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CCE Musical Arts & Dance (MAD) Week 2010 Artists Back to MAD Week |
Kevin Burke, Fiddle
By 1980 Kevin had settled in the USA and was performing with Bothy Band colleague Micheal O'Domhnaill. Their two albums, Promenade and Portland, became, and remain, seminal resources for many traditional musicians. In 1985 Kevin was a founding member of Patrick Street, the hugely popular, trans-Atlantic band that has recently released its 10th album. Kevin spent much of the '90s recording and performing in a series of highly successful concert tours with Johnny Cunningham from Scotland and Christian Lemaitre from Brittany, a trio of fiddle players known as The Celtic Fiddle Festival, and he has also become a featured member of Tim O’Brien’s wonderful ‘crossover’ band, The Crossing. Although Kevin has spent much of his life playing in a group context, he has never lost his love for solo fiddle music – the “naked fiddle” as he himself sometimes puts it. This is very evident in his live solo release, In Concert, a performance of mostly unaccompanied traditional pieces. In 2002, The National Endowment for the Arts invited Kevin to Washington, DC, to receive a National Heritage Fellowship, the country's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Previous National Heritage Fellows include B.B. King, "Pinetop" Perkins, Doc Watson, cowboy poet Wally McRae, and Bill Monroe. 2005 saw the release of In Tandem with Kevin and guitarist Ged Foley. This acclaimed CD was released independently, without the aid of a record company, an experience that inspired Kevin to set up his own record label, Loftus Music. Since then Kevin has released four CDs on the Loftus label, the latest of which is entitled Suite, an exciting collaboration with Oregon arranger/composer Cal Scott. Suite is the company’s major release of 2010 and features appearances from the members of Beoga, one of Ireland’s hottest young bands. A notable highlight of the CD is "The Irish Session Suite,” a medley 10 traditional tunes arranged in 4 movements for string quartet. The New York Times describes Kevin as “a superior instrumentalist in any idiom...impressively virtuosic”; The Washington Post writes of his “lyrical style that is always emotionally electric”; and The Irish Times says that “Burke’s fiddling is one of the high spots of the current Irish musical scene.” Whether solo or accompanied, on record or in concert, Burke is an immensely engaging performer. Brendan Mulvihill, Fiddle Brendan Mulvihill's roots in Irish music run deep. Brendan's grandmother, Bridget Flynn, was a fiddler, and her brothers were all musicians as well. Brendan's father, the late National Heritage Fellow, Martin Mulvihill of County Limerick, Ireland, was a renowned fiddle player and one of the most highly respected Irish music teachers in America. Even with these powerful influences, Brendan's style is uniquely his own. [photo: Michael Stewart] Brendan’s strong tone, remarkable bow work, and unsurpassed musicianship come from a deep love of the music and from a surprising influence. Though inspired by many traditional Irish musicians, Brendan also developed a passion for classical music. This classical influence can be heard most clearly perhaps in his playing of the baroque music of Turlough O'Carolan. The final distinctive result of Brendan’s many influences is perhaps best summed up by a comment from by the Washington Irish Folk Festival program book: "...It's often said that the difference between a fiddle and a violin lies not in the instrument but in the player. If that's the case, then Brendan is not the player one should look to when trying to draw such distinctions. Here is a man whose heritage, background and training epitomize that of the fiddler, but whose full, firm tone, exquisite bow work and subtle, sensitive musicianship bear all the hallmarks of the classical violinist…." Brendan immigrated to New York with his family in 1965. In the ‘70s he traveled to Ireland playing throughout the country with his contemporaries and building a huge repertoire of tunes. During this time, he won the All Ireland Fiddle Championship. Later, Brendan moved to Birmingham, England, where he played