Biographies
Musical, poetic and visual arts contributors
Marty Fahey–As an Irish traditional musician and composer, he brings both a curatorial and a musical perspective to the appreciation of Irish art. These interests have also found expression in the production of the companion CDs for several related art exhibit projects that have sought to cross-pollinate Irish art with Irish music and poetry: IRELAND: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690–1840–THE MUSIC (2015); Who Do We Say We Are? Irish Art 1922 | 2022–THE MUSIC (2022) and with the collaborations found in this book.
Liz Carroll has been amazing audiences around the globe since she was 18, when she astounded the Celtic music world by winning the Senior All-Ireland Fiddle Championship. She has been called a “virtuoso” (The Irish Times), a “celebrated torchbearer” (Lexington Herald-Leader), and a “master of Irish traditional music” (NPR’s The Thistle & Shamrock). She is an NEA National Heritage Fellow, a 2009 Grammy nominee (“Best Traditional World Album,” Double Play with John Doyle), the first American-born recipient of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil for Cumadóir/Composer–Ireland’s most significant music prize, and in 2020 was inducted into the Irish-American Hall of Fame. Liz’s recordings are, in the majority, her own compositions, and they have given her a stature equal to that of her playing. She is celebrated for invigorating the traditional styles of Irish music, and her compositions have entered the repertoire of Irish and Celtic performers throughout the world.
Liz has joined forces with Marty Fahey to create musical responses for the exhibition, “Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690–1840,” at The Art Institute of Chicago in 2015, and written music for the 2022 exhibition, “Who Do We Say We Are? (Irish Art 1922–2022)” which appeared at Trinity College Dublin’s Long Room Hub and at The University of Notre Dame’s Snite Museum. In celebration of the many paintings in the O’Brien Collection, Liz is delighted to share a number of new musical responses, airs and dance tunes, and she’s also excited to be joined in this endeavor by some of Irish music’s most distinguished composers.
Linda Aldrich served as Portland, Maine’s sixth Poet Laureate (2018–21) and was awarded the Maine State Poetry Award in 2023. She has published three collections of poetry, Foothold (2008), March and Mad Women (2012), and Ballast (2021). Most recently, her poems appear in The Café Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, Hole-in-the-Head Review, and the Maine Journal of Art. Maine State Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum featured her poem “The Final Appeal” for the public television series, Poems from Here: Celebrating Maine’s Bicentennial. During her tenure as poet laureate, Linda hosted the Leaf of Voices poetry reading series at Portland Public Library and co-hosted the monthly Local Buzz reading series at Thomas Memorial Library in Cape Elizabeth. Linda grew up in Manchester, New Hampshire, and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in English and French. She later received an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College. Before moving to Maine, Linda taught as Associate Professor of English and Humanities at Aims Community College in Colorado. Currently, she gives readings and conducts poetry workshops around the state and is working on a new collection.
Maureen Boyle lives in Belfast. She began writing as a child in Sion Mills, County Tyrone, winning a UNESCO medal for a book of poems in 1979 at the age of eighteen. She studied at Trinity in Dublin and did postgraduate work in UEA, UU, and in 2005 was awarded the Master’s in Creative Writing at Queen’s University Belfast. She has won various awards including the Ireland Chair of Poetry Prize in 2007 and the Strokestown International Poetry Prize in the same year. In 2013 she won the Fish Short Memoir Prize. In 2017 she was awarded the Ireland Chair of Poetry’s Inaugural Travel Bursary for work on Anne More, the wife of John Donne. Her debut collection, The Work of a Winter, is published by Arlen House Press, Dublin. She taught Creative Writing with the Open University for ten years and teaches English in St Dominic’s Grammar School in Belfast.
Brass Lassie was founded in 2016 to realize a long-held vision of combining traditional and new Irish and Scottish music with horn and rhythm sections which would support and enhance the music without altering its intrinsic character. Laura MacKenzie, the founder and director of Brass Lassie, learned music from many noted tradition-bearers on both sides of the Atlantic, and has long been at the core of the Irish music and dance community in Minnesota. Pete Enblom of Brass Lassie (arranger of the Dublin Castle Reels) is a trombonist, arranger and composer who has performed around the world with a broad array of artists and enjoys working within many genres, including classical, jazz and world music.
Pat Broaders, born in Dublin to parents from Wexford, is a musician and performer known for his bouzouki accompaniment and singing in traditional Irish music. With a deep passion for the art form, Pat has dedicated his life to honing his skills as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist especially with the group Open the Door for Three and Bohola.
