This interview is part of the Center for Irish Music's story-sharing project, "Many Paths to...
This interview is part of the Center for Irish Music's story-sharing project, "Many Paths to...
An important part of CIM’s mission is to connect the younger generation with the Irish music tradition. Many young musicians have spent many hours in the classrooms of CIM in private and group lessons, building friendships with each other, and a deep appreciation for the culture of this artform. Claire Vanorny has a deep connection to these spaces as a talented fiddle player and emerging composer. We are delighted to bring her story to you.
This interview is part of the Center for Irish Music's story-sharing project, "Many Paths to...
The Center for Irish Music is embarking on a community story-sharing project in 2024. We welcome and encourage all of our community to join in conversation with each other, by sharing stories of how Irish music weaves its way into the fabric of our lives. Marking CIM's 20th anniversary, this project makes time for conversation, connection and reflection: By recognizing and uplifting our stories, identities, and backgrounds, together we can help our community grow and evolve.
We are excited to host three community story-sharing sessions in June.
It’s been six years since the Coleman family was featured in the Clare Echo at the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Ennis, when the Center for Irish Music represented Minnesota for the first time en masse with two ceili bands, and one grúpa cheoil at an international-level level. This year, CIM parent and volunteer Kelly Scanlan, chatted up the owner of Just Books bookstore on Pierce Street, making the headlines once again, this time in the Westmeath Examiner. The story of Americans coming to a small Irish town to experience traditional Irish music at the fleadh is both compelling, and entertaining.
Martin McHugh, an accordionist who kept Irish traditional music alive in Minnesota after a previous generation of players disappeared and, over the decades of music-making that followed, inspired an extraordinary revival with his soulful renditions of jigs, reels and other tunes, died this past week at his home in St. Paul. He was 92.
McHugh emigrated from rural Ireland in the 1940s, joining a community of traditional musicians already playing for immigrant crowds in St. Paul’s pubs and dance halls. Over the following two decades, however, older Irish players died, moved away, or indulged other pursuits.
Claire Vanorny and Ryan Behnke bring home silver medals from the All Ireland Fleadh By...
A gathering place for nearly two decades of music sessions and craic, Keegan’s Irish Pub on University Avenue was one of the first restaurant casualties of the pandemic, closing its doors in June 2020. Fortunately, the dedicated crew of traditional Irish music lovers and Center for Irish Music students who met there every Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. for the Keegan’s Learners Session has hardly missed a beat.
Saint Paul, MN – Over its 16 years of “handing down the tradition,” the Center for...