| "Sparkling, innovative,
exciting. The musicians and dancers were magnificent." --The Boston Globe.
Mick Moloney combines the
careers of folklorist, arts presenter and advocate, and professional musician. He is an
accomplished singer as well as an excellent mandolin and tenor banjo player and possesses a
vast storehouse of songs and instrumental pieces from the Irish and Irish-American tradition.
He has recorded and produced over fifty albums and has participated actively in the great
revival of Irish music in the United States. He has hosted three nationally syndicated series
of folk music shows on American Public Television; was a consultant, performer and interviewee
on Bringing it All Back Home, a participant, consultant and music arranger in the 1994 PBS
documentary film Out of Ireland and a performer on the 1998 PBS special The Irish in America:
Long Journey Home. In 1999 he was awarded the National Heritage Award from the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Robbie O'Connell is one the
finest singer-songwriters in Irish music in America. Now
living in the Boston area he originally comes from County Tipperary where he learned much of
his early repertoire from his illustrious uncles The Clancy Brothers. He went on to explore
other repertoires and started writing his own songs in his teens. Before long Robbie had
blossomed into one of the most inventive songwriters and arrangers in the folk scene and he
is now one of the foremost singer-songwriters in American as well as being an excellent singer
of traditional Irish songs. He has toured nationally on many occasions with the Clancy
Brothers and also with Mick Moloney, Jimmy Keane, The Green Fields of America and many other
musicians. He has recorded and performed on scores of CDs.
Jimmy Keane born in London of Irish-speaking parents, immigrated to Chicago from
Ireland with his family in the early 1960's. His late father James, was a sean-nos (old style)
singer who actively encouraged Jimmy to take up traditional music. In his early teens he began
playing music with his Chicago contemporaries, fiddler Liz Carroll, and flute-player and
stepdancer, Michael Flatley. Jimmy has achieved astonishing and unprecedented success in
competitive playing by winning five consecutive All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil's on the piano
accordion and is regarded by many as the instrument's finest exponent. Jimmy has recorded
and toured extensively with such luminaries as Mick Moloney, Seamus Egan, Eileen Ivers,
Robbie O'Connell, Liz Carroll and Dennis Cahill. He has produced numerous recordings and
is an arranger and composer of music, of which many of his compositions have become part of
the mainstream in Irish Music around the world.
Sean Cleland born in Milwaukee of Irish-American parents was raised in Chicago. He
began studying classical music at the age of seven and briefly studied with fiddler Liz
Carroll in the 1970's. Sean has won numerous Midwest and North American Fleadh Cheoil's Titles
on the fiddle. In 1989, Sean founded the alternative Irish/Celtic rock group The Drovers,
recorded, and toured extensively with them until 1999. He has appeared and performed in two
major motion pictures: Backdraft (1991) and Blink (1994), and currently is the premier teacher
of Traditional Irish Music in Chicago.
Dana Lyn first heard traditional Irish music six years ago whilst living in San
Francisco. She has since immersed herself in Irish fiddle music and has performed extensively
throughout the Bay Area, including appearances at the San Jose Guinness Fleadh and the
Sebastopol Celtic Arts Festival. She has had numerous engagements abroad, including
performances at Ireland's Cork City Everyman Palace Theater, the Irish Music Festival in
Anchorage, Alaska, a three-week tour of Japan with guitarist Junji Shirota, with whom she
has recorded a solo album, and numerous concert appearances with Mick Moloney. Dana holds
a Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory and is currently based
in New York City where she one of the rising stars in Irish music.
Martin Reilly is one of the most outstanding young accordion players in the Unites
States. He studied with the late Maureen Glynn in his early teens and since then has played
with many of the finest musicians in the Eastern United States. He is a familiar figure in
the New York area where he plays regularly in concerts, sessions and festivals often with his
sister Marie. He has performed as a guest artist with the Green Fields of America and has
toured nationally as a featured performer in Riverdance.
Niall O'Leary is a former World and all-Ireland champion from Dublin,
Ireland. Has been performing in festivals, theatrical shows and concerts for over fifteen
years. He founded the Niall O'Leary School of Irish Dance in Dublin in 1995 and in New York
in 1996. He choreographed the first ever multi- national Irish dance team in the World
Championships in 1996, and since then has choreographed many major shows and competition
dance routines. He performs regularly as a solo artiste, with various bands, with The Niall
O'Leary Irish Dance Troupe and with other dancers in the New York area.
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