2024 Performers
Joanie Madden & Friends, featuring Bruce Foley
JOANIE MADDEN is considered one of the greatest musicians and personalities in the history of Irish music in America. She was born in the Bronx, New York of Irish parents, and is the second oldest of seven children raised in a musical household. Her mother Helen hails from Miltown Malbay, County Clare and her father Joe, an All-Ireland Champion accordion player, was a native of Portumna, County Galway. In 2021, Joanie was named a recipient of the distinguished National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the highest award bestowed on a traditional artist and is considered a national living treasure to the country for her musical contributions to the cultural fabric of America.
In her early years, Joanie was exposed to the finest Irish traditional music listening to her father and his friends play music at family gatherings and social events. She began taking lessons from legendary flutist Jack Coen, and within a few short years she won the All-Ireland Championship on both the concert flute and tin whistle. In 1984, Joanie became the first American to win the coveted Senior All-Ireland Championship on the whistle.
Throughout her musical career, she has amassed a plethora of awards and citations. Her merits include being the youngest member inducted into both the Irish-American Musicians Hall of Fame and the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Hall of Fame, she was chosen for the Wild Geese award, where she joined an impressive list of previous honorees including Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, Tony award winning playwrights and Nobel prize laureates. Irish America Magazine selected her twice as one of the Top 100 Irish-Americans in the United States and Earle Hitchner of the Irish Voice newspaper also named her Traditional Musician of the Year, all for her contributions to promoting and preserving Irish culture in the United States. In 2010, Joanie was forever immortalized on the streets of her native Bronx when a street was named after her on the Grand Concourse: “Joanie Madden and Cherish the Ladies”. In 2011, she was bestowed one of the nation’s highest awards as she was chosen for the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, joining an illustrious list of distinguished American citizens including six United States Presidents all singled out for their exemplary service to the United States. In 2012, Joanie was selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Irish Music Awards and also named a recipient of the esteemed USA Artist Fellowship Grant, including her as one of the most innovative and influential artists in America. In 2013, she was named Grand Marshal of the Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade and in 2015 Joanie was named County Clare Person of the year. Her impact on Irish music has been revered around the globe and for that reason, the Irish Voice Newspaper named Joanie Madden one of the top 25 Irish American’s for the past quarter century. In 2016, Irish America Magazine named Joanie Madden, one of the Top 50 Most Influential Irish-American Women in the World.
Madden is a successful recording artist in Irish traditional music having sold over 500,000 solo albums. She is in constant demand as a studio musician and has performed on over 180 albums with such luminary artists as Pete Seeger, Sinead O’Connor and the Boston Pops. She also performed and or helped arrange three Grammy award-winning albums; “Pete,” with folk legend Pete Seeger; “Celtic Solstice” with Paul Winter and Friends as well as the soundtrack to the PBS documentary, “The Long Journey Home – The Irish in America.” She was the featured soloist on HBO’s Emmy nominated documentary, Barbaro The Nations’s Horse, the Emmy nominated BBC America’s television series, Copper and was presented with a Peabody Award for the ESPN documentary entitled, “The Complete Angler”. She produced a PBS / American Public Television special, “Cherish the Ladies, An Irish Homecoming” that won a Mid-Atlantic Emmy. Additionally she has worked and has been a featured soloist in Ric and Ken Burns’ critically acclaimed PBS documentaries “New York” and “The Way West.” Her involvement on the “Celtic Twilight” series of CD’s led to two platinum albums with over 1,000,000 in sales. She has toured with the Eagles’ Don Henley and was a featured soloist on the final Lord of the Rings soundtrack.
Since its inception in 1985, Joanie has been the leader and driving force behind the all-female Irish music and dance troupe, Cherish the Ladies. As the group enters it’s 34th year, her devoted, tireless leadership of Cherish the Ladies has been crucial to that ensemble’s growing global appeal. As the first full time all-female ensemble, she continues to break down barriers as she leads the group around the world to perform in the finest venues while representing the strong roots and pride as Irish-American ambassadors of Celtic
Joanie has become one of the most visible Irish musicians in the world over the past three decades. Not only is she renowned as a composer but also as a highly energetic and invariably entertaining stage performer. Her huge repertoire of music spans a wide range of expression, from exuberant dance tunes to slow, stately and evocative pieces. She is a consummate musician and one of the most mercurial and revered figures in Irish music today.
Bruce Foley
Bruce Foley was born and raised in upstate New York and is the 6th of 12 children. After 2 years at college he dropped out to travel on the road with 3 musicians from Ireland in a group known as Carolan's Kind. He continued to tour for more than 5 years with various Irish musicians throughout the northeastern United States, gaining a broad repertoire of tunes and ballads along the way, including short tours as a piper and whistle player with Tommy Sands of Rostrevor, Co. Down. The highlight of their performances was at Madison Square Gardens in NYC playing for Pete Seeger’s 90th birthday in front of 25,000 people. Other performers at that 4 hour event included Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, and Arlo Guthrie, to name a few - all singing “Goodnight Irene” together at the end of the concert. Bruce is self-taught on guitar and whistle. He regularly travels to Ireland and takes pleasure in performing with local musicians there and also performs periodically with Cherish The Ladies.
Sean Patrick Regan
Sean Patrick Regan is a 3rd-generation piper and a 4th-generation teacher. Consistently ranked among the top solo competitors in the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association, and with a 20-year track record of supporting music education, his path was set when he realized a singular passion in teaching and performance at the age of 12.
Seven years later he followed that passion into higher education, first earning a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education, and then a Master of Music Performance, using the Great Highland Bagpipe as his major instrument.
Our Masters of Ceremonies:
Ray Werner
Ray had a good run in the advertising business and was elected into the Ad Federation Hall of Fame. He then turned to his first love, playwriting, with a dozen or more plays produced. His musical Shantytown, The Ballad of Fr. James Cox, will premiere this fall. Ray is a Board Member of Move a Mountain Missions, which moves mountains for the most vulnerable. He is also on the advisory board for Bro. Andre’s Cafe, which is staffed by amazing and talented young people with IDD. He and Susan are proud their 3 sons graduated from Central Catholic and were good friends of Brendan Foley, who continues to inspire Irish Night.