Instructors and Performers
Eimear Arkins, Fiddle/Singing
Eimear Arkins is a multi-instrumentalist, singer and dancer from Ruan in County Clare. She holds eleven solo All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil titles and has competed in all Ireland, European and World Dancing Championships. Eimear has toured extensively with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann on concert tours throughout Ireland, Britain, North America and Canada. She has represented Ireland in France as a performer at Rennes Expo and in Spain as a participant in La Noche Negra, a cultural collaboration and exchange between the Mid-West of Ireland and the province of Asturias.
For the past eight summers, Eimear has performed with the internationally renowned show Brú Ború and was part of the troupe that represented Ireland at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. In August 2015, Eimear traveled to World Expo 2015 in Milan with St. Louis Irish Arts where she promoted not only Irish culture but the expression of Irish culture worldwide.
Eimear has toured and performed with numerous groups including Cherish The Ladies, The Paul Brock Band, Trinity Irish Dance Ensemble and Téada. She is a regular teacher at St. Louis Irish Arts and has given workshops at various festivals throughout the world..
Eimear released her debut album, What’s Next? in June 2018 to great acclaim. Most recently she was awarded Newcomer of the Year 2019 by liveIRELAND.
Myron Bretholz, Bodhran
A native and current resident of Baltimore, Maryland, Myron has lent his talents as a percussionist to more than fifty recordings of Irish, Scottish, and other folk music. Since the late 1980's, Myron has taught bodhran and rhythm bones at many workshops throughout the United States and Canada, including Boston College's Gaelic Roots, Gaelic College in Cape Breton, the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Texas, and the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, New York. In March 2000, Myron was privileged to receive a Maryland State Arts Council grant for solo instrumental performance, and he was also honored to play at the White House on four occasions in the late 1990's and early 2000's. In addition, Myron's prodigious knowledge of the history and lore of Irish tunes has led to his being invited to contribute liner notes to a number of recordings over the past quarter century, and he is often called on to emcee at concerts and festivals as well. Myron received early inspiration and instruction in bodhran from Jesse Winch and in rhythm bones from Karen Seime Singleton, and also counts among his influences the playing of Robin Morton, Peadar Mercier, Jim Sutherland, and Johnny McDonagh. And although not a dancer himself, Myron also draws inspiration from Irish step dancers, and he reckons that the ideal percussionist should be able to do with his or her hands what dancers do with their feet. Myron's relaxed and humorous teaching style has made him an in-demand workshop leader and instructor, and he is always willing to encourage novice players.
Pat Broaders, Bouzouki
Pat Broaders grew up in Dublin, the son of parents from Wexford. He began his journey in traditional music at the age of eight and attended the School of Music in Chatham Street in Dublin. He started out on the whistle, and later moved on to the uilleann pipes under the tutelage of Leon Rowsome. He took up the bouzouki in 1988, inspired by the sounds he grew up hearing from bands like Planxty, and the popularity of the instrument in Dublin’s vibrant traditional music scene. Pat’s singing began naturally enough. His father was a singer, and having grown up around Dublin’s singing tradition, it was a natural step for him. Pat’s repertoire today reflects his interest in the great songs of the Irish tradition as well as songs and ballads from the English and Scottish traditions.
Pat has performed and recorded with Dennis Cahill, Liz Carroll, and Martin Hayes, as well as a host of other musicians in and around Chicago. He has also fostered a healthy career outside of Chicago, playing with such musicians as John Doyle, Paddy O’Brien, Mick O’Brien, Robbie O’Connell, and Danú. Pat is currently a member of the trio Open the Door for Three, with uilleann piper Kieran O’Hare and fiddle player Liz Knowles.
Catherine Marafino Brice, Sean Nos Dance
Catherine Marafino Brice is an Irish step dancer living in Annapolis, MD. She specializes in sean nós dance, old-style Irish step dancing, and has studied American tap dance and flatfooting. Fusing these influences together, she has created her own style of improvised percussive dance that is lively and unique. Catherine began Irish step dancing and tap dancing as a child, and as a teenager learned from Emily Oleson and Matthew Olwell of Good Foot Dance Company. She also learned many of Dan Furey's set dances from Michael Tubridy. Catherine has a long love-affair with traditional steps, but she is most impressive for her ability to improvise them. Among dancers in Washington and Baltimore, she is highly regarded for her aptness to devise new dances that are musically and choreographically entertaining.