Brendan Bulger, a native of South Boston, MA, has lived in Chicago for most of the past 25 years. Seamus Connolly taught him how to play the fiddle, and his brother, Chris, a gifted accordionist, taught him how to play compatibly with others. Brendan has many performance and recording credits to his name, notably including Music at The House (2003), produced by Dennis Cahill and recorded with Marty Fahey (box) and Kathleen Gavin (piano). He continues to play as much music as time allows.
Jenn Butterworth is one of the UK folk scene’s most in-demand accompanists, awarded the title “Musician of the Year” from the Scots Trad Music Awards and nominated at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. An excellent collaborator, she is a key member of a range of well-known folk music projects, including award-winning folk powerhouse Kinnaris Quintet, Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s SYMBIOSIS, duo collaborations with both mandolinist Laura-Beth Salter and harmonica player Will Pound, and folk supergroup Songs of Separation involving an array of folk artists including Eliza Carthy, Lady Maisery and Karine Polwart. The Songs of Separation album, conceived, arranged and recorded in just 7 days, won the title of “Best Album” at the Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017.
Evelyn Conlon is a novelist, short story writer and essayist, widely anthologized and translated, including into Greek, Chinese and Tamil. Telling Truths, Peter Lang, examines her work to date. Her recent collection of essays is titled Reading Rites: Books, writing and other things that matter. She lives in Dublin and is a member of Aosdána.
Colman Connolly is a pianist, singer, and producer currently studying audio production at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. Hailing from a family of American and Irish folk musicians, including All-Ireland champions Damien, Martin, and Séamus Connolly, he himself achieved an All-Ireland accompaniment title in 2021. Colman now enjoys playing with accomplished Irish musicians in Nashville and leads the ’70s classics cover band, the Low Darts, in his free time.
Damien Connolly, a native of Co. Clare, now living in Connecticut for twenty years, learned to play the button accordion from his father Martin, and went on to become an All-Ireland champion. Accomplished on both accordion and fiddle, Damien has released three Irish music albums–Tippin’ Away, Inspired, and Home Recordings–all of which are available on bandcamp.com. Damien has taught both instruments and performed at various music camps and festivals throughout the US, and some of his compositions have been recorded and popularized by several well-known Irish musicians over the last decade. He is the author of The Irish Accordion Tutor, Vol I, and plans to publish a collection of his own compositions in the near future.
Marta Cook is a Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann senior champion and honors graduate of the Chicago College of Performing Arts. As a composer, arranger, improvisor, and studio musician, her singular approach to the harp has brought her music to audiences throughout Europe and North America and appeared on a variety of albums (including Yo-Yo Ma’s double GRAMMY®-winning release Songs of Joy and Peace). Marta’s most recent work combines performance with research and writing on the historical and political contexts that illuminate contemporary experiences of traditional music, including an article (“Subjects of Tradition: Irish Music and Comprador Capitalism”) in the 2024 special issue of Irish Studies Review edited by Aiden Beatty and Conor McCabe.
Jesús Enrique “Chuchi” Cuadrado, known for his versatility and unforgettable style, is one of the most in-demand guitarists in the Spanish folk scene. Co-founder of Vallarna, el Búho Dinámico, Blanca Altable & Chuchi2, Atlantic Folk Trio, Sons de Cabiella and Los Muyayos de Raiz; he has also performed and recorded with A Gramalleira, Goyo Yebes, Celtas Cortos, Xerfa, María Salgado, Riobó, Xosé Liz Band and world-renowned piper Anxo Lorenzo.
Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill is a celebrated musician and singer. As well as playing and singing in seminal Irish music groups Skara Brae and The Bothy Band, her compositions have featured in the music of Nightnoise, Touchstone, Relativity, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. In 2019 she received the TG4 Composer of the Year/Musical Collaboration Award and in 2024, received a Lifetime Achievement award from RTE, Ireland’s most prestigious television station.
Gabriel Donohue, originally from Athenry, County Galway, is a renowned multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. With five decades in the music industry, he has produced numerous albums for both traditional and contemporary artists. He’s played with top names in Irish traditional music and graced major talk shows as part of the Chieftains’ entourage, Michael Flatley’s ensemble, Cherish the Ladies, and alongside Tom Waits. Notably, Gabriel is among the few artists who have performed on every continent, including Antarctica.
Martin Dyar grew up in Swinford, County Mayo. A winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award, he has also been a creative writing fellow at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He teaches in the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin. His next book of poems, The Meek, is forthcoming from Wake Forest University Press.
