2024 Instructors

Liz Carroll

Liz Carroll is an Irish fiddler, composer, and recording artist. She is 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.

Liz has toured as a solo artist and with Greenfields of America, Trian, and String Sisters, and as a duo with John Doyle and most recently with guitarist-pianist Jake Charron. Liz is featured on fourteen albums and has appeared on many more. Her duet album with Jake Charron, Half Day Road, was released in early 2019. Liz was born in Chicago of Irish parents, and still lives just outside her hometown.
www.lizcarroll.com

Anna Colliton

Anna Colliton’s distinctively buoyant and imaginative playing has made her one of the leading exponents of the bodhrán, the traditional Irish frame drum. Anna has appeared with Eileen Ivers, Cherish the Ladies, Comas and the Paul McKenna Band among others, worked as a dedicated sub for the Broadway hit musical, Come From Away, and completed a three-year residency at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. She has performed and taught at dozens of festivals across the country, including Catskills Irish Arts Week, The Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, The St. Louis Tionol, CCE MAD Week, The Gulf Coast Cruinniú, Tune Junkie Weekend, and Augusta Celtic Week. As a teacher dedicated to advancing the tradition of bodhrán playing, Anna inspires students of all levels to incorporate both ‘the old’ and ‘the new’ into their playing, emphasizing the importance of personal style in traditional music. Anna is also the author of “Hide and Seek: An ears-first approach to interpreting rhythm and variation in Irish traditional melody for the bodhrán,” which is a funny little bodhrán book for intermediate and advanced players. These days, Anna performs regularly with Eileen Ivers’ project The Brigideens, and with Boston-based traditional music quartet Ship in the Clouds. 
annacollitonmusic.com

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 20’s. 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 Sean Tyrrell. Kevin appears on the 1992 recording, The Maiden Voyage, recorded live at Peppers Bar, Feakle, Co. Clare, and appears on the 1994 recording, The Sanctuary Sessions, recorded live in Cruise’s Bar, Ennis, Co. Clare. He now tours the world with Ireland’s cutting-edge traditional band, Lúnasa, called by some the “Bothy Band of the 21st Century,”with nine ground-breaking albums to their credit: Lúnasa, Otherworld, The Merry Sisters of Fate, Redwood, The Kinnity Sessions, Sé, The Story So Far, La Nua and CAS. A recent project is the Teetotallers, a supergroup trio that also features Martin Hayes and John Doyle. A virtuoso flute player, Kevin has also recorded several solo albums including The ‘D’ Flute Album, In Good Company, On Common Ground, Carrying the Tune, a duo recording with Lúnasa’s piper, Cillian Vallely, a trio project with Dylan Foley & Patrick Doocey, The Drunken Gaugers and a new recording with Lúnasa band mates Colin Farrell and Patrick Doocey entitled ‘Music and Mischief’
https://www.lunasamusic.co

Seamus Egan

It’s hard to think of an artist in traditional Irish music more influential than Seamus Egan. From his beginnings as a teen prodigy, to his founding of Irish-American powerhouse band Solas, to his current work as one of the leading composers and interpreters of the tradition, Egan has inspired multiple generations of musicians and helped define the sound of Irish music today.

As a multi-instrumentalist, he’s put his mark on the sound of the Irish flute, tenor banjo, guitar, mandolin, tin whistle, and low whistle, among others. As a composer, he was behind the soundtrack for the award-winning film The Brothers McMullen, co-wrote Sarah McLachlan’s breakout hit, “Weep Not for the Memories,” and has scored numerous documentaries and indie films since. As a bandleader, Solas has been the pre-eminent Irish-American band of their generation for the past 20 years, continuously renewing Irish music with fresh ideas, including a collaboration with Rhiannon Giddens on their 2015 album. As a performer, few others can make so many instruments or such wickedly complex ornaments seem so effortless. Music comes as naturally to Seamus Egan as breath, but his mastery of the tradition is only one facet of his plans to move the music forward.

In 2018, Seamus Egan began touring as a solo performer, bringing along friends and musical guests, and making music as Seamus Egan Project that points towards the origins of Solas in the 1990s. Originally a band of friends who gathered to enjoy the late night craic of the Irish sessions in Philadelphia and New York, Solas was able to meld the breakneck speed and fun of these late night jams with a more sensitive feel for complex arrangements and composition that came from Egan’s love of other music genres like jazz, classical, bluegrass or rock. Revisiting this period in his music, focusing on the three solo albums he cut before Solas, Egan’s looking back to that initial burst of creativity that followed the breathtaking four All-Ireland Championships he won on four different instruments by the young age of 14 and his turns as a star soloist in his later teens with Mick Moloney’s The Green Fields of America.

Growing up under the wing of powerful elder musicians, Egan’s always paid homage to his roots, but he’s thought of these roots less as a heritage and more as a universal language to be shared.

Liz Knowles

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 show 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. Liz is known as an active and engaging teacher at camps around the world as well as conducting her own online masterclasses, courses, and lessons and is currently an adjunct professor at New England Conservatory in Boston. Liz has composed and produced music for two exhibits featuring Irish art first at the Art Institute in Chicago and most recently at Notre Dame’s Snite Museum. This last year, she has produced a podcast with Liz Carroll called “The Lizzes Podcast” and is currently touring with Open the Door for Three, The String Sisters, The Martin Hayes Quartet, and a new trio with Niall Vallely and Niwel Tsumbu.  www.lizknowles.com

Kieran O’Hare

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. Among the many artists with whom Kieran has performed, toured or recorded are Mick Moloney and The Greenfields of America; fiddlers Liz Carroll and Jerry Holland; baroque performers Ensemble Galilei; the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Irish choral group ANÚNA; the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra; the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall; Bonnie Raitt; The Paul Winter Consort; Josh Groban; and Don Henley.

