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
Whistle
Kathleen Conneely
Born in Bedford, England, to Irish parents from Galway and Longford, Kathleen Conneely began playing Irish music at age twelve, along with her siblings, Bernadette, Michael and Pauline who taught banjo at last year's retreat. She took lessons from Co. Clare musician Brendan Mulkere, a well- regarded teacher in and around London. Her father Michael was a fiddle, accordion, and tin whistle … [Read more...] about Kathleen Conneely
Kevin Crawford
Born in Birmingham, England, Kevin Crawford’s early life was one long journey into Irish music and Co. Clare, where he eventually moved while in his 20s. He was a founding member of Moving Cloud, the Clare-based band who recorded such critically-acclaimed albums as Moving Cloud and Foxglove, and he has also recorded with Grianin, Raise the Rafters, Joe Derrane, Natalie Merchant, Susan McKeown, and … [Read more...] about Kevin Crawford
Janis Deane
Janis Deane, M.Ed., CCC-SLP is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist and has more than 30 years of experience working with patients who have voice disorders, swallowing disorders, chronic cough and vocal cord dysfunction, and those requiring voice restoration following total laryngectomy. Janis is a classically trained singer, but also an avid instrumentalist. She has played Irish … [Read more...] about Janis Deane
Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell, whose parents are from Co. Galway and Co. Cavan, was born in Manchester, England, into a musical family. Colin started playing the fiddle and tin whistle from an early age and has made a name for himself performing and recording with an array of great musicians in Europe and the U.S., including Flook, Grada, Karen Casey, John Doyle, The Elders, Julie Fowlis, Tim … [Read more...] about Colin Farrell
Brian Finnegan
Brian Finnegan from Armagh is regarded as one of the truly original and significant voices in traditional Irish music. Frontman with groundbreaking bands Flook and Kan, he has toured and recorded with a glittering array of stars as diverse as Anoushka Shankar, Cara Dillon, Rokia Traore, Bebel Gilberto, and most recently with Ed Sheeran on his Divide album. Brian’s mastery of the whistle and flute, … [Read more...] about Brian Finnegan
Kevin Fleming
Kevin Fleming started playing piano classically at a young age before beginning his journey into Irish music. He joined the TIMES Band & Session Players on bodhran and whistle, and soon ventured into learning flute as well. When he’s not playing in the band KinFolk, you can usually find him editing videos with his two dogs by his side. … [Read more...] about Kevin Fleming
Ken Fleming
Ken Fleming has been playing Irish music for more than four decades in the Dallas area on tenor banjo, button accordion, concertina, guitar, bouzouki and mandolin. His love of Irish music led him to become involved in 1983 in the formation of the Southwest Celtic Music Association and North Texas Irish Festival of which he was the founding president and founding director respectively. In the … [Read more...] about Ken Fleming
Brian Hughes
Brian Hughes has played traditional Irish music at the highest level for his entire life. Introduced to music at a very early age, Brian had appeared on television and had won county, Leinster and All Ireland titles by the time he was twelve years old. He has established himself as one of the greatest exponents of the tinwhistle, and he is also a fine uilleann piper, having studied the pipes … [Read more...] about Brian Hughes
Nolan Ladewski
Nolan Ladewski began to learn the tin whistle at 6 years old with his uncle and took up the flute at age 15. He has continued to improve his craft through the study of his favorite musicians and recordings and attended workshops in Ireland in 2000 and 2003-2004. In 2007 he attended workshops in England with tin whistle master Brian Finnegan. Nolan has also had great fortune to receive … [Read more...] about Nolan Ladewski