Kara Doyle

Kara Doyle lives in Schenectady, NY, teaches English at Union College, and plays traditional Irish music on uilleann pipes and whistle. Kara was born in Wisconsin, and spent her youth in California. Moving to the Northeast for graduate school brought her into regular contact with traditional Irish music, and she began to play whistle in 1995. She contracted a severe case of uilleann piping fever in the late nineties, and began piping in 2001. Kara’s piping has been strongly influenced in tone, repertoire, and pedagogy by the teaching of Benedict Koehler and Brian McNamara. She admires both the tightness of Tommy Reck and the lyrical musicality of Liam O’Flynn and Mick O’Brien.

As her interest in piping grew, Kara became involved with the organization of the east coast’s largest annual gathering of uilleann pipers, the Northeast Tionól; she now serves on its board.  She has also recently branched out into solo performance, with her debut solo concert at the Boston Uilleann Pipers’ Club concert series in April 2019. Kara offers private uilleann piping and whistle lessons in person or online. She has offered piping demonstrations and workshops at the Saratoga Dance Flurry, the Lower Hudson Valley Pipers’ Club, the Northeast Tionól, the Southeast Tionól, the West Coast Tionól in San Francisco, and the Southern California Tionól.