Past Irish Night Performers
Abbots Cross
Abbots Cross is a Celtic Music duo featuring Alan Booth on guitar and vocals and Mike Clancy on Irish flutes and percussion. The combination of Booth's rich vocals and Clancy's jazz background makes for an exciting musical experience. An Abbots Cross set list includes traditional and modern Celtic songs and ballads, jigs and reels, and a little bluegrass thrown in for fun!
Alan Booth (vocals, guitar, fiddle)
Alan has been around music since birth. Both of Alan's parents are retired public school music teachers. At age 5, piano lessons began. Piano led to guitar, which led to acoustic bass, which led to fiddle, which led back to guitar, which led to singing!
Alan has a passion for people and loves to sing and play along with new people he meets. He has volunteered singing and playing music at The Washington City Mission, the Bidwell Street High-rise, the Pressley Street High-rise, and even into the Mathare Valley slum of Nairobi, Kenya!
He is an alumnus of several Pittsburgh Celtic bands.
Mike Clancy (flute, Irish flute, whistles, percussion)
Mike is a multi-instrumentalist who performs regularly in the Pittsburgh area as a freelance musician. He headed his own band, The Mike Clancy Quartet, for many years as well as working with Latin jazz/salsa groups such as Latin Impulse and La Moderna. Mike released his debut cd, "Illusions," in 1996 which features 9 of his original jazz compositions. Mike played alto and soprano saxophone, flute and congas on the recording "Illusions."
Over the years, Mike has shared the stage with Johnny Mathis at Heinz Hall and Al Martino at the Mountaineer. He also performed for several Broadway shows that have come to Pittsburgh such as Chicago, 42nd Street, and H.M.S. Pinafore.
In addition to his Irish music project with Alan Booth, Mike currently plays saxophone, flute, and clarinet with Stick-2-it (a duo featuring Dave Brosky on Chapman Stick), RML Jazz, and Grammy-nominated Grkmania (a Slovenian polka band).
Larry McCullough, Ph.D.
L.E. McCULLOUGH, Ph.D. has been performing, composing and teaching traditional Irish music on tin whistle and flute since 1972, authoring over 150 articles and books on Irish music (including the popular instructional volumes The Complete Irish Tinwhistle Tutor, Favorite Irish Session Tunes, Whistle Around the World and St. Patrick Was a Cajun) and performing on more than 50 recordings for Angel/EMI, Sony Classical, RCA, Warner Brothers, Log Cabin, Kicking Mule, Rounder, Bluezette and other independent labels, along with the soundtracks to five Ken Burns PBS documentaries.
Michael and Margaret Kepler
This brother and sister duo have been making music together for most of their lives. Michael is a Senior at Central Catholic High School, a member of the Central Catholic Rowing Team and a future heavyweight rower for Syracuse University. He plays both the Fiddle and the Bodhran and has traveled to and competed at the Fleadh in Ireland.
Margaret is a Sophomore at Oakland Catholic High School and a member of the Oakland Catholic Rowing Team. Margaret is the current Mid Atlantic Champion for U15 Irish Fiddle and Irish Fiddle Slow Airs, as well as an All-Ireland champion, having won the U12 World Irish Fiddle slow airs competition in Ennis, Co. Clare, Ireland. She is also a champion Irish dancer.
They are both students’ of the highly regarded NY fiddler Rose Flanagan and longtime students of Ramona Coppage of the WSO. They are currently the fall/spring concertmasters of the Westmoreland Youth Symphony Orchestra.
(photography by Roddy McWha)
Hollie Greenwood
Hollie Greenwood is a junior at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying double bass performance. Along with the bass, Hollie has played traditional Irish music for the past 9 years learning from New York fiddle players and music school director, Rose Flanagan. She also has a background in competition, holding medals from both the Midwest Fleadh and the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in fiddle dance tunes and slow airs. Hollie enjoys sessions and the community aspect of traditional folk music. She hopes to play wherever she goes, continue to teach both bass and fiddle, and play in an orchestra in the future.
Mike Flaherty
Mike is from the South Hills of Pittsburgh. He is an accomplished vocalist/guitarist whose rich voice well complements his repertoire of Irish ballads and songs. His influences include Tommy Makem, The Irish Tenors, and The Dubliners and his versions of “Galway Girl” and “Grace” are fan favorites wherever he goes.
