Michael Rooney - harp, concertina
Michael Rooney is a prolific composer and is widely regarded as one of the foremost players of the traditional Irish harp. Originally from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan and now a long-time resident of County Sligo, Michael has composed 19 suites of music in the past 20 years, including recently Decades of the Centenaries (2023), The Ulster Suite (2022), Clairseoireacht (2022), Constance (2020), The Famine Suite (2019), and The Macalla Suite (2016). Michael was awarded the TG4 Composer of the Year in 2017.
In July 2022, Michael completed The Ulster Suite for Ulster Comhaltas, the suite called Constance, commissioned by The Hawks Well Sligo & UCD, and also The Famine Suite for Imbolc. In May 2015, Michael was commissioned to write music and perform on the occasion of Prince Charles’ visit to Sligo. His music features on The Queen's Speech, RTÉ's documentary of Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland. An album of The Macalla Suite was released in December 2016, performed by The Macalla Orchestra and recorded Live in Monaghan.
He has recorded three CDs with his wife, flute player June McCormack, as Draíocht: Tobar an Cheoil, Draíocht, and Land's End. He is also a member of Sligo’s Dartry Ceili Band, where he plays concertina. Michael has published four books of his own compositions; Harp Tunes (2006), Aifreann Gaeilge (2012), The de Cuéllar Suite (2012), and The Macalla Suite (2016).
June McCormack - flute
June McCormack is a flute player from Ballintogher, Co. Sligo. In 1998, June was awarded The TG4 Gradam ‘Young Musician of the Year Award’ in the Town Hall Theatre in Galway, and that same year, she won the All Ireland Senior Flute Competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Ballina.
As Draíocht, June and her husband Michael Rooneyhave toured extensively, performing throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. They have recorded three duo CDs to critical acclaim: Draíocht (2004), Land’s End (2006), and Tobar an Cheoil (2022).
June is a sought-after flute teacher and has authored flute tutorial books, Fluúit and Fluúit 2 with accompanying CDs. June was taught by both Carmel Gunning and Paddy Ryan. She plays an Olwell ‘D’ flute, made by Patrick Olwell, from Virginia, USA, and also plays an Australian Mike Grinter ‘C’ flute.
Louise Mulcahy - uilleann pipes, flute
Born in Abbeyfeale, Co. Limerick, Louise is a well-established performer and tutor on both flute and uilleann pipes. Louise has travelled extensively in both capacities, as both performer and teacher of the tradition, appearing at some of the biggest national and international music festivals throughout Asia, New Zealand, Australia, Europe, America and Canada. Louise released her highly acclaimed début solo album titled ‘Tuning the Road’ in 2014 to widespread critical acclaim: “A complete wonder of an album from a truly brilliant musician” – Bill Margeson. Alongside three album releases with father, Mick, and sister Michelle, Louise also appeared a number of years ago on Na Píobairí Uilleann’s compilation of young uilleann pipers entitled ‘A New Dawn’. Louise was voted Female Musician of the Year at the Live Ireland Awards in 2017 jointly with her sister Michelle.
Louise Mulcahy began playing the tin whistle at age five and a few years later moved on to flute, Matt Molloy and Eamonn Cotter becoming formative influences on her style. At thirteen she took up uilleann pipes, taught by Dave Hegarty in Tralee and in monthly master-classes at NPU in Dublin. One of the few female performers on what is a male-dominated instrument, she featured on the NPU compilation A New Dawn in 1999, and has taught at both the Chris Langan Piping Tionól in Toronto and the East Coast Piping Tionól in the Catskills, USA. A primary-level teacher in Co. Meath, she is the only person in the fleadh’s history to have won four senior All-Ireland titles in the one day.
Macdara Ó Faoláin - fiddle, bouzouki, song
Is seinnteoir bouzouki agus cumadóir ó Phort Láirge é Macdara Ó Faoláin, atá aitheantas bainte amach aige as a chuir chuige nuálach i gceol traidisiúnta na hÉireann.