Twitter: @martindyar
poetryfoundation.org/poets/martin-dyar
Conal Early, a Dublin native, is a trained primary school teacher. Having studied music from his youth he decided to concentrate fully on music in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since. A superb guitar and piano player, he is in great demand, touring extensively and recording with Ireland’s finest musicians and singers. Since 2008 he has been performing with well-known Irish singer Tommy Fleming throughout Europe, Australia and the US.
Seamus Egan–It’s hard to think of an artist in traditional Irish music more influential than Seamus Egan. From his beginnings as a teen prodigy, to his groundbreaking solo work with Shanachie Records, to his founding of Irish-American powerhouse band Solas, to his current work as one of the leading composers and interpreters of the tradition, Egan has inspired multiple generations of musicians and helped define the sound of Irish music today.
Maeve Gilchrist—Edinburgh-born harpist and composer—has been credited as an innovator on her native instrument and has taken the Celtic (lever) Harp to new levels of performance and visibility with her virtuosic performance style and compositional explorations. Currently based in Kingston, NY, Maeve tours internationally as a solo artist and composer and as a member of the Grammy-nominated Silkroad ensemble and Arooj Aftab’s Grammy-winning Vulture Prince ensemble. She is a regular visiting artist at the Berklee College of Music, and has a number of published instructional books and acclaimed recordings, including her most recent album, The Harpweaver, which The Irish Times describes as, “buoyant, sprightly and utterly beguiling…a snapshot of a musician at the top of her game.”
The Goodman Trio consists of Mick O’ Brien (Uilleann Pipes/Flute/Whistle), Emer Mayock (Flute/Whistle), and Aoife Ní Bhriain (Fiddle/Viola). All three well-known Irish traditional musicians focus on exploring the wealth of music contained in the Goodman manuscripts. Published as Tunes from the Munster Pipers–Irish Traditional Music from the James Goodman Manuscripts volumes 1 and 2, the melodies in the collection are drawn from the oral tradition and were notated by James Goodman in the 1860s in his native province of Munster. The tunes in the collection provide a unique body of Irish music from the southwest region and give insights into the traditional music and song of Irish-speaking pre-Famine Ireland. With two CD recordings (2013 and 2021) Emer, Mick and Aoife have selected and recorded music from these rich manuscripts and have unearthed a wide and varied body of tunes, many previously unknown to traditional artists and listeners. The trio adopt a captivating approach to the historical musical materials through arrangement, instrument range and personal interpretation of the tunes.
Natalie Haas–Juilliard grad Natalie Haas is one of the most sought-after cellists in traditional music today. She and Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser have toured as a duo for over twenty-three years, wowing audiences at festivals and concerts worldwide with their unique sound. Natalie has also toured with Mark O’Connor as a member of his Appalachia Waltz Trio. As a studio musician, Natalie has been a guest artist on over 100 albums, including those of Cape Breton fiddler Natalie MacMaster, Irish greats Altan, Solas, and Liz Carroll, and Americana icon Dirk Powell.
Kieran Jordan is an Irish dance performer, teacher, and choreographer based in Boston, Massachusetts. Her lyrical expressive style draws from her background in contemporary dance, improvisation, somatic movement practices, and more than 40 years of immersion in traditional Irish music and dance. Winner of two Massachusetts Artist Fellowships, she holds an M.A. from the University of Limerick and a B.A. from Boston College. Kieran is regarded internationally for her creative contributions in the performance and teaching of sean-nós dance. In Boston, she has fostered a vibrant non-competitive dance community through her studio and performance group, Kieran Jordan Dance, which has been active in the region for more than 20 years.
Liz and Yvonne Kane, from North Connemara in Galway, and known as The Kane Sisters, are much-respected musicians and educators who first came to national and international prominence as members of Sharon Shannon’s band, The Woodchoppers. Since embarking on their own in 2002, they’ve recorded four albums (many featuring the music of legendary Galway composer Paddy Fahey, and new tunes written by Liz and Yvonne) and delighted listeners with their incredibly tight duet fiddle playing. Based in Letterfrack, they have a large number of students, many of whom have gone on to win, like Liz Kane, All-Ireland fiddle championships.
Liz Knowles is a violinist and Irish fiddler, performer and recording artist, composer, writer, and educator and has appeared on stages around the world including Broadway, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Palais de Congres, the Barbican, and even a rainforest in Malaysia. Her artistic fascination lies in what she calls the “In-Between”–the space between the notes, the connections between ideas, the liminal places in the world, and concepts like emergence, transition, change and process. When not on stage, you can find her teaching at the New England Conservatory of Music, producing a podcast (“The Lizzes Podcast”) and working on two books, one on the In-Between and one on Practice.
