O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat

It was my first retreat and I thought the whole weekend was absolutely fabulous.  I had sort of lost my connection to Irish music and I came away from the weekend refreshed and re-energized and very present to why I love this music so much.

Of all the wonderful aspects of the retreat, though, I think the most wonderful and the most memorable was seeing the effect it had on my son. Andrew really got into the music and into playing in a way that I have never seen in him. When we got home, he and I told the rest of the family about our experiences and then went right out into the front yard and started playing music. No amount of money can buy that kind of experience and your retreat, to a large extent, helped make that happen.

Without parallel!  Never been to anything like this before that was as intense, well-organized and personalized.

Every year I am impressed with the talent and dedication at the retreat. The instructors are really interested in mentoring the students and approaching the music with generosity of spirit and an appreciation for the full context. I learned a great deal!

The enthusiasm, knowledge, friendliness and warmth of everyone was incredible.  It helped me keep my passion for the music alive.

I look forward to this retreat now every year.  It keeps growing and getting better!  Items that were on my wish list were added this year and that shows me that you guys really do want this to be something long lasting and special.

INCREDIBLE and FANTASTIC, words that just don’t quite reach high enough!

Well worth the travel time and money spent - I learned more about why Irish music sounds the way it does in three days than I ever knew before. Now I have a 'gold standard' to use as I develop my own performing skills with that style of music.

In a word – outstanding!  This is something I’ll look forward to attending every year from now on. 

This event was the most fun I’ve had all year.  I can tell you really take the musicians’ needs to heart.

Overall, I think the retreat was great. It truly is a 'retreat', i.e., you get a chance to get away from it all for a good solid weekend and enjoy learning new things, meeting new people, and having a great time. Good job to the organizers and the people that put the effort into this thing.  Keep it up!

This was my first time to attend the Retreat. I was highly impressed with how well run it was, how well organized it was and how friendly and helpful everyone was. I have attended other Irish music schools in Milwaukee and Elkins, West Virginia and the O'Flaherty's Retreat was "top notch" from start to finish.

What a lovely, refreshing weekend.  I learned a lot, and met some great folks.  I feel very lucky to have gotten to go.

I really appreciated the welcoming tone of the retreat.  It is a very safe place for beginners to be, and all of us have been and will again be beginners on new instruments.  This came through in the attitudes of the instructors, organizers, session leaders.  It seems to me that this is the core, the soul of this retreat.