He also enjoys performing 1960’s folk music as well as American country. When not performing Irish and Celtic music, he is also found on stage as an actor and singer.
Lúnasa
Lúnasa is composed of Kevin Crawford (flutes, low whistles and tin whistles), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass), Ed Boyd (guitar), Seán Smyth/Colin Farrell (fiddle and low whistle) and Cillian Vallely (uilleann pipes and low whistles).
Lúnasa have sold more than quarter of a million albums in the course of the band’s career and boast an impressive back catalogue of 7 highly acclaimed and award-winning studio albums.
The band is internationally acknowledged as being the finest traditional Irish instrumental outfit of recent times. They are renowned for their stunning shows honed by superb musicianship and a constant touring cycle. They have performed over 1,500 shows across 36 countries since the band formed in 1997. The band has appeared at internationally renowned venues such as The Hollywood Bowl, National Concert Hall (Dublin), Sydney Opera House and Moscow International House of Music. They have been invited to appear at the White House.
Their inventive arrangements and bass driven grooves have steered Irish acoustic music into surprising new territory. Their recordings have been hailed as some of the best and most important world music albums anywhere, while their blend of intelligence, innovation, virtuosity, and passion has brought them to the forefront of Celtic music.
Téada
A traditional band with a truly worldwide reach, Téada has appeared as a frequent headliner at major music festivals throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Africa, Russia, Israel and Australia. Continuing to grow in vision and popularity, Téada recently welcomed a sixth member to the line-up, legendary West Kerry singer and accordionist Séamus Begley, winner of 2013 TG4 Traditional Singer of the Year. The band recently released a smashing new album – Ainneoin na stoirme / In spite of the storm – on the Gael Linn label.
Founded by Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada, Téada first came together in 2001 to make an appearance on the innovative TG4 television series ‘Flosc’. One of Irish traditional music’s leading exponents, Téada is driven by a fascination for the timeless, expressive force of music inherited from previous generations of musicians. Irish Music Magazine describes the band as “at the cutting edge of the next generation of Irish musicians…with a fierce familiarity with the old ways.”
Séamus Begley: Singer, accordionist and storyteller, Séamus Begley comes from the Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area) of Dingle, in Co. Kerry where he grew up speaking Irish and English fluently. Seamus is a member of the famous musical family from Baile na bPoc, Ballydavid and he has been both singing and playing from an early age. “I’ve never in my life been as busy. At 66. My musical world took off at pension age. And when Oisín [Mac Diarmada] asked me to join Téada, I never thought that at 62 years of age I’d be joining a boyband. It’s been fantastic.” The Irish Times
Winnie Horan
Winnie Horan is an American fiddler of Irish descent. After classical training, she played with the all-female Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies before becoming an original member of the Irish traditional music group Solas.
Horan was born in New York City, New York to Irish parents and studied piano (taught by her father, a carpenter and musician) and Irish fiddle playing at a young age. She attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, where she studied classical violin, and the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado. She played with multiple orchestras, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, and string quartets, before joining the all-female Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies in 1990. She co-founded Solas in 1994, and is on fiddle and backing vocals. On her participation in Solas and, in particular, touring with the group, Horan expressed in a 2008 interview: “Traveling the world with Solas has been one of the best things about being in the band.”
John Williams and Katie Grennan
John Williams is internationally regarded as one of the foremost players of Irish music today. With five All-Ireland titles to his credit, John is the only American-born competitor ever to win first place in the Senior Concertina category. His additional talents on flute, button accordion, bodhran, and piano distinguish him as a much sought after multi-instrumentalist in the acoustic scene around the world.
Born and raised on the Southwest Side of Chicago, John spent his summers during college on the Southwest coast of Ireland in his father’s village of Doolin, Co. Clare. Like Chicago, Doolin became a major musical crossroads for John and countless other local and international musicians to meet and exchange music. Forming the groundbreaking Solas in 1995 with Seamus Egan, Winifred Horan, Karan Casey and John Doyle, Williams received wider recognition playing to sold out audiences internationally and earning two NAIRD awards and Grammy nominations for the ensemble's 1996 and 1997 releases Solas and Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers.
