An Irish Music Camp Like No Other
A tonic for the times -- spend three relaxing days in a comfortable, scenic setting saturating yourself in traditional Irish music with a community of motivated students and gifted teachers.  The 7th annual O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat will be held October 29-31, 2010 at the Hoblitzelle Camp and Conference Center in Midlothian, Texas, about 30 minutes south of Dallas.  Three 90-minute classes and an additional one-hour workshop will be taught each day.  Classes will be offered in fiddle, flute, whistle, guitar (standard, dropped-D & DADGAD), piano, bodhran, harp, uilleann pipes, button accordion (C#/D & B/C), piano accordion, concertina, tenor banjo, bouzouki, mandolin and Gaelic singing. Enrichment classes teaching Irish music history or exploring Irish music today will also be offered.  Additionally, workshops presenting music theory, use of ABCs (cyber notation), learning by ear, and basic sound system operation will be available.  A special class program just for young players ages 6-10 will be organized. 

The retreat will officially begin on Thursday night, October 28, with a “meet & greet” BBQ and bonfire.  Classes start Friday morning and continue through Sunday late afternoon.  Each evening there will be concerts by instructors and mini-concerts during meals with a “farewell” concert on Sunday evening.  On the Saturday night program, there will be a “Texas Tune & Song Tussle” which features friendly competition among ensembles that form at the retreat vying for “O’Diddley Awards.”  Sessions will be plentiful and organized by levels with some instructor-led and others not.

Looking for Sponsors, Contributors
Our retreat requires outside financial help to cover our costs. There are a number of ways you can support the retreat, so if you're interested, please go to our SUPPORT page. For all those students and sponsors who have contributed in the past, our hearty thanks!

EMAIL RETREAT UPDATES
If you are not on our email list to receive updates about the retreat, send an email to retreat@irishtradmusic.org requesting you be added. If you would like to review the updates that have already be sent, go to UPDATES. Our list is not shared with anyone else, and you will not get endless emails from us. We send out emails only when we have something important to send you.

Thank You for Another Great Year
at the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat!

Please mark your calendars for the next O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat:

October 29-31, 2010
Hoblitzelle Camp & Conference Center
Midlothian, Texas

Our Guest Instructors for 2009
June McCormack, Pat Egan and Mickey Dunne returned. New to our retreat was Manus Maguire, Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, Enda Scahill, Michael Rooney and Patty Furlong.

June McCormack is considered one of Ireland's leading ladies on flute. Joining her this year is her husband and fellow Draiocht member Michael Rooney. Michael is one of the finest exponents of the Irish harp in traditional Irish music today and also plays Anglo concertina. Pat Egan is a highly-regarded guitarist (standard tuning) and singer that more than pleased our pickers and singers alike last year. Mickey Dunne, our uilleann pipes teacher for the third year, comes from one of Ireland's most prominent musical families and is a respected pipes maker, player and teacher.

Manus McGuire, our advanced fiddler teacher for the 2009 retreat, has distinguished himself as "one of the great musicians and composers of our time" says fiddler Seamus Connelly. In 2007, LiveIreland awarded Manus male musician of the year. Joining Manus was fellow bandmate from the Brock McGuire Band, Enda Scahill, one of the most exciting tenor banjo players ever to play the instrument. His mastery of the banjo must be seen and heard to be believed.

The winner of two All- Ireland junior titles in 1973 and 1974 and the All-Ireland senior championship of 1986, Brian Conway is a New York fiddler in the Sligo fiddling style. Brian often performs and records with Brendan Dolan, widely recognized as one of the best in piano accompaniment and a great player on flute and whistle. Patty Furlong has won numerous New York championships as well as three All-Ireland titles, including one solo title. An original member of Cherish the Ladies, Patty plays the ceili circuit throughout the Tri-state New York area and concerts throughout the U.S.

And of course, we had many other wonderful instructors who are rich in their experience in teaching Irish music on their instruments. All in all, an exciting group of teachers for 2009!