Tim Britton – Saturday Night Concert
Hailed as “a phenomenon” by TIME magazine in his twenties, Tim Britton is renowned for his emotive playing of the uillean pipes, flute, and whistle. Born into a family central to the Philadelphia folk scene, at ten he became fascinated with his Celtic roots and was soon playing the weekly ceilis at the Irish Center. At fifteen Tim received a grant to go Ireland for the second time, prompting a newspaper to acclaim him, “a discovery.” Tim has since performed with the cream of the Irish music pantheon, appearing on over fifty records beginning with several produced by Mick Moloney, with whom he toured in the 70s and 80s. Tim toured with Na Casaidigh, Chulrua and Bua among many others. He has played on A Prairie Home Companion and All Things Considered. Tim is also in demand as a sound engineer, producer and consultant.
Annie Callahan – Singers Night Performer + Family Ties Showcase – Saturday Rambling House
Annie Callahan is one of the most promising young singers in Irish music in America. A student of renowned Tipperary vocalist Dierdre Scanlan, Annie sings traditional Irish ballads with contemporary and folk influences. An eager collector of songs, Annie has amassed her growing repertoire from the likes of Eimear Arkins, Nuala Kennedy, and Liz Hanley. This summer, Annie represented Philadelphia in the All-Ireland singing and lilting competitions in Wexford.
Brendan Callahan – Saturday Night Concert
Brendan Callahan is an Irish fiddle player from Philadelphia. A four-time All Ireland medalist, Brendan learned his music from legendary fiddle player Brendan Mulvihill in Washington DC. Brendan’s style blends regional fiddle styles of the north and west of Ireland, with distinctly American influences from Appalachia, cajun/zydeco and big-city blues. A teacher for more than 25 years, Brendan has worked with hundreds of students from around the globe and developed a curriculum of more than 1,500 common Irish melodies. Also a noted composer, Brendan has written numerous tunes that have been adopted into the Irish idiom, by casual musicians and recording artists alike.
Ryan Callahan – Family Ties Showcase – Saturday Rambling House
Ryan is one of the foremost young pianists in Irish music. Combining the deft touch of his teacher and renowned virtuoso, Donna Long, with the influence of leading lights like Colman Connolly, and Brendan Dolan, Ryan’s music combines adept melodic expression with explorative harmonic ideas. A champion soloist and accompanist, Ryan has performed at the hallowed Philadelphia Folk Festival, and other venues throughout the Mid-Atlantic US.
Alec Charon – Kitchen Dance Workshop
Bobby Graham – Sunday Ceili Dance Caller
Bobby Graham is the director of Graham Family and Friends Ceili Dancing. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Havertown with ancestral roots from County Mayo Ireland Bobby has been a promoter of Irish Ceili dancing for over 45 years throughout the tristate area and current instructor for the PCG.
Jefferson Hamer – Saturday Night Concert
Jefferson Hamer is a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and recording producer living in Brooklyn, NY. He is best known for his collaborations with Anais Mitchell (Child Ballads, recipient of a BBC2 Folk Award), Sarah Jarosz (as guitarist and harmony singer on her Grammy-nominated Blue Heron Suite), Session Americana, and other solo artists including Kristin Andreassen, Reed Foehl, and Laura Cortese. His original songs are featured on his self-released albums and singles, including the full-length Alameda. Perhaps his most enduring collaboration is The Murphy Beds, a harmony-rich folk duo with Irish musician and songwriter Eamon O’Leary, featuring a self-titled LP and the follow-up Easy Way Down. He can frequently be heard backing New York’s finest in the Irish sessions around NYC.
Terry Kane – Singer’s Night Host
Terry Kane grew up in a proud community of Irish-Americans. Their families had emigrated to the fingerlakes region in New York, at the time of the potato famine, from farms in the west of Ireland. As the youngest of 11 children, Terry can’t remember a day without song and dance; harmonizing with her mother and siblings. Tap dancing and square dancing were also a part of every week but Terry’s mother was proudest of her grandfather and father’s Irish step dancing and the history of set dancing the family continued among the local Irish farmers on “Paddy’s Hill.” Terry received many honors in her high school choir and band programs and went on to pursue a music teaching career, performing in the 1980 Winter Olympic Choir and earning her Master’s degree from Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY. Since 1983 she has taught
music first in public schools and now at her private studio. She has released 6 Irish recordings. She sings and accompanies herself on guitar, banjo, and mandolin, performing traditional Irish music as well as Baroque mandolin music and a wide range of 20th century popular songs. Since moving to Philadelphia over 20 years ago, her main focus has been to study the Irish language and singing in the sean nós style Once a month, Terry leads a singing session monthly at the Commodore Barry Club which is free and open to the public. www.TerryKaneSings.com.