Catherine enjoys ceili dancing and has started calling dances in the Annapolis, Baltimore, and DC region. She is a regular caller at the monthly Baltimore Family Ceili and the Annapolis Crabtown Ceili. She founded the Annapolis Ceili Club in 2023, which is a club for people to learn basic ceili dances and popular set dances in a fun and stress-free environment. She teaches old-style Irish dancing classes at her home studio, Pendenny Studio, which she shares with her husband, Peter Brice.
Laura Byrne, Artistic Director/Flute
Founder and Director of the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest, Laura Byrne is highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic for her mastery of the Irish traditional flute and whistle. Laura has performed at festivals, ceilis and concerts in the U.S., Canada and Ireland including venues such as the Kennedy Center, Birchmere, several National Folk Festivals, and the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, NY.
Laura has recorded two solo albums (Tune for the Road, 2005 and Lucky Day, 2010). She recorded with New York based fiddler Rose Flanagan (Forget Me Not, 2014), and with the Old Bay Ceili Band (Crabs in the Skillet, 2011). Laura is a two time grant recipient of the Maryland Traditions Master Apprentice award - as a ballad singer apprentice in 2007, and then in 2011 as a Master of flute, and received the Individual Artist award in performance from the Maryland State Arts Council in both 2010 and 2011.
Liz Carroll, Fiddle
Liz Carroll is an Irish fiddler, composer, and recording artist. She is a National Heritage Fellow, the first Irish-American musician to be nominated for a Grammy, and the first American-born composer honored with the Cumadóir TG4, Ireland’s most significant traditional music prize. She has toured as a solo artist and with The Green Fields of America, the group Trian, as the duo Liz Carroll & John Doyle, String Sisters, and as a duo with guitarist and pianist Jake Charron. Featured on fourteen albums and appearing on many more, her duet album with Jake Charron, "Half Day Road," was released in 2019. Liz has written a swath of music most recently for projects like Trinity College Dublin and Notre Dame's "Who Do We Say We Are," and the most recent, "Artists of All Kinds" – a collection of new music for paintings and other art work in the O'Brien Collection.
In 2020, she published a second volume of her compositions, "Collected II," following the sold-out success of her first volume, "Collected - Original Irish Tunes." Liz just completed a Patreon page that centered on composing music, and she currently shares a Patreon page with fellow instructor Liz Knowles, called, "The Lizzes Podcast."
Liz was born in Chicago, Illinois, of Irish parents, and is proud that she was recently inducted (2020) into the Irish American Hall of Fame.
photo by Marianne Mangan
Joanna Clare, Fiddle
Joanna Clare, who hails from Central New York, is a well-respected Irish fiddler and violinist and recently released her debut album, To Keep the Candle Burning. The album features NEA National Heritage Fellow Billy McComiskey, and All-Ireland champions Brian Conway and Josh Dukes, along with Myron Bretholz, Sean McComiskey, Matt Mulqueen, Catherine O’Kelly, and Liam Presser.
At the age of three, Joanna began learning classical violin through the Suzuki method. When she was eleven, she began studying Irish fiddle with Brian Conway who was highly instrumental in her musical development. Joanna has won many awards including five championship titles in the annual Mid-Atlantic Fleadhanna Ceoil (Irish music competitions) which are run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (the Irish Traditional Musicians’ Association). In August 2021, she was awarded runner-up for the senior fiddle slow airs competition at the FleadhFest in Sligo, Ireland.
Joanna has performed at numerous festivals, including the Syracuse Irish Festival, the Rochester Irish Festival, the Maryland Irish Festival, the New York Trad Fest, and the Philadelphia Folk Festival. She teaches Irish and Suzuki violin in the Baltimore area privately and for the Baltimore Irish Music School, and performs with local ensembles Celtic Corridor and the Mount Clare Connection.