in ceili bands and with the many Irish musicians who had also settled in the English Midlands. In 1975, Brendan returned to New York and, not long thereafter, teamed up with Brooklyn-born button- accordion virtuoso Billy McComiskey, and singer/guitarist Andy O'Brien from Kerry. The three—calling themselves The Irish Tradition— were recruited to play a six-week engagement at the new Dubliner pub in DC. They wound up staying several years and became a powerful influence in traditional music, helping to establish it as a permanent and integral part of Washington's musical fabric. During this same time period, Billy and Brendan traveled back to Ireland to win the All Ireland Fiddle/Accordion Duet Championship. After recording several albums—Catchin' the Tune and The Corner House—that showcase Billy and Brendan's extraordinary duet playing, the Irish Tradition disbanded. Brendan remained in the Baltimore/Washington area, using the region as a home base for his travels. In 1979, Green Linnet released Brendan's stunning solo recording, The Flax in Bloom, with accompaniment by Mick Moloney. Brendan appeared at the Eigse na Laoi at University College, Cork, Ireland, in 1993, and again in 1995, where he played sets with uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, fiddler Martin Hayes, and accordionist John Williams. Brendan and pianist Donna Long toured the country in 1994-95 as part of the Masters of the Folk Violin tour sponsored by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. They also recorded two notable albums together—The Morning Dew and The Steeplechase. In 1995, the duo was featured in the Washington Irish Folk Festival's evening concert, which was broadcast worldwide. In 1998 Brendan played in the PBS broadcast, Performance at the White House, for President and Mrs. Clinton and their guests. Brendan is an original member of The Green Fields of America all-star Irish concert tour. Brendan has also been interviewed by Noah Adams on NPR's All Things Considered and has appeared on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. The Washington Irish Folk Festival published the following about Brendan’s current playing style,
In the current and past few years Brendan has been leaving this impression on people at such venues as the Milwaukee Irish Festival; the Dublin, Ohio, Irish Festival; the Kansas City Irish Festival; the annual St. Patrick's Day concert at Gaston Hall, Georgetown University; the Baltimore Irish Festival; the National Folk Festival; the Friends of St. John's College concert series; the Washington Folk Festival; the Smithsonian Festival in Washington, DC; the Celtic Colours International Festival in Nova Scotia; the Philadelphia Irish Festival; the Washington Irish Folk Festival; the Institute of Musical Traditions; National Geographic; and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. He has also appeared with Billy McComiskey and guitarist Zan McLeod at The Prism Coffeehouse in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Tir na nOg pub in Somerville, Massachusetts; the Celtic Trader concert series in Charlotte, North Carolina; and many others. Brendan currently plays at various Washington venues with singer/guitarist Brian Gaffney. Michael O Suilleabhain referred to Brendan as "a rare genius." Many concur and have sought him out as their teacher. Sharing his talent with students of Irish music, Brendan has taught for several years at the Augusta Heritage Irish Week in Elkins, West Virginia; the Ceilidh Trail Summer School in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; the Milwaukee Irish Festival's summer school; and most recently at the Catskills Irish Arts Week in East Durham, NY. Brendan has also taught several rising young fiddle players in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area. Brendan received the 2005 Maryland Traditions Folk Arts and Culture Apprenticeship Award for teaching the art of traditional Irish fiddle playing. This is his fifth year teaching and performing at CCE MAD Week. Cleek Schrey, Fiddle Cleek, an enthusiastic and experienced performer and teacher of Irish fiddling, has led classes for the Blue Ridge Irish Music School and has been on staff at the Augusta and