Steph Geremia is a force of nature in the world of Irish flute! Although born in New York, Steph has lived most of her life in Western Ireland, where she is steeped in the Sligo/Roscommon style of flute playing. Steph is a founding member of the Alan Kelly Gang, and Read more…
Cillian will be teaching various techniques for playing the uilleann pipes, along with some specially selected tunes to build your repertoire and work on your newfound piping skills! Don’t miss the chance to learn from one of the world’s most expressive pipers!
Cillian Vallely is the uilleann pipes and low whistle player with the renowned Irish band Lunasa, described as “The hottest Celtic band on the planet” (Irish Voice). In recent years, he has played and recorded with Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Merchant, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Tim O’Brien, and Riverdance in addition to recording Read more…
Frances’ general accompaniment class will help musicians of any instrument understand chord theory and how to use them more creatively, to tell a story in both tunes and songs. We will focus on rhythms as well and how to effectively use rhythm to set a mood. It’s not so different Read more…
Frances Cunningham is a Southeast Texas native and fell into Irish music through her father’s love of it. She learned the Irish Bouzouki and became a founding member of the Celtic Rock band SixMileBridge which recorded and toured heavily from the late 90s into the 2000s. She moved to Nashville Read more…
Kevin is a true powerhouse in this music. Most people know him for his 21 year (and still running) stint as flute, whistle, and bodhran player with Lúnasa. But his resume shows much more than that! Kevin has four solo albums, and numerous other recordings with the likes of Cillian Read more…
This accompanist almost needs no introduction. We are pleased to announce that John Doyle has agreed to take the Accompaniment teaching slot for 2018 PIMW in place of Matt Heaton, who has a family issue that he needs to attend to this year. You can name just about any major Read more…
Core Tunes List Each year, we put out a list of a handful of “core tunes”. These tunes are not mandatory to learn, and if you already know them, all the better! Your instructors may play through the tunes with you, and show you what kind of things they do Read more…
A native of Newfoundland, Keith is an accomplished composer and arranger in the realm of traditional music and has also composed for theater and film. He is a featured performer on well over a dozen recordings and a guest musician on numerous others. His versions of traditional songs have inspired Read more…
2014 Core Tune List Here are some core tunes for the 2014 Portal Irish Music Festival. These are generally “common” tunes, and our hope is that students either already know these tunes, or can try to learn at least some of the tunes prior to the festival. The idea is Read more…