Sarah Collins, Fiddle
Sarah is, among many things, a fiddle player based in the Baltimore/DC area, with deep ties to the Boston traditional music community. She plays mostly Irish music these days but grew up steeped in the Scottish music community, having lived in Edinburgh as a kid. You can find her on staff at various fiddle camps throughout the year (Pure Dead Brilliant Fiddle Weekend, Boston States) or at regular Irish sessions in DC and Baltimore.
Sarah is a co-founder of the pandemic project, Ministry of Folk, and is a passionate community member and builder within the folk music scene. She is currently working with Richard Osban to co-produce monthly concerts for the Baltimore Folk Club.
Sarah has collaborated with many talented musicians over the years, including Jonathan Vocke, David McKindley Ward, Eamon Sefton, Marty Frye, Conor Hearn, Maura Shawn Scanlin, and Kate Gregory.
Kathleen Conneely, Tin Whistle
Born in Bedford, England, to Irish parents from Galway and Longford, Kathleen began playing Irish music at age twelve, along with her siblings, Bernadette, Michael & Pauline. 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 player from Errislannan, Co. Galway, and the Conneely home was always filled with music from records and live sessions with many visiting musicians.
Over the years, Kathleen has lived in London, Dublin, Chicago & Boston, where there was always a lively traditional Irish music scene, which has helped to sustain her passion for the music. She has taught for Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann both in Dublin and Boston, at the Boston College Irish Studies program; Gaelic Roots, the Irish Arts Week in the Catskills, and the Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, NC.
She released her first solo CD, The Coming of Spring, in 2012.
Pauline Conneely, Tenor Banjo
Pauline was born in Bedford, England. The youngest of four children, she was raised by Irish parents, economic migrants who were themselves steeped in Irish Music, Dance, and Culture. Like many such Irish households in the UK and America in the 1960’s, these homes were filled with the sounds of music and dancing on a daily basis. The Conneely children were encouraged by their parents, and indeed their mentors (one of whom was Brendan Mulkere) to experiment with a variety of different instruments, with Pauline eventually electing to concentrate on the banjo- although that focus didn't stop her from becoming a Champion Irish step dancer.
Since her first visit to the USA in 1988 as a musician and dancer with Ceomhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Pauline has made her home in Chicago. She has shared the stage with, and has become close friends with, most of the well-respected Irish artists performing on the world stage today, including Liz Carroll, John Whelan, John Doyle, Daithí Sproule, The Chieftains, Cherish the ladies, Sean Keane, Mick McGoldrick, and Troy MacGillivray. In addition to performing, Pauline has also been a regular instructor at many Irish traditional music festivals including the Catskills Irish Arts Week, Irish MAD week in DC, and Baltimore Irish Trad Fest. She released her first solo CD, All Because, in 2016.
Brendan Dolan, Piano/Ensemble
For the past few years, Brendan has served as the permanent substitute lecturer for the “Introduction to Celtic Music” course at NYU. As archivist at NYU’s Tamiment Library, he processed the five-part Irish-American popular culture collection and provided social media outreach through museum exhibits, blog posts, theater productions and original lectures.
Brendan was also general music instructor and choral director at St. John’s Preparatory School (New York City) and at Franklin Central School (Franklin, NY), where he taught children from pre-kindergarten through grade 12. In addition to teaching general music to younger students and music electives to high school students, he directed elementary and high school choruses.
After receiving a B.A. degree in classics from Brown University, Brendan received a second B.A. in music and jazz studies from SUNY New Paltz. He received a master’s degree from New York University in Irish and Irish-American studies and an advanced certificate in archives, also from NYU. He has New York State permanent certification in vocal and general music for grades K-12.
Megan Downes, Social Dance
Megan Downes grew up dancing in New York City's traditional Irish music community before moving south to work with one of the best bluegrass bands in the country as a principal dancer with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, directed by Eileen Carson and Mark Schatz, with Jon Glik, Danny Knicely, Matt Olwell and Kristin Andreassen.
Megan is now the Artistic Director of New York's City Stompers, calling squares and teaching old-time flatfooting. You may have danced with her over the years at the Augusta Heritage Center, Watermelon Park or Lincoln Center's Midsummer Night Swing.
