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 TV and had won County, Leinster, and all Ireland titles by the time he was twelve years old.

After a lifetime of music, he has now established himself as one of the greatest ever exponents of the tin whistle. He is also a fine uilleann piper, having studied the pipes through his younger years at the Pipers Club in Dublin. Over the last number of years Brian has taken particular interest in the flat pitched pipes and the playing style associated with these more mellow sounding instruments.

Over the last 20 years Brian has become a highly sought-after recording artist. He has recorded albums with the largest recording companies in the country and has worked with some of the very best musicians on the scene today. He has recorded no less than eight commercial albums to date, including a major suite of music which he composed for orchestra, whistle, and pipes. His duet album of pipes and fiddle music, recorded with fiddle player Dave Sheridan, was a hugely successful album among music lovers of many genres. His latest album “When the Wind Blows Wild” is set to become known as one of the greatest whistle albums recorded to date. Each album has been met with enormous critical acclaim, and his music has been accepted and recognized globally. Brian is now responsible for the largest body of whistle music ever recorded, hugely influencing the direction of both whistle playing and traditional Irish music generally over the last 25 years.

A technically brilliant musician, Brian is known to be one of the greatest slow air players in our tradition today. His music constantly demonstrates a melancholy understanding which sits only with the deepest and most earthed of musicians. Critics have described Brian as having a lonesome touch, “having the ability to explore and unlock the haunting beauty that exists in every Irish air, and to deliver the music in a flawless almost surgical manner.”

Brian is recognized as one of the foremost teachers in the world of traditional Irish music, and due to his technical ability and his genuine love and understanding of the music, he is constantly in high demand for music schools all over Ireland, Europe, and the States. He has taught at all the summer schools in Ireland over the years, and has also taught at the Brittany Winter School, the Return to Camden Town festival in London, and of course the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in the States. He has toured extensively with different projects across Ireland, the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Canada, Nova Scotia, etc., and after 30 years of performing on whistle and pipes at the very highest level, his music still goes from strength to strength.