Catskills Irish weeks. As a teen in Virginia, he learned from Brendan Mulvihill, and also sought instruction from several musicians, notably Brian Conway, Marty Fahey, and Billy McComiskey. Regular visits to the home of Paddy Reynolds, the great Longford fiddler who settled in New York, helped to intensify Cleek's interest in the fiddle playing of the 78 rpm era. In 2005, he co-produced of the release of archival recordings of the late Reynolds’ surviving work. Cleek performs regularly with his longtime friend, accordion player Sean McComiskey, and pianists Matt Mulqueen and Donna Long. Cleek was a featured musician on The Raw Bar, a documentary on Irish music that aired on RTE 1 in Ireland, and most recently on Féilte, a program on Irish music in America, on the Irish language station TG4. For sound clips and more information, please visit Cleek Shay's My Space page. Donna Long, Fiddle Donna Long (vocals, piano, & Irish fiddle): At the age of five Donna Long began taking piano lessons with her father, Byron Long, a jazz/classical pianist who instilled in Donna a love for music. As a child, Donna was exposed to many different genres of music, including players from the old and new jazz eras, classical, Scottish, Indian, and African. 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. As a former member of the internationally acclaimed Irish group Cherish the Ladies, 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 to write a composition for fiddle and piano. Visit Donna's website.. Isaac Alderson, Flute & Uilleann Pipes Isaac Alderson began pursuing the craft of Irish traditional music at the age of 13 in his home city of Chicago. Throughout his teenage years he had the good fortune to study with Fermanagh flute and whistle master Laurence Nugent, and took piping lessons periodically with Al Purcell, Kieran O’Hare, and Jerry O’Sullivan, among others. At the 2002 Fleadh Cheoil in Listowel, Isaac was named the All-Ireland Senior Champion on three instruments: uilleann pipes, flute, and whistle. Now residing in New York, he has played throughout the northeast and across the country with a wide range of traditional and modern music artists. Laura Byrne Egan, Flute & Pennywhistle Laura Byrne is highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic for her mastery of the Irish traditional flute and whistle. Laura began studying flute at age 9 in her native Vermont, continued her studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore where she earned Bachelor’s degrees in both flute performance and music education in 1995. Though classically trained, she chose to devote her musical career to Irish traditional music.
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 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, Augusta Heritage Center’s Irish Arts Week, and the Baltimore Irish Arts Center.
Joshua Dukes, Guitar Josh is a highly sought- after accompanist, teacher, and flute player in the D.C./Baltimore traditional Irish music scene. He is an extremely versatile multi-instrumentalist whose talents embrace the guitar (placed 2nd at the All Ireland for guitar accompaniment in 2008 and went on to take First-place in 2009), bouzouki, bodhran, flute, and tin whistle. His musical sensitivity while accompanying incorporates his melodic knowledge of dance tunes from his flute and whistle playing. Whether he is playing a chording instrument or the bodhran, Josh tastefully supports each tune.
Shannon Dunne - Sean-nos Step Dancing Shannon Dunne has performed and taught Sean-nos Dance all over the US and in Ireland. Recent performances as a solo artist include: the Kennedy Center, ICONS Festival (Boston), UMW Sean-nos Festival, Potomac Celtic Festival and Bethel College Irish Dance Intensive. In addition to performing, Shannon teaches Irish dancing (Set and Sean-nos) to all ages, and is a recurring guest speaker on history of Sean-nos at the University of Maryland and GMU. Shannon studied with Mick Mulkerrin and Mairead Casey for two years consecutively as a grantee from the DCCAH and NEA. She returned as a DCCAH Dance Fellow in 2007 and 2008 to participate in the Ros Muc Jig Festival, as well as to study with Aidan Vaughn, Roisin NiMhainin, and John Sikorski.