Josh Dukes, Bodhran
Josh Dukes is an All-Ireland champion accompanist and a highly sought after music teacher in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. A multi-instrumentalist whose talents embrace the guitar, bouzouki, bodhran, flute, and tin whistle, Josh has established a reputation for providing sensitive, tasteful support for traditional Irish music.As a young high school student, Josh studied the oboe, tenor/alto saxophone, drum set and baritone horn. Outside of the classroom, he learned the art of ancient rudimental drumming under the tutelage of Dominick Cuccia, a widely respected instructor/performer in the fife and drum community. In 1997, Josh enlisted in the Army and earned the rank of Master Sergeant, having served as one of three Drum Majors for the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, "The Official Escort to the President," the only military unit of its kind.
Josh continues to perform Irish music, having shared the stage with such renowned musicians as John Doyle, Paddy Keenan, Billy and Sean McComiskey, Brendan Mulvihill, Skip Healy, Zan McLeod, and Myron Bretholz. Josh was also a member of the Old Bay Ceili Band. Josh lives in Northern Virginia with his wife Judy and two daughters, Mya and Olivia.
Seán Earnest, Guitar
Guitarist and bouzouki player Seán Earnest’s empathetic and eclectic musical stylings have taken him far from his native central Pennsylvania. He is among the most sought-after American Celtic musicians today and can be heard on stages throughout North America and beyond. Having cut his musical teeth in the Irish music sessions of New York and Baltimore, Seán honed his guitar and bouzouki craft while studying at the University of Limerick’s Irish World Academy of Music & Dance. Seán has been a faculty instructor for the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat in Texas, the Milwaukee Irish Fest Center, as well as the Celtic College at the Celtic Roots Festival in Goderich, Ontario, and the Augusta Irish Week.
Seán has performed with many of Irish music’s luminaries including John Carty, Billy McComiskey, Brian Conway, Kevin Burke, Damien Connolly, Dr. Mick Moloney, Joanie Madden, Kevin Crawford, Oisín Mac Diarmada, and many others. As an accompanist, he has worked with a number of vocalists including Cathie Ryan, Seamus Begley, Colleen Raney, The Murphy Beds (comprised of Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer), Kyle Carey, as well as the international touring troupe Women of Ireland. He features on recordings by Clare accordion and fiddle player Damien Connolly as well as Baltimore flautist Laura Byrne. Seán tours regularly throughout North America and beyond with the Irish group Téada, the Paul McKenna Band from Glasgow, and his own band The Yanks, with whom he has toured Ireland and released two albums to great critical acclaim.
Catrióna Fee, Concertina
Catrióna Fee is a concertina player from Cold Spring, New York who is currently based in Washington, D.C. She is a triplet, the sister of Mairead Fee and Angela Fee, who play the flute and the fiddle respectively. Having two other musicians in the house had a profound impact on her playing, leading her to emphasize the importance of playing in a group rather than focusing solely on solo playing. She got her start on the concertina with Ann Dillon, and greatly benefitted from the local music scene in Cold Spring. Catrióna studied concertina with Lexie Boatright and Patty Furlong, and her style is also influenced heavily by the playing of Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Mícheál Ó Raghallaigh.
Catrióna is a multiple Mid Atlantic Fleadh champion on the concertina and has competed several times in the All Ireland Fleadh. As a youth she played in ceili band and grupa cheoil competitions in the US and Ireland with the Pearl River School of Irish Music.
Catrióna has taught concertina at the Catskills Irish Arts Week and and to individuals of all ages. She also had the privilege of teaching the concertina to and recording with Steve Martin for the first season of the hit TV show 'Only Murders in the Building.'
Rose Flanagan, Fiddle/Ensemble
Rose Conway Flanagan originally began Irish music lessons with Martin Mulvihill while growing up in the Bronx, and further developed her New York Sligo style of fiddling with the help of family friend and mentor Martin Wynne and her older brother Brian Conway. In 2013, Rose was inducted into the Mid Atlantic Region CCE hall of fame alongside her father Jim and her brother Brian.She currently has a large music school in her hometown of Pearl River where she is preparing the next generation of great traditional musicians, which includes several All-Ireland winners and medalists.