The John Kelly Memorial Session – Saturday performers
The John Kelly Memorial Session is in honor of John P. Kelly who was born in Sligo, Ireland. John is a seminal figure of Irish music and culture in Philadelphia. He loved the Irish music and played it from when he was a child learning from his Uncle. Open and giving to anyone who wanted to learn our tradition, Mr. Kelly led the music for the Philadelphia Ceili Group’s Friday night ceilis from the mid 70’s until he died in 1990. John’s gift for passing his music on is truly one of the foundations of today’s Philadelphia’s Irish music tradition. The John Kelly Memorial Session consists of tunes from his repertoire and anecdotes about John by musicians who have learned from him and play in his tradition.
Connie Koppe – Irish Fairy Tales & Ghost Stories
Patricia Loomer – Children’s Irish Language
Patty Loomer is an Irish language teacher in Havertown. She has been studying the Irish language since 2001. She is a member of Daltaí na Gaeilge, an Irish language learning community. Her in-person classes are held at the Irish Diaspora Center on Darby Road in Havertown. She also does classes on Zoom. She has been teaching for just a few years now and her classes are geared toward beginner and advanced beginner level. If you are interested in taking some classes you can contact her at mpjwloom@verizon.net or 610-331-8434.
McDermott’s Handy – Friday Nite Ceili Dance
Next Generation – Saturday Day performers
Every month, Dennis and Kathy (McDermott’s Handy) and Chris Brennan-Hagy run a session for young musicians at the Irish Center, Carpenter and Emlen Streets in
Mt. Airy, Philadelphia from 1-3pm. The first hour is devoted to teaching one or two new tunes. Players of all levels are welcome. All tunes are taught “by ear” in small groups. You can bring a recording device (lots of people these days use their smart phones). At the end of the hour, all the musicians reassemble in front of the fireplace for the session. Each player gets to kick off the tune of their choice and anybody who knows it joins in. Many of the tunes we’ve already taught can be found in Dennis’ Tunes. The session is an outgrowth of the first Irish-American Children’s Weekend the teachers originally coordinated for the Garden State Discovery Museum in 1998. The event proved to be so much fun for all the youngsters involved that the teachers wanted to keep the diverse grouping of musicians connected in some way. “We have a wide range of ages who come” Kathy says, “including some adults who just want to learn some tunes. There’s always room for one more. “The sessions keep getting better and better as more tunes are learned”. The predominant instruments at our session are fiddles, naturally, but we certainly welcome the flute and tin whistle players. Kathy always brings a harp in case a harp player comes (we certainly wish we had more of these). Accordions, concertinas make appearances at our session too. Any generally-accepted instrument for traditional Irish music is encouraged. We suggest that every participant who comes has a basic knowledge of how to play their instrument, whatever it is. Due to the time constraint, we cannot take the time to show absolute beginners the fundamentals. Any parent and child are certainly welcome to come and “sit in” and listen to how the afternoon is conducted and see what it’s like. We’d love to meet you and your budding musician.
Keira Noonan – Family Ties Showcase – Saturday Rambling House
Keira is a champion fiddle & bodhran player and instructor at the Baltimore Irish Music School, inspired by her mentors Solas founding member
Winifred Horan and acclaimed fiddler and composer Brendan Callahan. Her drumming style is informed by her extensive dance experience and her studies
with Cara Wildman.
Claire Noonan – Family Ties Showcase – Saturday Rambling House
Claire, a World Championship qualifying Irish dancer and All-Ireland medal-winning melodeon player, is influenced by the musical lineage of button
accordion greats, through the tutelage of her teacher, Sean McComiskey. Claire performs regularly with the Teelin Irish Dance Company, alongside mentor,
Maureen Berry, and sister Keira.
Open the Door for Three, Saturday Night Concert
Open the Door for Three is Liz Knowles, a fiddler from Kentucky, Kieran O’Hare, a piper from Kansas and Pat Broaders, a singer and bouzouki player from Dublin. The implied narratives derived from these points of origin would be only a tiny window into the vast richness of a life in Irish music. Knowing that this richness exists is the starting point for understanding the music of Open the Door for Three- a rare combination of unearthed tunes from collections dating back to the 1700s, newly composed tunes, fresh and new arrangements of songs, old and new, homages to the musicians and bands they grew up listening to, and the signature sound of a trio of good friends playing great music together. The trio formed after spending nearly four years traveling together overseas and they are a well-oiled machine of crafted arrangements and powerful music.
