This will be Karen Ballew’s 13th year to attend the O’Flaherty Retreat, and she is very excited to be teaching the Gaelic Singing workshops! Karen’s love for sean-nós singing and songs in the Irish language inspired her to teach lessons in this music, which eventually led her to found The Gaelic Youth Chorus at The North Texas School of Irish Music in 2013.
She credits Danny O’Flaherty (Karen’s first O’Flaherty singing instructor!), Denice Brown and Jonquele Jones of Cór Gaeilge Texais, Abby Green, and language teacher Matt Ragan for her interest and proficiency in this genre.
Karen also plays the harp and enjoys singing folk songs and writing songs with harp accompaniment. In 2017, Karen moved to Nashville where she has been recording and performing original songs with her band, The Deer’s Cry.