Among Rose’s past students are all the fiddlers in Girsa and senior fiddle champion Dylan Foley. Rose is a coveted instructor and has taught at most Irish music workshops and camps around the country, including Catskills Irish Arts week, The Swannanoa Celtic Gathering, The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, The Baltimore Trad Fest, and MAD Week in the U.S., DeDanaan Dance Camp in British Columbia and Scoile Eigse in Cavan and Sligo, Ireland.
In addition to her teaching, Rose runs sessions and performs both with her group the Green Gates Ceili Band and in various concerts throughout her local area. Rose also has a strong connection to the Baltimore area - aside from teaching at the Trad Fest, she also released a duo CD in 2014 with flute player Laura Byrne from Baltimore, Forget Me Not.
Eileen Gannon, Harp
Eileen Gannon has been lighting up the St. Louis music scene for many years. Eileen, a St. Louis native, is one of the top Irish harp players in the world. She has won numerous accolades including the highly coveted Senior Harp title at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (World Irish Music Championships). She has a bachelor’s degree in Music Performance from St. Louis University and a master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from University of Limerick. Eileen has toured and performed all over the world and is a regular tutor at international festivals like the Catskills Irish Arts Week, and Scoil Eigse. Eileen also represented Ireland at World Expos in 2010 in Shanghai, China and in 2015, in Milan, Italy. Eileen launched her debut solo CD, The Glory Days Are Over in 2017, and has appeared on albums with Tommy Martin, Bernadette NicGabhann, Eimear Arkins , Kevin Buckley, and Robert Ryan.
Eileen studied classical harp with Laura Hearne and spent most of her summers growing up studying with various harp masters in Ireland. Many of Eileen’s students have now won honors in All-Ireland competitions. She also holds the TTCT teaching certificate awarded by Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Eileen was a member of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and has performed with the Clayton and University City Symphony Orchestras. Eileen has also appeared with the Musical Diversions Society Orchestra and the St. Louis Women’s Chorale.While studying in Ireland, Eileen taught at the Limerick Municipal School of Music and performed regularly at Dromoland and Bunratty Castles.
Steph Geremia, Flute
Steph Geremia, traditional flautist and singer, is recognized as a vibrant and versatile face on the traditional music scene. She has been described by Irish Music Magazine as “one of the most promising young flute players around” and “an unexpected treasure.” Her 2009 debut album, “The Open Road,” named as one of Folk World’s “top ten trad albums of 2009,” received critical acclaim at home and abroad and has helped establish her as an internationally distinguished flautist.
A long-time Irish resident, Steph hails originally from New York where she first began playing traditional music. She left the States in her late teens and began traveling the world over, engrossing herself in different traditions of music learned firsthand from local experts. After studying various types of music in her youth, she moved to County Sligo and immersed herself in the Sligo/Roscommon style of flute playing. She was taken under the wing of several of the noted players from that area and spent many years surrounded by great traditional stalwarts, such as Peter Horan, with whom she played with regularly for several years. She holds a masters degree in Traditional Irish Music Performance, which she completed at the University of Limerick and is now based in Galway where she teaches and performs on a regular basis as well as continuing to tour internationally.
Steph performs and tours regularly as part of the Alan Kelly Gang. Over the last number of years, she has had the opportunity to perform and teach at top festivals across the globe. Steph is also a member of the recently formed Swedish, Irish and Scottish super group, Sea Road Sessions, and has toured and guested with critically acclaimed artists including Grammy award winning Chieftains, Eddi Reader, Johnny ‘Ringo’ McDonogh (De Dannan), Kris Drever, Ian Carr, and Líadan.
Eliot Grasso, Whistle/Flute
Eliot Grasso is one of the foremost Irish musicians in North America. Critics say that his “intuitive sense of melodic and technical variation make him one of the most creative and dynamic musicians in the contemporary world of Irish traditional music,” and “one of the finest uilleann pipers in the history of Irish music in America.”
He has performed for the National Heritage Awards, for President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton at the National Endowment for the Arts Awards, for Irish President Mary Robinson, Irish Ambassador to the United States Sean O hUigin, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, President of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams, and other heads of state.
Eliot has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Constitution Hall, the Library of Congress, the National Building Museum, National Geographic, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral (Dublin, Ireland), Stirling Castle (Stirling, Scotland), and the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, MD).