Taibhíonn Macdara le comhoibrithe ceoill ar nós Victoria Adiiye agus Cormac McCarthy, chomh maith le bheith mar thionlacanaí go rialta ina stíl leithleach féin.. Tá sé mar bhall de thríréad le Páraic Mac Donnchadha & Pádraic Keane chomh maith atá aitheanas ar leith tugtha dá gcéirnín Beo.
Tar éis blianta de dhioscliosta fairsing mar thionlacaí, d’eisigh Macdara EP aonair, Do Shamhlaigh Mé Tír Nua… a bhí mar réamhcheol dá chéad albam aonair, Ar Thaobh Chill an Fhuarthainn a sheol sé i Mí Eanáir. . Ainmníodh an EP mar albam na bliana ag gradam Nós, chomh maith le duais Nuatheachtaí na Bliana a thógaint leis. Ainmníodh é mar Ionstramaí na Bliana ag na RTÉ Folk Awards le déanaí chomh maith le bheith mar Cheóltóir Óg na Bliana TG4 i 2024. Tá ról ar leith á bhaint amach ag Macdara mar fhigiúr suntasach i gceol traidisiúnta na hÉireann.
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Macdara Ó Faoláin is a bouzouki player, fiddle player, singer and composer from County Waterford, renowned for his innovative approach to traditional Irish music. Named the Young Musician of the Year by TG4 in 2024, Macdara is solidifying his place as a significant figure in the world of traditional Irish music.
Macdara performs regularly with collaborators such as Cormac McCarthy and Victoria Adiiye, and frequently accompanies various musicians with his distinctive approach to the Irish bouzouki. He is also a member of a trio with Páraic Mac Donnchadha and Pádraic Keane, whose album Beo, was hailed as "one of the best albums of the past few years” by the Irish Echo.
Macdara released a solo EP, titled Do Shamhlaigh Mé Tír Nua… in 2024, serving as a prelude to his debut album Ar Thaobh Chill an Fhuarthainn.
These releases show Macdara as both a solo musician and collaborator. The EP was recently nominated for album of the year by Nós. Macdara was also nominated for Best Folk Instrumentalist at the RTÉ Folk Awards.
Diarmuid Ó Meachair - accordion, song
Diarmuid Ó Meachair is a traditional Irish accordion and melodeon player from Cúil Aodha, Co. Cork, and is also a sean-nós singer. In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious TG4 Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana (Young Musician of the Year).
Diarmuid currently teaches Irish traditional music at University College Cork and also teaches at Holy Cross University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He has performed with De Dannan internationally since 2022.
Over the past three years, Diarmuid has released four solo albums and he has been nominated for three RTÉ Folk Awards: Best Instrumentalist (2023 & 2024) and Best Emerging Artist (2023).
Website | Bandcamp | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube
Shane Mulchrone - tenor banjo
Shane Mulchrone is a banjo player from Ballina, Co. Mayo, now based in Toronto, Canada. Shane has been playing tenor banjo and mandolin for over 25 years and his music is primarily influenced by the local musicians of Mayo and Sligo, with early influences from John Carty and Tommy Finn. He started learning music at an early age, initially on tin whistle before moving to stringed instruments, namely the banjo, mandolin and fiddle.
He has taught and performed for many years at numerous summer schools, workshops and festivals across Europe and North America. In 2018, Shane released his debut album Solid Ground on Raelach Records. Dan Neely of the Irish Echo says Solid Ground is “one of the best banjo records in recent memory…a must-have…’Solid Ground’ is an excellent album that I think every banjo player should own. Mulchrone’s playing is tasteful and inventive, and his sound is brilliant....Definitely recommended! Charlie Elland of FolkWords says ‘Solid Ground’ is an album that will not only change the minds of many about banjo music but will ensure Mulchrone’s name remains among the ranks of ‘masters of their art’.
Laura Feddersen - fiddle
Laura grew up in a musical family in Bloomington, Indiana, where she spent many a night asleep in a bass case at dances and music parties. At the age of 5 she was compelled to take up the violin herself, eventually performing for the set and square dances in her hometown. She has since traveled far and wide with her unique take on Irish American traditional fiddling, performing and teaching at events such as the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Swannanoa Gathering, the O’Flaherty Retreat, and the Lotus World Music Festival.