Joanie Madden, a National Heritage Fellow, is recognized as one of the most influential women in Irish music worldwide, with an accomplished career as a composer, recording artist, and performer. Bronx-born, Madden is one of the great flute and whistle players of her generation—and is steeped in a generations-long musical tradition that she proudly champions to audiences around the world. She is a leading presence in the advancement of traditional Irish music, from its community grassroots to its modern presentation in the international concert hall.
Aoife Mannix is a poet and writer. She has published four collections of poetry and a novel. She has been poet in residence for the Royal Shakespeare Company and BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live amongst others. Aoife has a PhD in creative writing from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Sean McComiskey is among the most innovative 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 but in recent years has broadened his musical horizons with collaborations in Bluegrass, Appalachian old-time, jazz, and American folk music including featured performances at the Grand Ole Opry and Birdland Jazz Club NYC. In August 2023, Sean was awarded a silver medal on the melodeon in the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil.
Brendan and Siobhan McKinney are the proud owners of Chief O’Neill’s Traditional Irish Pub in Chicago, a favorite meeting place for Irish musicians, singers and dancers–and avid Irish music fans–for over twenty years. They are lifelong supporters of the arts and accomplished musicians themselves.
Ryan Molloy is a composer and pianist from Co. Tyrone, currently based in Kildare where he is Associate Professor of Composition at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. He has recorded on over thirty albums as a pianist, composer and arranger, and his repertoire spans numerous genres from traditional Irish music to contemporary classical music. In both 2020 and 2021 he was nominated in the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards Best Folk Instrumentalist category in recognition of this work. He has worked with a host of internationally renowned artists such as Fergal Scahill, Seán Óg Graham, Paddy Glackin, Neil Martin, Iarla Ó Lionáird, North Cregg, Barry Kerr, the Ulster Orchestra, and the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Ryan was awarded the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil Composer of the Year in 2024. Ryan is also reported to own a fiddle.
Lillie Morris, a native of Augusta, GA, is best known for her acrylic, collage and mixed media paintings. She specializes in abstract art, mostly non-representational. Her paintings, whether collage, acrylic or a mixture of mediums, reveal a love of texture, color and experimentation. Because of Lillie’s frequent visits to Ireland and her keen interest in Irish music, these influences can often be seen in her work.
David Munnelly is from Belmullet, Co. Mayo, and was reared in a very musical home, learning firsthand from his grandmother who taught him a love of traditional music and in particular the love for accordion and melodeon music. His unique style has led David into the world of professional music where early in his career he became a full-time member of Niamh Parsons’ band and others including The Chieftains and De Danann to name but a few. After gaining ample experience and knowledge from his exceptional peers, David formed the David Munnelly Band in 1999 and began a thirteen-year journey with his own band touring Europe, America and Japan and recording four critically acclaimed CDs. Recently David has expanded his repertoire to mainland Europe where he is currently working on several new projects.
Laurence Nugent is a virtuoso of the flute and tin whistle from Fermanagh, an area of Northern Ireland that is steeped in music. Laurence has toured throughout the US, Europe, and Japan over the last three decades. He has performed and recorded with scores of musicians, and his musical ability has been enthusiastically applauded by fellow musicians, critics and the public alike.
Andrew O’Brien and Mick O’Brien grew up in Dublin, in a family immersed in traditional Irish music. Encouraged by their Dad (Dinny, an accordion player) all five boys became fine exponents of the art form on their given instruments. Mick is world renowned as an uilleann piper, but on the track for this project (The Old Melodeon) he plays the wooden flute. Flute/fiddle combination is considered an ideal duet combination in Irish music.
Eileen O’Brien is the torchbearer of a family musical tradition spanning generations. As the daughter of the legendary accordionist and composer Paddy O’Brien, and of Eileen Seery (of the musical Seery family from Westmeath and Dublin), Eileen has spent her musical life promoting and passing traditional music on to future generations through her teaching, compositions, publications and recordings. She is an All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, and has taught and performed all over the world. Publications and recordings include The Compositions of Paddy O’Brien 1922–1991, The Fiddler’s Choice, Aon le hAon, Newtown Bridge, and most recently, Gléas by The Borúma Trio.
M. J. Patrick loves many aspects of Irish culture and “dabbles” as a practitioner in several areas of Irish artistic pursuits. He was quite taken by the mood of the painting In St. Stephen’s Green, by Walter Osborne. As an acquaintance of the editor of this catalog, he submitted a poem for consideration.
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 longtime resident of Co. Sligo, Michael has composed 19 suites of music in the past 20 years, including The Ulster Suite (2022), Clairseoireacht (2022), Constance (2020), The Famine Suite (2019), The Macalla Suite (2016), Boróimhe Suite (2014), The Second Coming (2014), De Cuellar Suite (2011) and Battle of the Books Suite (2007). Michael was awarded the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Composer of the Year in 2017.