Marilyn Moore - Set Dancing She conducts a pre-ceili workshop for the Emerald Isle Club in Baltimore, and calls the monthly dances for CCE and at J. Patrick's pub in the Locust Point area of Baltimore. She organized the evening dance program at the Augusta Heritage Center's Irish Week for more than 10 years, taught the dance portion of the Elderhostel program at Augusta, and has assisted the dance instructors at the Augusta and Swannanoa summer schools. She has also organized performance groups for a variety of venues, most notably working with the Chieftains on the 2003 4th of July concert on the National Mall in Washington. Marilyn enjoys helping non-dancers of all ages learn a few easy movements so that they can participate at festivals, ceilis, birthday and holiday parties, wedding receptions, and other events featuring Irish dance music. She has worked with schools, churches, civic associations and scout groups. Marilyn has traveled throughout the United States and Canada, as well as to Ireland, to work and study with internationally-known Irish dance teachers, including Pat Murphy, Timmy McCarthy, Larry Lynch, Mick Mulkerrin, Patrick O'Dea, Padraig and Roisin McIneany, Seamus O'Mealoid, Aidan Vaughan, and the late Connie Ryan, as well as master musician and folklorist, Mick Moloney. Marilyn has served on a number of boards and committees of various Irish music and dance organizations in the Washington area, participating in the management and operation of festivals, feisanna (step dance competitions), concerts, and social dances. Karen Ashbrook - Celtic Crafts & Pennywhistle In 1976, Karen Ashbrook built her first hammered dulcimer as a high school project. She attended the Eastman Preparatory School in Rochester, NY. In search of Irish music, she went overseas and spent 5 years playing in Europe and Asia, traversing the globe twice. With her delicate touch, trademark shimmering lilt, and ear for authentic ornamentation, Karen Ashbrook is considered one of the finest Irish hammered dulcimer players anywhere. Add her wooden flute and pennywhistle playing, and you have the consummate Irish musician. Irish reviewer John O'Regan calls her recordings "Celtic music for the mind and body."
Based in the Washington, DC area, Karen teaches and performs Celtic, contra dance, and Jewish music. These days she primarily performs as a duo with her husband Paul Oorts, playing his native Belgian and French music and as a trio in Pavilion 3 with percussionist Steve Bloom added. She has several recordings, both solo and with the group Ceoltoiri, on the Maggie's Music label. Karen plays the hammered dulcimer in the Irish Tradition book/CD set from Oak Publications, a standard text in dulcimer literature. She appears at numerous folk music camps and festivals around the country. Performance highlights include RTE 1-Irish National Television, the Smithsonian Institution, National Geographic, and playing at the White House for President Bill Clinton. Karen also plays with Cabaret Sauvignon. Check out her 4/13/01 performance at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage. Karen's newest CD, Spring Will Come, is a live recording marking her 30th anniversary as a dulcimer player, teacher, and advocate, and celebrates her rich musical partnerships with Ceoltoiri, David Scheim (King David's Harp, Hills of Erin), and Pavilion 3. In addition to her performing and recording career, Karen has done much to promote traditional Irish music and arts to the next generation of Irish musicians. Karen has taught and coached two-time All-Ireland winner Arjuna Balaranjan (miscellaneous Instrument, 2 different age groups). Karen compiled The Hedge School Tune Book, the compendium of traditional Irish dance tunes that is used by children’s sessions throughout the area. Karen runs a series of “Hedge School” summer camps for children of all ages each summer. She also ran a children’s session for ten years at various venues in the DC area. For details about summer camps as well as a downloadable version of The Hedge School Tune Book, please visit her website. CCE MAD Week 2010 is pleased to have Karen on board again this year to lead participants in the ever-popular daily classes in Celtic arts and crafts and pennywhistle during the daily elective period from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Myron Bretholz, Bodhran Myron has taught bodhran and rhythm bones at many workshops throughout the United States and Canada over the past 20 years, including Boston College's Gaelic Roots, Gaelic College in Cape Breton, 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 also was honored to play at the White House on four occasions during the late 1990s. He 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, he 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. Betsy O’Malley, Singing Betsy O’Malley has enjoyed, collected, and sung folk songs since her childhood years—already an anomaly in small, hometown Cranbury NJ, while her friends were grooving to