O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat

Teaching Traditional Irish Music

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Concertina

Cormac Begley

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Cormac Begley is a solo bass, baritone, treble and piccolo concertina player from a West Kerry musical family. He also plays in a range of collaborations with Liam O Connor (fiddle), Rushad Eggleston (cello goblin), Liam Ó Maonlaí (singer and multi-instrumentalist) and Lisa O’Neil (singer songwriter). He is the founder of the Airt Residential School and the award winning Tunes in the Church live … [Read more...] about Cormac Begley

Mark Bickford

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Mark Bickford started playing Irish music on mandolin as a graduate student in Madison Wisconsin. After moving to Austin Texas in 1983 he started a session there and met Ken Fleming at Texas Irish music events (and was even at Ken and Peggy's wedding reception). He took up concertina, tenor banjo, and button accordion (B/C initially, switching to C#/D two decades later). He now lives in Ithaca New … [Read more...] about Mark Bickford

Lexie Boatright

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Lexie Boatright is an award winning Concertina and Harp player and member of the breakout Irish Trad band, The Consequences.  A sensitive and exciting performer, Lexie has performed widely on the festival circuit and taught at top summer schools across the USA.  Lexie's concertina playing is known most for her vocal-inspired phrasing over a rich foundation of chording with … [Read more...] about Lexie Boatright

Aileen Bourke

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Hailing from a musical family in Bonniconlon Ballina, is Aileen Bourke, a well established concertina player who prides herself in her North Connacht style of music. She is a graduate from the Irish Music & Dance course at University of Limerick where she received a first class honours in her degree. In recent years, she has played extensively throughout Ireland, the UK and … [Read more...] about Aileen Bourke

Erica Braverman

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Erica Braverman has been playing the concertina since 2014 and teaching beginner lessons in Austin, TX for the past three years. Playing tunes and dancing with friends always makes her smile on the inside, but it took a while for her to learn to play her instrument and smile on the outside at the same time - one of her proudest moments was when she heard that "you don't look like you have lockjaw … [Read more...] about Erica Braverman

Grace Broadhead

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Grace Broadhead is a fiddler originally from New Mexico and is now based in Nashville, Tennessee.  She found her love of Irish music through her older brothers, who handed down some CDs of Lunasa, the Chieftains, Gaelic Storm and several other Celtic groups. Grace is a member of The Southwest Ramblers, along with Dain Forsyth from Albuquerque, and Hughie Kennedy and Jason Turk from Cork, … [Read more...] about Grace Broadhead

Brianna Brown

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Brianna Brown is a talented, young multi-instrumentalist from St. Louis, MO. She is a two-time All-Ireland World Champion. At age 11, she won the 2015 All-Ireland World Championship in the under-12 concertina, and in 2016, she won the All-Ireland World Championship in the under-12 mouth organ. Brianna is the youngest American to ever win a world title at the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, and the … [Read more...] about Brianna Brown

Brenda Castles

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Brenda Castles comes from a rich tradition of music in Co. Meath, having learned concertina from Rena Traynor (née Crotty) and concertina maestro, Mícheál Ó'Raghallaigh. She has several All Ireland Fleadh titles to her name both in solo and group competitions.  Music has brought her around the world from Hong Kong to Rekjavik, Taipei to Tipperary. Brenda  is currently based between … [Read more...] about Brenda Castles

Francis Cunningham

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Francis Cunningham hails from Crusheen, Co. Clare. Described as one of the finest young exponents of the concertina with a strong emphasis on the Clare tradition. In 2019, he released an album with Carl Hession and Eimear Coughlan featuring 40 original compositions by Carl entitled ‘Úrnua’. A multi All-Ireland concertina winner, and sought-after tutor he has performed in Europe and the US and has … [Read more...] about Francis Cunningham

Brenda Dowling

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Brenda Dowling is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist from Woodlawn, The Bronx, New York. Starting with traditional music at the age of 7, she has studied tin whistle, flute, and concertina under many renowned musicians. Brenda has won numerous titles, such as championships at the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil, an All Ireland Championship, as well as an award from Comhaltas for promoting Irish … [Read more...] about Brenda Dowling

Testimonials

Former Student

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.

Read all our testimonials…