Katie Grennan is a multi-talented Irish fiddle player, violinist, and Irish step-dancer. As a solo artist, she has toured in many venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia as a dancer and fiddle player with acclaimed groups such as The Trinity Irish Dance Company, Hammerstep, and Irish tenor Michael Londra. She has also made guest appearances with popular groups such as the Chieftains, Cherish the Ladies, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and with a number of other traditional musicians such as Liz Carroll, Maurice Lennon, and John Williams. She holds a bachelor’s in Accountancy and Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Arts Management from Carnegie Mellon University with a focus on the performing arts and outreach education.
The focus of Katie’s work centers around passing along the tradition of music and dance to the next generation, and has taught hundreds of children through individual classes and workshops at educational establishments such as Carnegie Mellon University, the Trinity Academy of Irish Dance, the Burke-Conroy School of Irish Dance, and the Chicago Public School System. She is also staple musician for live Irish dance competitions and festivals and has played music for thousands of dancers across the United States.
Cherish the Ladies
When describing Cherish the Ladies – the critics say it best . . . “It is simply impossible to imagine an audience that wouldn’t enjoy what they do,” (the Boston Globe), “An astonishing array of virtuosity,” (the Washington Post), “Expands the annals of Irish music in America . . . the music is passionate, tender and rambunctious,” (The New York Times) and for the past 30 years, Cherish the Ladies have proven themselves worthy to live up to these accolades and in doing so have become one of the most engaging ensembles in the history of Irish music.
They have grown from a one-time concert concept to an Irish traditional music sensation, literally the most successful and sought-after Irish-American group in Celtic music. Organized by folklorist-musician Mick Moloney and sponsored by the Ethnic Folk Arts Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, they began as a concert series featuring the brightest lights in Irish traditional music. Taking their name from the name of a traditional Irish jig, the group initially won recognition as the first and only all-women traditional Irish band. In a relatively short time, they soon established themselves as musicians and performers without peer and have won many thousands of listeners and fans of their music. With their unique spectacular blend of virtuosi instrumental talents, beautiful vocals, captivating arrangements and stunning step dancing, this powerhouse group combines all the facets of Irish traditional culture and puts it forth in an immensely humorous and entertaining package.
They have been named Best Musical Group of the Year by the BBC, Entertainment Group of the Year by the Irish Voice newspaper, received the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall's International Group of the Year Award at the Celtic Connections Festival in Scotland, and voted the top north american Celtic act by NPR Radio’s Thistle and Shamrock.
They have shared the stage with such noted entertainers as James Taylor, Joan Baez, Emmy Lou Harris, The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem, The Chieftains, and dozens of symphony orchestras. The Celtic Album, their collaboration with the Boston Pops Symphony, led to a 1999 Grammy nomination.
The girls continue to blaze forward and continue to enchant audiences worldwide.
www.cherishtheladies.com
George Balderose
A piper with nearly thirty years of performing experience, George plays the Great Highland Pipes and/or smallpipes for weddings, concerts, festivals, funerals, birthday celebrations, and other special events. George also performs with Irish and Scottish dancers and teaches Scottish and Irish pipe music on the Great Highland Bagpipe and various types of smallpipes.
He has performed as a soloist at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh, and four times as a guest artist with the Pittsburgh Symphony at Heinz Hall. He has also appeared in concert with Tom Chapin and John McCutcheon, The River City Brass Band, Brigadoon with Point Park College, the Civic Light Opera at the Benedum, among others. A New York Times reviewer described George as having a "virtuoso's gift" and in the words of another he is a "virtuosic piper." His many competitive successes include winning the MacCrimmon Quaich for Grade One piping four times.
His piping has been recorded on H.K. Hilner's Dream Cathedral, The Dewar's Bagpipe Festival recording, A Celtic Christmas on the KRB label, as well as his own recording, Bagpipe Music Selections: Great Highland Pipes and Smallpipes. He is also a featured artist on the video Road to the Isles.