Liz Knowles – Every time Knowles laid into one of her foot-stomping reels, she’d set the auditorium ablaze.” – Channing Gray, Providence Journal-Bulletin Arts The Riverdance band is “a nine-piece band which marvelously performs a wide array of music for the various dance forms. Most impressive was hell-for-leather fiddler Liz Knowles.” – Rick Pender, City Beat Liz Knowles has brought her distinctive sound—the fire and finesse of Irish fiddle music combined with the tonal richness of the classical violin—to concert stages and festivals across the world. Her auspicious beginnings as the fiddler for Riverdance and as soloist on the soundtrack for the film Michael Collins established her as a virtuosic and versatile performer, and she has since performed as soloist with such orchestras as the New York Pops, she was a member of the renowned Cherish the Ladies, played on Broadway with The Pirate Queen, traveled the world for over four years as Music Director and performer with Celtic Legends and, today she performs with another all-star female super-group, the highly acclaimed String Sisters, and the newly formed Martin Hayes Quartet. Liz first distinguished herself as a violinist in New York City, performing in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and Broadway, with such artists such as Marcus Roberts, the Bang-on-a-Can Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Paula Cole, Steve Reich, Eliot Goldenthal, Rachel Barton, Don Henley, and Tim O’Brien. It was also in New York that she discovered her true passion for Irish music. Today, she is well respected on both sides of the Atlantic. Liz is also established as a well-known and sought-after teacher of Irish music. She has taught at many tionols and workshops across the US and in Ireland. Her compositions and arrangements of tunes and songs have been recorded and performed by John Whelan, Flook, Chicago’s Metropolis Symphony Orchestra, Liz Carroll, Beolach, Bachue, J.P. Cormier, Michael Black, John Doyle, and Ensemble Galilei. In 2016, Liz co-produced a cd and performance project alongside Liz Carroll with the Art Institute of Chicago as a part of their special exhibit, Ireland:Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840. This project, OTD43, String Sisters, and the Martin Hayes Quartet are indicative of a maturity in her music, a conscious choice to incorporate the entirety of her musical life into the music she plays, writes and performs today.
Kieran O’Hare – Kieran O’Hare is a highly respected and sought-after performer of Irish traditional music on the uilleann pipes, concert flute, and tin whistle. 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 in North and South America, Japan, China, and Europe. Among the many artists with whom Kieran has performed, toured or recorded are Mick Moloney and The Greenfields of America; Cape Breton fiddlers Jerry Holland and JP Cormier; Nashville songwriter Gordie Sampson; Irish vocalist Danny Doyle; the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra; Bonnie Raitt on VH1 Storytellers; The Paul Winter Consort; Josh Groban; and Don Henley. Kieran has worked extensively in designing music for the stage, and is in great demand as a session musician and as a teacher of Irish music. In 2002, Kieran appeared in a musical role in the Sam Mendes film Road to Perdition. In 2006-2007, Kieran was featured on Broadway in The Pirate Queen, written by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, and produced by John McColgan and Moya Doherty of Riverdance. In 2007-8, Kieran was a featured performer on the PBS special presentation “Celtic Origins” with the Irish choral group ANÚNA. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2010 as a soloist with the New York Pops Orchestra and most recently, with Liz Knowles, Kieran toured the world for over four years as musical director, contractor, and performer with the France-based show Celtic Legends. Kieran serves on the Board of Directors of Na Píobairí Uilleann in Dublin, Ireland, an organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of uilleann piping worldwide.
Pat Broaders – Pat Broaders grew up in Dublin, the son of parents from Wexford. He began his journey in traditional music at the age of eight. 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. In the early ’90s, moved to Chicago and on top of holding one of the longest running Irish music gigs in the history of Chicago at Kitty O’Shea’s, he has performed and recorded with Dennis Cahill, Liz Carroll, and Martin Hayes, John Doyle, Paddy O’Brien, Mick O’Brien, Robbie O’Connell, and Danú. He has a long-standing relationship with the Norwegian new age musical group Secret Garden and Kongshavan Studios. In another long-standing relationship, Pat has toured with Jimmy Keane and Bohola for over 15 years. Pat toured with Celtic Legends in an incredibly demanding role as the sole backer and singer in the show, an Irish music and dance show that has toured Europe, Asia and South America. When he is not performing, Pat teaches the pipes and operates Pipedream Studio. He has engineered albums for Liz Knowles, Larry Nugent, and Celtic Legends, and tracks for Bohola and Liz Carroll.
The Rookery – Saturday Day Rambling House
The Rookery infuses its Irish Traditional Music with an eclectic and dynamic blend of influences, creating a fun-filled atmosphere of old-world charm brimming
with energy and enthusiasm. Rob Curto (accordion/guitar) expanded his roots as a New York-based pianist through studies with the great Billy McComiskey, and continues to push his own boundaries through klezmer, Latin and jazz. Maura Dwyer (fiddle) carries her training as a classical cellist into a style which produces not only soaring lines, but also refined texture and complex counter-themes. Eamon Kelly (bouzouki) put years of experience as a classical bass player together with his passion for
Irish music, becoming an emerging star in the world of both accompaniment and melody. The group presents a wide variety of traditional dance tunes from around the Emerald Isle, bringing the audience alongside them on a musical journey of discovery.
Timoney Irish Dancers
Under the direction of Rosemarie Timoney, the Timoney Irish Dancers promote Irish Culture though step and ceili dancing for children and adults. For more information 215-885-2304 or by email at rosemarietimoney@yahoo.com.
Mrs. Timoney encourages dancing for the joy and fun found in the Irish culture. We are a non-competitive dance group that offers affordable lessons, costumes and dance shoes. Our family friendly environment is ideal for anyone looking to get started in Irish dancing or to continue dancing at a non-competitive level. We offer step dancing classes as well as Ceili dance classes for ages 5 and older. While we don’t compete, we do encourage our dancers to preform for various events in the Philadelphia area.
Martha Wright – Songs in Irish Workshop