She now resides in Boston, where she has records and performs with; Two Wooden Nickels (with Joel Wennerstrom and Owen Marshall), who released their debut album Wooden Nickels in 2017; Irish fiddler Nathan Gourley who have released several projects, including Life Is All Checkered (2014), Ship in the Clouds (2020), and most recently, Brightly or Darkly (2022).
Danny Diamond
Lecture & teen program
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.
Emily Doyle
Teen program
Emily has a background in classical violin and viola and has been playing fiddle since 2015. In addition to teaching lessons at CIM, Emily is a Teaching Artist for GTCYS's Harmony Program. Emily is passionate about building community through music and making music accessible and enjoyable for everyone. She enjoys working with students of all ages and levels but especially loves opening doors to music for young beginners. Emily has a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Puget Sound and an MA in Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, University of London. She can be found playing at Irish sessions in the Twin Cities, as a member of MNáFiddlers, and in the viola section of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, where she is also a Board Member.
Hannah Flowers
Trad Immersion Camp
Hannah Flowers is an award-winning harpist and singer based in St. Paul, Minnesota with three solo albums to her name, “Amhrán na Cruite/Song of the Harp”, "Hall-Gate House”, and, most recently, "The Harp and the Holly". She holds a B.A. in music, a Master's Degree in Irish Traditional Music Performance from Maynooth University in Ireland, and received a Fulbright scholarship to pursue postgraduate research in Irish harp accompaniment in 2020. Hannah has studied in Ireland with master harpists such as Grainne Hambley, Michael Rooney, and Michelle Mulcahy.
A skilled and well-loved instructor at the Center for Irish music, Hannah has also taught and performed at the Milwaukee Irish Fest, La Crosse Irish Fest, Minnesota Irish Fair, and performed many solo shows, programs, and workshops across the US and Ireland.
Barry Foy
Session Workshop
Fiddler and session player Barry Foy was born in a small town in Quebec's asbestos-mining belt in 1954. His family emigrated to a small town in central Indiana when he was three years old. The move guaranteed that he would never progress beyond a rudimentary command of French; on the other hand, it also guaranteed he'd never work in an asbestos mine.
A thing or two has happened since. A stint as an avant-garde composer at a Chicago college ended abruptly in 1975, when Foy discovered Irish traditional music. That began more than three decades' involvement in the music, leading to the writing of his book FIELD GUIDE TO THE IRISH MUSIC SESSION. A long-time resident of Seattle, Barry now lives in St. Paul, MN.
Brian Miller
Trad Immersion Camp Director, Teen workshops
A native of Bemidji, Minnesota, Brian Miller fell in love with Irish traditional music as a teenager in the crowd at the Winnipeg Folk Festival and never looked back. Based in St. Paul since 1998, Brian is active as a musician, researcher, teacher and librarian. He has toured nationally with the band Bua and performs these days in a duo with Dublin fiddler, Danny Diamond, the Lost Forty and the Two Tap Trio.
Brian plays and teaches guitar, bouzouki, flute and tenor banjo. He has taught Irish music at the Center for Irish Music since 2006 and at camps and workshops from Washington state to Washington DC. He is also the director of the Eoin McKiernan Library at Celtic Junction Arts Center. Brian is a leading figure in the research and revival of song traditions from the white pine regions of the northern US and Canada. As a singer, and through his blog Northwoods Songs, he explores ties between Ireland and these rich, underexplored songs and stories. He is a past recipient of the Parsons Award from the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.
Cormac O'Sé
Piano Accordion workshops
Cormac was born and raised in Dublin. He began playing traditional Irish music on piano accordion at the age of 6 while also studying classical music until he was 16. Traditional music was always his passion, in particular playing for Irish dance, which was a major part of Cormac’s upbringing and early professional life as one of the original dancers in Riverdance. Cormac plays music for dancers all over the United States, UK and Ireland at feiseanna and is the director of O’Shea Irish Dance. Since 2014, he has released three albums of feis music called Feistunes with Brian O'Sullivan.