In 1978, George founded and continues to instruct and serve as Director of the Balmoral School of Highland Piping, a nonprofit corporation that produces piping instructional sessions at four or five universities across the USA each summer. In 1981 George was awarded the Senior Certificate in Piping from the College of Piping in Glasgow, Scotland. George currently serves as a Trustee of the Clan Donald Educational and Charitable Trust, and since 1989 has been a member of the Governor of Pennsylvania's Heritage Affairs Commission's Traditional and Ethnic Arts Touring Program.
Mike Gallagher
Known primarily for performing Irish and Scottish folk, this native Pittsburgher has been a constant musical presence throughout the tri-state area. Mike also specializes in contemporary acoustic music and performs a number of original selections, backing his clear tenor voice with sensitivity and versatility on the 12-string guitar. Mike comes from a musical background. His father was a professional singer on Pittsburgh radio during the depression. Mike started playing guitar at age 11 and his seven brothers and sisters are also gifted musicians.
Mary Courtney & Morning Star
Mary Courtney grew up in a musical family in the parish of Castlegregory, near the sea in County Kerry, a likely beginning for this remarkable singer and guitarist. Whether accompanying herself, or holding the rhythm line with her trad band, Morning Star, she is a consummate musician. Her music is an engaging collaboration of traditional Irish music and a progressive social conscience born of a political education in the United States. Her bodhrán (Irish hand-held drum) playing offers another dimension to her exceptional performance. Courtney has used her music to spread Irish culture and to educate her audience about the struggles of the Irish people. From rock ‘n’ roll to the ethereal strains of some ancient Celtic bard, Mary can sing anything, and sing it unforgettably.
Mary Courtney formed Morning Star in 1982 in the Bronx. Since then they have recorded several albums, and played at a variety of festivals across the USA. Morning Star is a stellar lineup of gifted musicians. Kerry-born Mary Courtney possesses a voice with a beauty, depth, and clarity of tone that few can equal.
Andy M. Stewart
Called one of Celtic music's most gifted singers and arguably the best songwriter in the entire folk tradition, Andy M. Stewart delighted audiences with his music and humor for more than three decades.
Born in Perthshire, Scotland, Andy grew up in a family noted for its fine traditional singing. He first drew the attention of the music world with his work as lead singer and instrumentalist for Silly Wizard, with whom he toured until their break-up in 1988. It was while Andy was with Silly Wizard that he gained much recognition for his beautiful interpretations of the traditional songs of Scotland and Ireland and also became known as a master of songwriting in the traditional style.
Known for his wicked wit and sterling live performances, Andy M. Stewart rates among the finest singers in the Scottish and Irish traditional genre, with a voice that "conveys more emotion in one line than most singers do in a lifetime" (Beacon Herald).
Andy recorded four solo albums: By the Hush, Songs of Robert Burns, Man in the Moon, and his most recent release, Donegal Rain. He has also recorded three albums with Manus Lunny: Fire in the Glen (also featuring Phil Cunningham of Silly Wizard), Dublin Lady, and At It Again.
Tommy Sands with Moya & Fionán Sands
Tommy Sands' reputation as a folk performer of Ireland's greatest musical traditions is never clearer than with his Irish Band. This ensemble takes the spirit of Tommy's solo work and adds to it a fuller and more dynamic sound. The band's traditional folk artistry takes on the charming character of a true Irish ceili, where musicians and friends are offered an open door and kitchen table music sessions can last well into the wee hours. The band features Tommy's children and accomplished musicians, Moya and Fionán Sands.
Tommy Sands—Enchanting. Irresistible. Charming. Three words out of many that describe Ireland's acclaimed County Down performer, Tommy Sands, who has achieved something akin to legendary status in his own lifetime.
A rare combination of singer, songwriter, storyteller, author, and social activist, Tommy's praise comes from the press and fellow musicians as well as major authors and politicians. Practicing his craft for more than 35 years, Tommy has become an integral part of the Irish folk music revival and a one-of-a kind North Ireland native, whose music often speaks louder than violence.
Since his pioneering days with The Sands Family, who brought Irish music from New York's Carnegie Hall to Moscow's Olympic Stadium, Tommy has developed into one of the most powerful songwriters and captivating performers in Ireland. His song writing, which draws the admiration of Nobel Poet Laureate Seamus Heaney and father of folk music, Pete Seeger, prompts respected US magazine Sing Out to regard him as "the most powerful songwriter in Ireland, if not the rest of the world."