Clodagh (Boylan) Ryan, a native of County Derry, is an award-winning musician on the fiddle, concertina and piano. Born and raised in Chicago, Sean Ryan has also won multiple awards on flute, tin whistle and uilleann pipes. Clodagh and Sean first met in 1986 at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel, County Kerry (when they were 11 and 14, respectively). They managed to find each other again years later through music. While maintaining successful careers in medicine and finance, Clodagh and Sean are committed to teaching Irish music to children, fostering a new generation of musicians and furthering the tradition that has been so rewarding to them.
John Shine was born in Dublin but grew up on the South Side of Chicago where he was first introduced to traditional Irish music on the fiddle by Phil Durkin, a native of County Sligo, Ireland. John’s involvement in Chicago’s Irish music scene began in the company of the South Side’s Irish immigrant community—musicians keen to pass on the music to the younger generation. Within just a few years of picking up the fiddle, John won first place in both the junior and senior divisions at the Midwest Fleadh Cheoil. John is also in demand as a piano player, having played piano for many years with the local céilí band Ceoltóirí Chicago. John is also a member of the Broken Pledge Céilí Band, with whom he has competed and performed on both fiddle and piano.
Dáithí Sproule is a guitarist and singer who has performed and recorded with the groups Skara Brae, Trian, Fingal and Altan as well as many other prominent Irish traditional musicians. He is a native of Derry City in the north of Ireland and has lived for many years in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where he teaches at the Center for Irish Music.
Jim Sullivan is a fourth generation Irish-American whose family came to Chicago from Kilgarvan, County Kerry during the Great Hunger. Poetry and song have been handed down to him from those generations. Jim is a Chicago attorney and singer/guitar player who has been singing at Irish pubs and festivals for almost 50 years. He did a St. Patrick’s Day radio commercial for Budweiser and has performed several times at Milwaukee Irish Fest. Jim has recorded 4 CDs of Irish music and songs. The most recent is Catch the Heart Off Guard where he was accompanied by well-known Chicago Irish musicians John Williams, Jimmy Moore and Gerry Field, and his long-time band mates Matt O’Connor, Jim Hayes and Bill Mc Nulty.
Cillian Vallely, who was taught by his parents Brian and Eithne at the Armagh Pipers Club, has established his name over the last decade through his playing with award-winning, trad Irish supergroup Lúnasa. Influenced by the rhythmic, flowing style of travelling pipers Paddy Keenan and Johnny Doran, Vallely’s mastery of chanter, drones and regulators has earned a reputation as one of the top players in the tradition. He has performed and recorded with acts as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, Riverdance, Mary Chapin-Carpenter and Tim O’Brien and performed at venues like The Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall, Paris Bercy and The Royal Albert Hall in London. He has also recorded on over 70 albums including eight with Lúnasa, his acclaimed solo debut The Raven’s Rock, Callan Bridge with his brother Niall, On Common Ground with Kevin Crawford, and The Yew & The Orchard with fiddler David Doocey.
Fintan Vallely teaches flute at the Willie Clancy Summer School, and has several albums including the 2022 Merrijig Creek with his own tunes. Also a writer and lecturer, he published the first tutor for the Irish flute in 1986, and the encyclopedia Companion to Irish Traditional Music (1999, 2011, 2024). In 2023 he was honoured with the TG4 Gradam Saol lifetime achievement award.
Niall Vallely, born in Armagh in 1970, has established himself as one of Ireland’s most significant musicians and composers. Over the years he has developed a unique approach to playing the concertina and his compositions have gained widespread acclaim both within the world of Irish traditional music and further afield. A resident of Cork since 1988, Niall completed a degree in music at UCC in 1992 and a PhD in composition in 2018. He has toured throughout the world, recorded on over 100 albums, his tunes have been recorded on more than 80 albums and he has received commissions from many bodies and musicians.
Connie Voisine is a poet, translator and Professor of Creative Writing. Her most recent book, The Bower, is a long poem about a year spent in Belfast, Northern Ireland with her family. A Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright awardee, she divides her time between New Mexico, Chicago and Northern Ireland.
Eamonn Wall is a native of Co. Wexford who has lived in St. Louis, Missouri, for the past two decades. His books include My Aunts at Twilight Poker (Salmon Poetry, 2023), From Oven Lane to Sun Prairie: In Search of Irish America (Arlen House/Syracuse UP, 2019). He is a professor of Global Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.