He has also appeared as a guest artist on National Public Radio for “A Prairie Home Companion” with Garrison Keillor, and for RTE’s Irish traditional music program “The Rolling Wave,” presented by Peter Browne in Dublin, Ireland. Eliot has performed with actor Russell Crowe, The Chieftains, the Green Fields of America, Distinguished Global Professor of Ethnomusicology Dr. Mick Moloney, and Ensemble Galilei.
Liz Knowles, Fiddle
Liz Knowles’ fascination with music has always been rooted in how one can arrive, land, and leave a note. Her early foundations were in classical music but her discovery of Irish music connected the dots between memories of her grandfather’s singing, a lifelong exploration of modal melodies in Early music, and the “In-Between”, a life theme for Liz that illuminates the challenge and vitality of the liminal places in life and music.
Liz has established herself as a dynamic performer and recording artist as soloist on the soundtrack for “Michael Collins”, fiddler with “Riverdance”, Broadway’s “The Pirate Queen” and “The Green Bird”, soloist with the New York Pops and featured artist for the Ireland 100 Festival at the Kennedy Center. She was music director and producer for several stage shows and recording projects that toured Europe, Asia and South America. Her compositions and arrangements of tunes and songs have been recorded by John Whelan, Flook, Chicago’s Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, Liz Carroll, Beolach, Bachue, J.P. Cormier, Michael Black, John Doyle, and Ensemble Galilei. In addition to serving on the faculty at the New England Conservatory, she has an active online teaching schedule of lessons, seminars, and presentations on various topics, some of which have been presented by organizations such as New York’s Irish Arts Center, and Music Network Ireland and is a highly sought after teacher in the Irish music world both here in the United States and abroad.
Donna Long, Piano
Donna Long was born in Los Angeles, California. When she was five years old, she began taking piano lessons with her father, Byron Long, a jazz/classical pianist who instilled in Donna a love for music. In 1978, she moved to the Baltimore area and heard fiddler Brendan Mulvihill playing Irish music. He inspired her to pick up the fiddle and gave her a solid foundation in style and playing. She then began to accompany him on the piano, and is now considered one of the finest pianists playing Irish music today. Along with Brendan Mulvihill, she has recorded two duet albums, The Steeplechase and The Morning Dew.
Donna passed her music on to her son Jesse Smith and helped produce his first solo recording entitled The Hurricane. In addition to these recordings Donna can be heard as a guest artist on many recordings backing up other musicians and also on the motion picture soundtrack Out of Ireland. A former member of the internationally acclaimed Irish group Cherish the Ladies, she has recorded five CDs with them. In the year 2000, the Smithsonian Institution asked Donna to represent Irish Music in the series Piano Traditions celebrating 300 years of the piano. Donna was also commissioned by the Library of Congress in 2001 to write a composition for fiddle and piano. She wrote a slow air called “Before the Snow Falls,” and a reel to accompany the air called “Pandora’s Box.” These tunes were performed by Cherish the Ladies and can be found in the Library of Congress. Donna currently teaches Suzuki piano, Irish piano, and Irish fiddle in the Baltimore/Washington, DC area. Her first solo CD, Handprints, was released in June 2003.
Billy McComiskey, Button Accordion
Billy McComiskey, a Brooklyn native, plays in what he loosely describes as the East Galway Style of Irish accordion music. He is a protege of the late Sean McGlynn from Tynagh, Co. Galway. To this day he still plays Sean's rare 1940's vintage gray Paolo Soprani box. In the mid 1970's, before moving to Baltimore, Billy helped to establish the still thriving Irish Music Scene in Washington DC. He moved to Baltimore in 1980 with his wife, Annie, and since that time, he's helped put Irish Traditional Music on the map in Maryland.
Billy holds four All Ireland Championship titles, two (gold and silver medals) with Brendan Mulvihill for their superb duet playing, and two (silver and gold ) for his work as a soloist. Billy won the coveted All Ireland Championship for the Button Accordion in 1986. He is one of only two American box players to be so honored. His friend and student John Nolan is the first American to win this award. Billy is the second. Billy has also received one of the highest honors a traditional musician can be awarded: the 2016 NEA National Heritage Fellowship.