the sounds of Motown. Her pursuit of songs and singing went on a back burner, as she spent the last 26 years refining her skills as an Irish tenor banjoist, performing and ceilidh-ing with Borderland, Celtic Thunder, Blackthorn Stick Ceili Band, Iona, and The Bog Wanderers. Since 2004 she’s enjoyed working in the group The Irish Inn Mates, playing with the quartet weekly at the Irish Inn at Glen Echo. It’s a band and a setting which Betsy has found ideal for renewing her love of singing and the exploration of Irish ballads. Betsy helped to found and is the current organizer for the CCE Frank Harte Memorial Singers’ Circle—an avid club of traditional Irish singers. You can hear her work as lead vocalist on the Bog Wanderers CD, So Here’s to You, released in 2004 on the Falling Mountain label. For five years Betsy taught group beginner pennywhistle classes through our local O’Neill-Malcom Branch of CCE. The branch and The Greater Washington Ceili Club assisted her financially in attaining her TTCT—the teacher’s course and certification in Irish traditional music instruction—a coveted diploma awarded at the headquarters of CCE in Dublin. This will be Betsy’s second summer offering her knowledge and joy of Irish traditional songs at CCE MAD Week. Jesse Winch, Ceili Band
Sean McMahon Orchestra, Bronx, NY, 1958 Jesse Winch is the Bronx-born son of Bridie (Flynn) and Patrick Winch, Irish immigrants who met and married in New York City in the early 1930s. Paddy Winch played the tenor banjo and encouraged all of his five children to play the Irish music he loved so much. As a 10-year-old, Jesse took up the drums and two years later started playing with his father and button-accordion player P.J. Conway for house parties and parish dances. He played in his first ceili band in the late 1950s under the tutelage of the legendary Felix Dolan. He went on to play drums with the Joe Nellany Band, Paddy Noonan, Paulie Ryan, and several other Irish dance bands in New York in the early 1960s, playing such historic venues as the New York City Center, The Yorkville Casino, The Jaeger House, and others. Mitch Fanning, Fiddle
Mitch’s passion for traditional Irish music ignited after five of his violin students at the Washington Waldorf School approached him about starting a fiddle club and learning traditional Irish dance music. This fiddle club very soon thereafter became “Pete Moss & The Bog Boys” and began to make a name for themselves by performing in school events and various local music festivals. Shortly after producing “Got Bog” a CD celebrating some of their favorite trad tunes, the Bog Boys expanded and became more than a group of fiddlers. “Pete Moss & The Bog Band” as the group is now known, continues to grow and now features the work of aspiring young men and women and features a larger number of traditional instruments, including guitar, mandolin, flute, pipes, bodhran and feet (Irish dance). The group produced On Their Own Turf, a session-like CD inspired in large measure by “Maiden Voyage” a classic traditional Irish CD featuring trad musicians at Pepper’s Bar in Martin Hayes’ home of Feakle, County Clare. The Bog Band continues to perform at venues and festivals throughout the region and this past December served as musical entertainment for the annual Christmas party at the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, DC.
Robert Spates - Fiddle
In a world of shameless web based self promotion, Robert Spates remains modestly out of the limelight. A full time performer and educator, his role is usually anonymous--backing famous pop stars or invisibly enhancing commercials and film or tv scores with his fiddle. He doesn't need a website.He stays busy enough. Like his colleague Kevin Burke, he also toured with Arlo Guthrie but has also accompanied Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Barry White, Ray Price, Christina Aguilera, Jewel, Clay Aiken, Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood,and too many other famous figures to mention. Here at home, he performs and records with many of the finest Irish musicians like Kerryman Brian Gaffney, Danny Doyle and Ronan Kavanaugh from Dublin,Seamus Kennedy from Belfast,and Conor Malone from County Clare, as well as fellow Americans Zan McLeod and Billy McComiskey. An accomplished violinist, he brings unusual control and technique to a wide range of styles,and can delight with either refined or raucous playing. He attended school in Scotland as a young teen, and its influence is evident in his predilection for hard-driving, energetic northern Irish fiddle tunes.In fact, he makes an annual pilgrimage to Donegal, where he has traded tunes with some of the Ireland's greatest fiddlers: Siobhan Peoples, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Vincent and Jimmy Campbell,and the late great James Byrne. He has been on the fiddle faculty here since the program began, and teaches at the Landon school during the year. |
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