborations include the traditional fiddle duo NORTH (with Conor Caldwell) and What To Bring When We Leave, a two-man show with Irish poet Tom French. https://dannydiamond.ie/

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Asher Gray, flute/whistle

Asher has been playing traditional Irish music since 1994 and was a founding member of Milwaukee-based groups, Anam Rí and Cé. Beginning with the bodhrán at age twelve, his versatile ability led him to later master the whistle, wooden flute, and Irish bouzouki. He has won numerous awards on whistle, flute and bodhrán at the Midwest Fleadh and competed in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil. In 2000, Asher was the recipient of The Edward J. Ward Irish Music Scholarship, presented yearly at Milwaukee Irish Fest for accomplishments in Irish music. More recently, Asher graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2007 with a BFA focusing on Film and Art. He also received a Digital Arts & Culture certificate and completed the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Celtic Studies certificate program.

Over the years, Asher has recorded seven albums, three of which were solo albums. In addition recording, He performs around the midwest and US, is involved as a faculty member at the Milwaukee Irish Fest School of Music and continues to be heavily involved in the Milwaukee Irish session scene.

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Iain Dove McAfee, Trad Immersion Camp

Iain Dove Lempke has been playing whistle since the age of 8.  He started attending sessions while studying abroad in Scotland and regularly attends the Merlins Rest and Keegans sessions. When not playing traditional music, Iain is also a K-12 educator, with a passion for teaching. In addition to whistle, he also plays the guitar, Irish flute, occasionally the highland bagpipes, and is a classically trained singer. He is a member of the local band Dorain.  Be sure to check out their new EP Cup of Gold on bandcamp!

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Kate Wade, whistle

Kate (Wade) Dowling grew up Irish step-dancing and playing music in an Irish-Italian immigrant neighborhood in Chicago, where maintaining one's heritage was a natural way of life. She learned music with Noel Rice (Co. Offaly) and dancing with Jim McGing and Mark Howard (later Trinity).

A world-championship level dancer, and multiple Midwest Fleadh winner, Kate later focused solely on music and performed and recorded with groups including Baltiorum, the Doon Céilí Band and the HiBs. Through teaching, sessions, and performances, Kate loves sharing the joy the music has been bringing her for over 35 years.

The Dowling family practices around the dinner table at home in West St. Paul on Friday, March 14, 2014. Their band, the HiBs (short for Hibernian), will perform at Landmark Center in St. Paul on St. Patrick's Day. From left is Fergal (10) on tin whistle, Martin (12) on fiddle, Kate on tin whistle and Jode on fiddle (foreground). (Pioneer Press: Ben Garvin)

Dáithí Sproule, interviews

Dáithí, originally from Derry in the North of Ireland, is one of the pioneers of guitar in Irish music, with a wide repertoire of traditional songs in both English and Irish (Gaelic). He has toured the world with the band Altan, and has performed and recorded with many other great Irish musicians including Trian, Fingal, Skara Brae, Liz Carroll, Paddy O'Brien, James Kelly, and Tommy Peoples. As well as traditional music, Dáithí  teaches Irish language, mythology, and Celtic culture. www.daithisproule.com

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