Angelina Carberry - banjo
Angelina Carberry was born in Manchester, England to a County Longford musical family steeped in traditional music. Starting on the tin whistle, she later moved onto the banjo, following in the footsteps of her father, Peter, and grandfather, Kevin Carberry. Angelina moved to Galway in the late 90’s where she recorded the highly acclaimed album ‘Memories from the Holla’ with her father Peter on accordion and John Blake on guitar and piano. Angelina's playing developed into a unique style, with its own rhythmic qualities. Her distinct banjo sound is featured in her two solo CDs. She has also released duet albums with Dan Brouder, and with accordion player Martin Quinn.
Angelina was a member of the all-female group the Bumblebees and toured with the legendary duo Tony MacMahon and Barney McKenna. She performed for the Margaret Barry Hall of Fame Award, at the 2019 RTE Folk Awards,in Dublin. In 2021, Angelina received the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil, Ceoiltor na Bliana / Musician of the Year Award, and in 2023 became the sixth recipient of the Mike Flanagan Banjo Award.
Angelina is music teacher and a popular banjo tutor at summer schools and festivals throughout Ireland, the U.K. and internationally. Angelina has also played on popular TV series Fleadh Cheoil RTE, Bosca Ceol, HUP, Sé mo Laoch, and Fleadh TV TG4.
Conor Connolly - accordion
TG4 Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana (Young Musician of the Year) for 2019, Conor Connolly is a button accordion player from Clarinbridge, Co. Galway. Conor was destined to play the accordion, inspired by players like Joe Cooley, who came from the area, and Joe Burke, from whom he took lessons. He started playing tin whistle at age 8 and, with encouragement from his parents, moved on to the accordion at age 12. He attended the Anne Conroy Burke and Joe Burke School of Music for a few years while playing with the local branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and with local musicians. In his late teens, he heard the music of Joe Cooley for the first time, as well as players Tony MacMahon, Fiachna Ó Mongáin, and Eoin O’Neill which spurred him to change from the conventional B/C style of playing to the C#/D system. Charlie Harris was also a great source of inspiration and encouragement, introducing him to the music of the 78rpm era and such players as P.J Conlon, Sligo fiddlers Morrison, Killoran and Lad O’Beirne, and Joe Derrane. The influence of Uilleann piping is also discernible in his music particularly that of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis, and Seán McKiernan.
Conor has toured, performed, and given workshops at many of the Traditional Music festivals at home and abroad, such as Scoil Samhradh Willie Clancy, Rencontres Musicales Irlandaises De Tocane in France, Feakle International Music Festival, and Cooley-Collins Traditional Music Festival in Gort. He has toured New Zealand and Australia with fellow TG4 Young Musician Of Year 2021 recipient Sorcha Costello and guitar accompanist Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill. He has also been featured on broadcasts on RTÉ, TG4, RTÉ Radió na Gaeltachta, and Clare FM.
Nuala Kennedy - flute, whistle, song
Nuala Kennedy is an Irish composer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. She grew up in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, where she played piano and flute in a local ceili band and studied classical piano. Dundalk is an area rich in mythology and musical heritage and has strong historical links to Scotland which influenced move to Edinburgh at age eighteen. Nuala holds a post graduate diploma in Education from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Music from Newcastle University.
In 2000, Nuala began playing in a weekly session in Edinburgh. The players formed a trio known as Fine Friday and toured in the UK, Europe and Australia, releasing two albums before disbanding. Nuala was recognized as an exceptional interpreter of the tradition with the release of her first solo recording, The New Shoes (2007). She has gone on to release a number of albums; her latest, Shorelines (2023), was nominated for a Grammy® for Best Folk Album.
Nuala tours globally as Nuala Kennedy Band, headlining at major festivals including Celtic Connections (UK) Celtic Colours International (CAN) Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FRA) and Milwaukee Irish Festival (US). She is a member of Oirialla playing music from her native Oriel alongside Gerry O'Connor, accordionist Martin Quinn, and Breton guitarist Gilles Le Bigot. Nuala also plays in Irish traditional music power trio The Alt with John Doyle and Eamon O'Leary.
Nuala and her husband, Appalachian singer-songwriter A. J. Roach, live in Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland with their two small children.
Aidan Connolly - fiddle
Aidan Connolly is known for his unique style of fiddle playing and has been described as "a leading fiddle player of the current wave of great Irish traditional music". Aidan was born into a musical family in Rathfarnham, Dublin, and has been playing from a very early age.
While Aidan’s music is rooted in the rich heritage of his mother’s native area, Sliabh Luachra, he has listened and played extensively with musicians from all over Ireland and beyond, forging a mature playing style informed by many diverse influences. From 2018 and 2020 he relocated to Spain, where he was heavily influenced by the diverse musical landscape to be found across that country.