Kieran is a staunch advocate for and master teacher of Irish traditional music, including stints at the Willie Clancy Summer School, The Swannanoa Gathering, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, The Augusta Heritage Festival, and at various pipers’ tionols and musical gatherings around the country. Since 2007, he has collaborated with Liz Knowles on musical design and direction of large-scale European-based productions integrating traditional and contemporary Irish music with dance and song. Their most recent project has been the ‘grand spectacle’ Fête de la St. Patrick et de la Bretagne, a presentation of the music and dance of Ireland and Brittany.

For over ten tears, Kieran has performed with acclaimed 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, will be available in 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. www.openthedoorforthree.com

Nuala Kennedy

Co. Louth native Nuala Kennedy is a musical adventurer who is known world wide as a singular performer of Irish traditional music. She plays flute and sings in ‘The Alt’ alongside John Doyle and Eamon O’ Leary and in ‘Oirialla’ with Gerry O’ Connor, Martin Quinn and Gilles Le Bigot.

Nuala has graced the cover of Irish Music Magazine, Sing Out! and regularly appears on the mainstage at international festivals around the world such as Rudolstadt (GER) Celtic Connections (UK) Milwaukee (USA) Telemark (NOR) Eurofonik (FRA) National Folk Festival (AU) and Celtic Colours (CAN).

She has toured and recorded with American indie songwriter Will Oldham (an album that received 5 stars from MOJO magazine) as well as cutting-edge Canadian composer Oliver Schroer (nominated for two Canadian Folk Awards 2012). ‘Sundogs’ her latest release (2019) is a collaboration with two Norwegian musicians as SnowflakeTrio and is available on ta:lik records.
http://www.nualakennedy.com

Nuala has a unique voice within traditional music:

“Outstanding.” Huffington Post
“Cheeky, dynamic and full of ideas.” Scotland on Sunday
“A flute player and composer of remarkable finesse, fearless of the unknown.” The Irish Times

Eileen Gannon

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, a master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from University of Limerick, and the TTCT Teaching Certificate awarded by Comhalthas. 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.

Katie Geringer

Katie Geringer is a classical violinist turned Irish fiddler based in Houston, TX. An initial departure from her classical training led Katie down a path of performing bluegrass and old-time music in north Florida and around the southeast where she grew up. Once acclimated to the folk music world, she quickly gravitated towards Irish music and began listening, learning, and imitating as much as she could from recordings of notable players in the genre. 

Katie attended Florida State University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Music Education and a Certificate of Violin Performance. After teaching public school orchestra for several years, Katie’s love of Irish music led her to Ireland where she attended the University of Limerick and completed a master’s degree in Traditional Irish Music Performance. While in Ireland, Katie competed in the Limerick County Fleadh and was awarded first place in the senior division. Most recently, Katie has toured the northeast and mid-west US as the fiddle player for a dance production by Dublin Irish Dance. 

A passionate, thoughtful, and in-demand teacher, Katie has enjoyed teaching in a variety of settings like summer camps, in-school Irish music workshops, a collegiate Irish Ensemble at Florida State University, the Houston School of Irish Music, Houston Fiddle Week, the Gulf Coast Cruinniú, and the O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat. She has also presented at the American String Teacher’s Association national conference on teaching Irish music authentically in the classroom. Katie is certified to teach the Rolland Method (Level 1), a teaching method that uses healthy, relaxed movement to promote ease and fluidity in string playing, and maintains an active private studio of both classical and Irish fiddle students. 

Eamon O’Leary

Originally from Dublin, Eamon has moved between his hometown and New York City for the last twenty years. He has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe, performing and recording with many of Irish music’s great players. In addition to his performance schedule,

Eamon has taught at numerous music programs including the Augusta Heritage Center, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, the Alaska Irish Music Camp, and the Swannanoa Gathering. In 2004, he and Patrick Ourceau released a live recording, Live at Mona’s, documenting their many years hosting a session on New York’s Lower East Side, and in 2012, Eamon released a recording of traditional songs, The Murphy Beds, with Jefferson Hamer, described by the Huffington Post as “ten beautiful, crystalline songs.” He has recently teamed up with old friends John Doyle and Nuala Kennedy to form The Alt. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2014.

Robert Shaddox

Robert traveled to Cork as a young man and fell in love with the traditional music that his host family played. He has been playing bodhrán for over 25 years and has studied with bodhrán stalwarts such as Mark Stone, Albert Alfonzo and Anna Colliton. 

Robert was the bodhránist with Houston’s premier traditional Irish band, The Jig Is Up!, for the ten years of its existence. He is now featured with Houston’s newest traditional Irish band, “Hup! and is the bodhran instructor for the Houston School of Irish Music.

Robert is an Occupational Therapist by profession and has worked extensively in the rehabilitation of physical disability, psychiatric illness and industrial injury. He is a Certified Ergonomic Assessment Specialist who has given multiple presentations to industry regarding the prevention of repetitive stress and ergonomic injuries. For four years Robert was an Adjunct Professor in the School Occupational Therapy at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston. He has also led classes at The O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat on how to prevent musician’s repetitive injuries.