Carmen Pasquerella
Teen program
Carmen Pasquerella is a flute and whistle player and an Irish dancer. Brought up in the Celtic Junction, Carmen is now an alumni of the Center for Irish Music and O’Shea Irish Dance. Taking after her family of teachers, she is graduating this spring with a degree in Music Education from the University of Minnesota. Carmen has experience teaching summer camps, group classes, and private lessons and has used her administrative skills as the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend’s Youth program coordinator. In addition, she holds many Fleadh titles in flute, whistle, and slow airs.
Gabby Pasquerella
Trad Immersion Camp
Gabby Pasquerella is a flute and whistle player and Irish dancer. She started playing music at the age of 6 and is now an alumni of The Center For Irish Music and O’Shea Irish Dance. Gabby is currently studying Elementary Education and Studio Art at Hamline University. Currently, Gabby is an assistant instructor for the Starling Ensemble and the Corncrake Beginning Ensemble. She has also worked as the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend Intern and has helped lead the summer camps.
Norah Rendell
Teen program
Named “Best Female Vocalist" two years in a row in the Live Ireland Awards, Norah is equally dedicated to performing and teaching. She has a master's in Irish traditional music performance from the University of Limerick in Ireland and a bachelor of music degree with a major in Music Education and Early Music Performance from McGill University. Norah is also an award-winning singer and Irish flute-player with an active performing career as a soloist and with the Two Tap Trio. From 2006-2013, she toured internationally as lead vocalist of UK/Ireland-based band, The Outside Track.
Norah has given guest lectures and workshops at University College Cork, the University of Limerick, the Folk Steps Conference in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia. Her performances have been featured live on MPR's Heartland Radio, CBC's Canada Live, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Radio nan Gaidheal. Norah's recordings have been broadcast on the CBC, BBC, RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta (Ireland) and on folk shows across Canada and the United States. Norah is also the Executive Director of the Center for Irish Music.
Abbey Roemer
Trad Immersion Camp
Abbey began playing the violin at a young age. As a child, she loved exploring the instrument, and by the age of 14 had decided she wanted to be a teacher to help others understand and master the instrument.
She has a Masters in Violin Performance at Carnegie Mellon University, has studied Irish music at the Blas Festival at the University of Limerick, and with Mary Vanorny at the Center for Irish Music. Abbey has a freelance career as a classical violinist who performs regularly with Mankato and South Dakota Symphony Orchestras.
Abbey enjoys working with beginners (setting up new fiddlers with bow holds and playing posture and other fiddle-specific techniques), and helping students to learn by ear, whether they already read music or not. She is also a great match for advanced classical violinists who are new to Irish music, since she has invested in that music journey herself!
Dáithí Sproule
Adult workshops
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.
Mary Vanorny
Teen program
Mary Vanorny is an esteemed Minnesota-based Irish fiddle player and instructor. She performs with Brass Lassie, the Kickin’ It Irish band, and Two Tap Trio. Mary grew up playing both classical and fiddle music, joining and touring with many orchestras as a violinist/concertmaster and also teaching the Suzuki method before turning her attention to Irish fiddling full-time. She studied fiddle with Brian Conway, and is a musical leader at local sessions.
Mary has released two albums “First Light of Day” (2018) and “In the Tap Room” (2021) and has been a guest artist/presenter at Minnesota Celtic Fiddlers, Pint of Irish Celtic Music Retreat (CA), and Spanish Peaks International Celtic Festival (CO). She founded and hosts the all-female MnáFiddlers group, and is co-director of the Headwaters Fiddle Camp in Bemidji. An integral instructor at the Center for Irish Music (CIM), Mary teaches fiddle, youth ensembles, coordinates summer camps, has directed céilí bands, and has taught at the Minnesota Irish Music Weekend. Mary holds a degree in Environmental Education and Early Childhood Education.