Billy is a composer of tunes, a good few of which are played in Ireland and America alike. He's made quite a few recordings with some of the mightiest musicians playing Irish Music today, including the Irish Tradition, Trian, Green Fields of America, and the Pride of New York. He's played and performed throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Ireland, England and Scotland.
Sean McComiskey, Button Accordion
Sean McComiskey is among the most innovative young performers on the button accordion, with a unique harmonic style that has earned him a spot in the pantheon of Irish accordionists far beyond his native Baltimore. As the son of legendary button accordion player and National Heritage Fellow Billy McComiskey, Sean has been surrounded by Irish Traditional music his entire life and has developed a deep appreciation for the rich tradition of which he is a part. This has helped Sean establish a reputation as a highly regarded teacher and promulgator of Irish music and earned him teaching positions with the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Augusta Heritage Center’s Irish Arts Week, the Chris Langan Traditional Irish Music Weekend in Toronto, the CCE Musical Arts and Dance (MAD) Week in Washington, DC, the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest, and the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival.
In addition to being a highly regarded teacher, Sean has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe. He's recorded albums and toured with groups like NicGaviskey, the Old Bay Ceili Band, and O'Malley's March. In 2014, Sean snd three other local musicians formed the Baltimore-based acoustic roots group, Charm City Junction, with whom he still regularly records and tours. He was featured on Kieran Jordan's recording of traditional Irish set dances for listening and dancing called Cover the Buckle.
Meghan Mette, Concertina
Originally from Portland, Maine, Meghan Mette was raised in a rich confluence of fiddle and dance traditions in New England. At a young age she began her journey in Irish music with her teacher, Seamus Connolly, learning techniques influenced by Connolly's Clare style as well as stylistic inputs from many of Seamus' world renowned friends and musical colleagues. Meghan had the opportunity to join Seamus on some of his tours in New England and Ireland, participating in high profile festivals such as the Gaelic Roots series and the Hughie Gillespie Festival. She collaborated on Connolly's book and music collection, contributing her own compositions as well as recording some of Seamus' original works.
As a young woman, Meghan attended University College Cork in Ireland, where she studied Irish traditional music with Matt Cranitch, Connie O'Connell, and Geraldine O'Callaghan. She became immersed in the Cork and Kerry styles, and had the opportunity to perform at the Cork Opera House alongside the likes of Tara Breen and Caitlin Nic Gabhann. She finished her degree by organizing a recital of her own compositions. Although she focused on fiddle technique and performance while studying in Cork, her experience there sparked an interest in learning to play the concertina. Surrounded by masters of the instrument, she was inspired to translate her expertise in the tradition to this new context. Since returning to the U.S., Meghan has immersed herself in the concertina tradition, studying with the likes of Chris Stevens, Lexie Boatright, and Catriona Fee. She now lives, studies, and teaches fiddle and concertina in Baltimore, Maryland.
Meghan also has a rich background in music education. She began teaching private and group fiddle lessons in her youth, and has since taught fiddle, percussive dance, and concertina at music camps and festivals. She has also had the honor of giving workshops in idiomatic styles of Irish fiddling, through venues such as the School of Musical Traditions here in Maryland.
Kieran O'Hare, Pipes
Kieran O’Hare is a highly respected and sought-after performer of traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipes, concert flute, and tinwhistle. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where he continued the process of learning the tradition of uilleann piping from master pipers.
In 1994, Kieran received the honor of being the first American-born player of Irish music invited to perform in the annual ‘Ace and Deuce of Piping’ concert, held in Ireland’s National Concert Hall. Since then, he has made countless appearances at festivals and concerts across Europe, North and South America, Japan, and China. Since 2007, he has collaborated with his wife, the fiddle player Liz Knowles, to compose, arrange, and perform the music for large-scale European-based productions integrating traditional and contemporary Irish music with dance and song. Their most recent project has been as musical and artistic directors in France for the ‘grand spectacle’ Fête de la St. Patrick et de la Bretagne, a presentation of the music and dance of Ireland and Brittany.
