New York born fiddler Brian Conway is a leading exponent of the highly ornamented Sligo fiddling style made famous by the late Michael Coleman. The winner of two All- Ireland junior titles in 1973 and 1974 and the All-Ireland senior championship of 1986, Brian’s early studies were with his father Jim of Plumbridge County Tyrone and with Limerick born fiddler/teacher Martin Mulvihill. However, it was the legendary fiddler and composer Martin Wynne who taught him the nuances of the County Sligo style. Later, Brian met and befriended the great Andy McGann of New York a direct student of Michael Coleman, who further shaped his precision and skill on the instrument.
Brian remains faithful to the rich tradition handed down to him. The distinctness of his tone, the lift of his playing, and the deft ornamentation he brings to the tunes have placed him among the finest Irish fiddlers of any style, Sligo or otherwise. He has performed all over North America from San Francisco to New York and places in between such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Colorado. His talents have also been enthusiastically received throughout Ireland and the rest of Europe. He is also a noted instructor who has mentored many fine fiddle players, including several who have gone on to win All-Ireland championships.
Brian’s recordings include The Apple In Winter (Green Linnet), A Tribute to Andy McGann (Cló Iar-Chonnachta), First through the Gate (Smithsonian-Folkways), Consider the Source (Cló Iar-Chonnachta), and Pride of New York (Compass). He’s also featured on My Love is in America, recorded at the Boston College Irish Fiddle Festival, and on the documentary “Shore to Shore” which highlights traditional Irish music in New York. The Irish Echo honored Brian with the award of the Traditional Irish Artist of 2008.
Brian was the first instructor to agree to teach in Portal, and he has become a veritable Portal Irish Music Week institution!
Forty years ago, when Marla got bit by the Irish music bug, her late grandfather’s mandolin was the instrument that found its way into her hands, and soon into her heart. It has been her primary instrument and partner ever since. She has become one of the prominent voices of the mandolin in Irish music, bringing a deep and distinctive sensibility to the tradition on one of its lesser-heard instruments.
Her dynamic playing is featured on the 2017 Noctambule release A Sweetish Tune, on the eponymous Three Mile Stone recording with San Francisco favorites, fiddler Erin Shrader and guitarist Richard Mandel, and on The Morning Star, a duo CD with legendary Irish singer and bouzouki player Jimmy Crowley released in 2011. In 2020 she released her first solo recording, The Bright Hollow Fog.. Marla also plays mandola, tenor guitar and button accordion, and is a singer and a composer. She is known for her musical settings of works from a variety of poets, as well as original tunes written in traditional forms. This work is featured in the duo Noctambule, her longtime collaboration with guitarist and husband Bruce Victor. Their earlier releases include Travel in the Shadows in 2013 and The Waking in 2015. She has performed and taught nationally and in Ireland, and was a featured performer at the 2018 Masters of Tradition festival in Bantry, Co. Cork.
An experienced and sought after teacher, Marla teaches private students and classes, and has been a staff instructor at many music camps, including The Mandolin Symposium, The Swannanoa Gathering, California Coast Music Camp, Colorado Roots Music Camp, Lark Camp and O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat. She has taught at Portal Irish Music Week since its beginning! She also provides video-based instruction online with Peghead Nation, and her instructional DVD Irish Mandolin Basics: Tunes & Technique has been a popular self learning tool, focused on acquiring the foundational technique for playing Irish music on the mandolin.
Irish flute player/singer Shannon Heaton honed her traditional style at countless music sessions in Chicago, Ireland, and Boston. With guitarist-husband Matt Heaton, she has performed original and traditional Irish music to audiences on four continents.
Her compositions have been widely recorded (Battlefield Band, Childsplay, Ailie Robertson, Tricolor), and The Irish American News dubbed her 2009 Female Musician of the Year. LiveIreland recognized Heaton’s consummate stagecraft in 2010, naming her “Female Artist of the Year” for two years in a row.
Shannon has performed with numerous ensembles throughout the Northeast, including the Robbie O’Connell Band, Keith Murphy and Fair Play, Celtic Christmas Sojourn, Childsplay, and Ensemble Galilei.
Shannon is also an accomplished singer, and will be leading a traditional singing workshop and singing session!
Marty Smith has been playing traditional music for nearly 30 years. He spent much of that time playing dance tunes on the hammered dulcimer but now puts most of his focus on the Irish bouzouki and his singing!
His personal teachers have been some of the Bouzouki greats such as Andy Irvine, Aaron Jones and Roger Landes. Aside from playing gigs at pubs, festivals, and private venues, he’s also taught at music camps and school outreach programs across the Rocky Mountain region, both solo and in different collaborations in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado.
Marty has a large following on his active YouTube channel, and is fortunate enough to have played with some of the best musicians around, including a recent tour (and some live recording) with Randal Bays. Marty currently performs with Portal alumni, Pete Strickler and Johnny B. Connolly in the Colorado based band, Cóisir. 2026 will mark his debut teaching at Portal Irish Music Week!
Having spent his entire adult life being involved in music, from playing and promoting, to teaching, Pete Strickler finally found exactly what he was looking for when he was first introduced to Irish Traditional Music in his 30s.
In 2006, Pete took over the reins of leading the Small Circle Tune Learning Session in Colorado (originally founded by Matt & Shannon Heaton), and helped develop it into an incredibly popular and successful conduit for introducing people to Irish music. He still teaches the learning session weekly, gives private lessons out of his house and online, and has taught at camps including P.I.M.W. and O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat.
In 2016, Pete released his debut album, Giotár, along with accompanist Charlie Branch, and they launched their second album, Some Assembly Required, at P.I.M.W. 2019.
Pete is one of the founders of P.I.M.W., and his banjo classes have many returning students each year!
Fiddler and concertinist Colin Lindsay was introduced to Irish music as a child growing up in New York, where he had the good fortune to learn from the renowned fiddler (and Portal Irish Week tutor) Brian Conway, attend many festivals and concerts, and win the Mid Atlantic Fleadh in every age category over twelve.
After moving to western MA for college he performed at festivals and many contradances, helping to found the band Magic Foot and performing with them from Maine to Georgia. Around the same time he picked up the anglo concertina, developing an ornamented style with the help of workshops from Fr. Charlie Coen, Bernie Geraghty, and Edel Fox, as well as two years building (and thoroughly testing) new concertinas at The Button Box Inc.
Now a proud resident of Seattle, WA, Colin is a patient and passionate teacher who delights in passing on tunes and techniques. This fiddle class is for you if you want to focus on technique and tone and not so many new tunes.