Aidan has released four commercial albums to date; Be Off (2016), Away On Up the Road (2019, with John Daly), The Portland Bow (2021), and Keane/Connolly/McGorman (2023, with Pádraic Keane and Fergus & Ruairí McGorman). He has performed widely in Ireland, the UK, Europe, and Japan and was nominated for the category of Best Folk Instrumentalist at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2022.
Aidan is also a primary school teacher with many years of experience, and he speaks several languages, including Spanish, French, Romanian, Italian, and Irish Gaeilge.
Eamon O'Leary - guitar, bouzouki, song
Singer, songwriter, guitar, bouzouki, and banjo player Eamon O'Leary is originally from Dublin and now lives in New York City. He has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, performing and recording with many of Irish music's great players.
In 2004, Eamon and Patrick Ourceau released a live recording, Live at Mona's, documenting their many years hosting a session on New York's Lower East Side. In 2012, he and Jefferson Hamer released an album of traditional songs, The Murphy Beds, described by the Huffington Post as "ten beautiful, crystalline songs." He has collaborated with artists such as Sam Amidon, Beth Orton, Anais Mitchell, and Martin Hayes, and has released five recordings of original songs: Old Clump, All Souls, Sister in Song, Bernadette, and The Silver Sun. Eamon also regularly appears and records with old friends Nuala Kennedy and John Doyle as The Alt. Their first album, The Alt, was released in 2014 with a second The Alt album, Day is Come, released in 2022.
Josh Dukes - guitar, flute
Josh Dukes is an All Ireland champion accompanist and a highly sought after music teacher in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. A multi-instrumentalist whose talents embrace the ceili drums, guitar, bouzouki, bodhran, flute, and tin whistle, Josh has established a reputation for providing sensitive, tasteful support for traditional Irish music.
As a high school student, Josh studied the oboe, tenor/alto saxophone, drum set and baritone horn, and learned the art of ancient rudimental drumming outside the classroom. Josh enlisted in the U.S. Army and has earned the rank of Master Sergeant, serving as one of three Drum Majors for the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, “The Official Escort to the President,” the only military unit of its kind.
Josh continues to perform Irish music, playing ceili drums regularly with the Old Bay Ceili Band. He has shared the stage with such renowned musicians as John Doyle, Paddy Keenan, Billy and Sean McComiskey, Brendan Mulvihill, Kevin Crawford, Zan McLeod, and Myron Bretholz. Josh lives in greater D.C. Area with his wife and two daughters.
Rose Flanagan - fiddle
Rose Conway Flanagan originally began Irish music lessons with Martin Mulvihill while growing up in the Bronx, and further developed her New York Sligo style of fiddling with the help of family friend and mentor Martin Wynne and her older brother Brian Conway. In 2013, Rose was inducted into the Mid Atlantic Region CCE hall of fame alongside her father Jim and her brother Brian.
She currently has a large music school in her hometown of Pearl River where she is preparing the next generation of great traditional musicians, which include several All-Ireland winners and medalists. Among Rose’s past students are all the fiddlers in Girsa and senior fiddle champion Dylan Foley.
Rose has been an instructor at the Alaska fiddle camp, The Catskills Irish Arts week, The Swannanoa Celtic Gathering, The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, Fiddle and Pick Irish Camp, The Baltimore Trad Fest, and MAD Week in the U.S. She has also taught at the DeDanaan Dance Camp in Vancouver, British Columbia and Scoile Eigse in Cavan and Sligo, Ireland. She has taught workshops at the Northeast Tionol, Cape Cod Ceili Weekend and at various CCE conventions. In addition to her teaching, Rose runs sessions and performs bot with her group the Green Gates Ceili Band and in various concerts throughout her local area. In 2014, she released a duo cd with flute player Laura Byrne, "Forget Me Not," which was met with great reviews.
Joey Abarta - uilleann pipes, whistle
Joey Abarta has spent more than half his life traveling, teaching, and performing music on the uilleann pipes. Originally from California, he first received instruction on the pipes from Dubliner Pat D’Arcy, a founding member of the Southern California Uilleann Pipers Club.
In 2009, Joey’s accomplished playing won him second place at the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann. In 2014 Joey won first prize at the An tOireachtas, becoming the first American uilleann piper to do so since 1969. In 2015 Joey received a traditional arts apprenticeship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and was recently awarded an Artist Fellowship in the Traditional Arts from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Currently based in Boston, Joey divides his attention between performance, teaching, and recording. In addition to performing solo, he performs with his wife, old-style step dancer Jaclyn O'Riley, Nathan Gourley of “Life is all Checkered", and has toured with Mick Moloney and the group The Green Fields of America. He is currently the acting President of the Boston Pipers Club (1908-present) and organizes uilleann piping workshops and concerts for its members and public. Joey is also the president of The Patrick J. Touhey Memorial Weekend. In 2018 Joey was invited by Na Píobairí Uilleann to represent piping in America by performing for the president of Ireland at the Abbey Theater in Dublin Ireland, part of the country's celebration of uilleann piping being recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