Moya Sands—Moya's sensitivity to music developed early in life. Born in 1981, it wasn't long before she began to play the tin whistle, play the fiddle, and sing. As a child, Moya performed with a school choir and was featured on numerous records with her father, Tommy Sands. In 2004, Moya graduated from Queen's University in Belfast with an honors degree in languages and ethnomusicology. Moya had contentedly refrained from publicly performing music until October 2004 when suddenly she discovered that her father needed a fiddle player for a festival in Calcutta, India. Having a love of travel and adventure, she soon realized that the fiddle she had temporarily set aside was the best passport of all to fulfill her ambitions. Since then, her flair for performance and arrangements have been enjoyed by audiences in India, Switzerland, Denmark and America. Moya's passion for music is fed by a study of the classics. Her research of traditional Irish singers and musicians, like Myra Niscolai, often brings new material for her father's performances.
Fionán Sands—Born in 1980 into the Sands traditional music household, Fionán Sands was immersed in the sounds of his Irish heritage. His father Tommy Sands and fiddle-playing grandfather Mick "The Chief" Sands, along with many uncles and aunts from The Sands Family, were constant sources of musical inspiration. From a very early age Fionán experienced musicians from all over Ireland visiting the Sands house, playing and talking music from morning until the wee hours. Often young Fionán had to give up his bed to accommodate such wandering troubadours. In fact, humorous creative letters Fionán wrote at the age of eight outlining his bedless plight are still fondly kept by various wellknown performers. Now traveling the world and getting a glimpse of life from the other side of music, Fionán has moved from teeny beginnings on tin whistle to teenage electric guitar and recently to banjo and mandolin. His uncle, Ben Sands, has influenced his mandolin playing. Nearly all of Fionán's musical achievements can be traced to a family influence, for example, his first composition, "Papy's Bicycle," was dedicated to his French grandfather whose bike he borrowed during apple picking days in Normandy. Before joining his father's tour, Fionán toured with famed artist Sinead O'Connor as a guitar tech. With musical influences that include nearly everything from Bob Marley to The Chieftans, Fionán provides eclectic inspiration to the concerts, adding a fresh edge.
Hooley
Together for over a decade, Hooley is Pittsburgh's first and now longstanding traditional Irish music group. Performing often at folk venues, concert halls, colleges, ceilis and Irish festivals, Hooley has also opened for Altan, for Steeleye Span and has performed with Cathal McConnell of Boys of the Lough fame.
Oliver Browne—fiddle. Dublin born and bred in a rich musical tradition (his brother Peter is a respected uilleann piper, along with his cousin Ronan), Ollie has earned the reputation as one of the finest fiddlers playing today and he has played with the best. His session playing in Clare, Donegal and especially Belfast decades ago is still revered.
Bruce Foley—Uilleann pipes, tinwhistle, guitar, vocals. A gifted singer, musician and regarded by many to be one of the best in the United States, Bruce has performed with The Irish Tradition, Paddy Reilly, James and Kelly and regularly with Guaranteed Irish. The resident expert on uilleann pipes, Bruce has twice hosted the East Coast Tionol (annual gathering of pipers).
Les Getchell—bodhran, bones, other percussion. Flat out, one of the best traditional players in the east, Les has studied and played with the best and is a frequent member of the Irish Week staff at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia.
Bruce Molyneaux—mandolin, banjo, bouzouki. An authority on Irish traditional music, Bruce is a sought-after banjo and mandolin player. His grandmother was a concertina player from County Kerry, and introduced him to Irish music. So, it's Bruce who usually slips in a fine polka or slide.
Ray Werner—concertina, vocals. Ray has been hooked on this music ever since he stumbled upon The Willie Clancy Festival some years ago. With a particular affection for the sean-nos style, Ray is occasionally Hooley's songwriter, when they have a bent for the original.
Richard Withers—flute, tin whistle. Richard has earned quite a reputation for his remarkable flute playing and for his repertoire of tunes. He plays a beautiful flute given to him by the late Mike Gallagher, the very gifted flute and tin whistle player from Co. Sligo. Richard, in many ways was Mike's protégé.