Kieran performs with the trio Open the Door for Three, along with Liz Knowles and Dublin-born bouzouki player and singer Pat Broaders. Their fourth album together, A Prosperous Gale, was released in spring 2024. He has served on the Board of Directors of Ná Píobairí Uilleann in Dublin, an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of uilleann piping worldwide, as well as the board of The Northeast Tionól, North America’s largest uilleann piping event.
Richard Osban, Guitar
Richard Osban is a driving and dynamic guitarist based in Baltimore, Maryland. He got his start with Irish music while living in Europe, and toured internationally with several Irish and Scottish music projects before returning to the US. He currently tours with Irish trio the East Coasters, who have recently released their first studio album.
In addition to his work as a musician, Richard is also an arts organizer. He serves as assistant director of the Baltimore Trad Fest, director of the Baltimore Irish Tenor Banjo Summit, and organizer of the Baltimore Folk Club concert series and the montly Baltimore Ceili. He is also the director of the Baltimore Irish Music School, where he teaches guitar backing and tenor banjo to private students.
He has instructed at several international workshops, including Folksounds Elmstein, Celtic Folk Weekend Regensburg, Irish MAD Weekend, CelticFest Mississippi, the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, and the annual Irish weekend in Ismaning.
Eamon Sefton, Guitar
Born and raised on traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, and Cape Breton, Eamon Sefton has established himself as one of the top fretted instrument players in the American Celtic music scene. He has performed both locally and internationally with some of the top traditional musicians inside and out of the US, including Liz Carroll, Alasdair Fraser, John Doyle, Hanneke Cassel and many others.
An All-Ireland qualifier, Eamon was featured on RTE One's Fleadh Cheoil 2023 program broadcast from Mullingar. In 2017 he performed at Celtic Connections, one of the top traditional music festivals in the world.
In addition to being the fretted instrument instructor for Boston's Comhaltas traditional Irish music branch, he teaches across the US at music programs including Alasdair Fraser's Sierra Fiddle Camp, Boston State's Fiddle Camp, Pure Dead Brilliant Fiddle weekend, and Fiddle Hell. In 2023 Eamon was the lead vocalist and guitar player of the Germany-based Irish music and dance show, Celtic Rhythms. He was also the guitarist for the USA tour of the Irish dance sensation, Taste of Ireland.
Dáithí Sproule, Guitar
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Guitarist, singer and teacher Dáithí Sproule is a native of Derry in the north of Ireland and has lived for many years in Minnesota. He was a member of the seminal group Skara Brae with Maighread and Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill and their brother Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, with whom he was one of the first people to introduce the guitar tuning DADGAD into Irish music, and he has recorded and performed around the world with many of the greats of Irish traditional music, including Trian (with Liz Carroll and Billy McComiskey), Fingal (with James Keane and Randal Bays) and, for more than thirty years, with the Irish band Altan. Other musicians with whom he has performed include Tommy Peoples, Seamus and Manus McGuire, Peter Ostroushko, James Kelly, Laura MacKenzie, Dolly Parton and Minnesota blues great Dave Ray. His compositions have been recorded and performed widely.
Dáithí Sproule has also had a life-long commitment to Irish language and culture. His studies on Early Irish poetry and history have been published in the magazine Comhar and in Ériu, a journal of the Royal Irish Academy. His collection of short stories in Irish, An Taobh Eile, was published In 1987. Dáithí has taught Early and Medieval Irish at University College Dublin and courses on Celtic culture, mythology and history at the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota. He has been a teacher at the Center for Irish Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, since 2006.
John Walsh, Banjo/Mandolin
Dublin native, John Walsh, likes to say he was a late-comer to the music. He is an acclaimed tenor banjoist, mandolinist, and vocal performer who has been perfecting his craft for over 40 years. Although he grew up in a musical family, he didn't start playing banjo till around 1981. After leaving school in the seventies, John turned to fishing for full-time employment.
It's from this community that he found, and still finds to some degree, his extensive repertoire of tunes and songs. John was on the Speakers Bureau of the Alaska Humanities Forum and is considered to be the “state's foremost authority on traditional Irish music & culture.” Over the year’s John has performed at various schools and libraries around the state, and has toured extensively in the lower 48. John’s playing style has many influences, but his major influence would have to be Barney McKenna: “The man who put the banjo on the map in Irish Music.”