Monday 22nd – Friday 26th July 2024 | 10am – 1pm | Ulster University, York Street, BT15 1ED

Zoë Conway effortlessly combines a background steeped in Ireland’s rich aural music tradition with a strong founding in classical music. She has toured worldwide and has appeared in many prestigious concert halls including Carnegie Hall, New York, The Kremlin Palace, Moscow and The National Concert Hall, Dublin. Her versatility as an instrumentalist has allowed her to perform across a broad range of genres, from guest soloist with world renowned orchestras, to touring with Riverdance and working with mainstream international acts such as Rodrigo y Gabriella, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan and Nick Cave among others. She has released two solo albums, both critically acclaimed, and has also released a live DVD, Zoë Conway Live. 

Founding member of Lúnasa, Sean Smyth from Straide, County Mayo is a multiple All-Ireland champion on both fiddle and whistle. His classic 1993 solo debut, ‘The Blue Fiddle’, introduced his music to the traditional music touring world and was named one of the year’s ten best albums by The Irish Echo. Sean appears on several other recordings including ‘Ceol Tigh Neachtain’, ‘Music at Matt Molloy’s’, Brendan O’Regan’s ‘A Wind of Change’, Alan Kelly’s ‘Out of the Blue’ and ‘Mosaic’, and Dónal Lunny’s ‘Coolfin’.  

Tara Breen, a highly talented multi-instrumentalist from Ruan Co. Clare, has achieved All-Ireland titles on fiddle in every age category over the years, culminating with the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Title in 2012. Tara has collaborated, recorded and toured with many renowned artists including The Chieftains, Stockton’s Wing, Dónal Lunny, Carlos Núñez, Conor Moriarty, Stephen Rooney, Padraig Rynne and Jim Murray, to name but a few. She has taught fiddle for many years and has been described as “a musical wizard” by Music Network.  

Niall Murphy is one of the most talented fiddle players to have toured the world. He is a 5-time National Fiddle Champion, 3-time 'Fiddler of Oriel' and winner of 'Fiddler of Do'. Niall’s roots remain in Irish Traditional Music but he continues to push the boundaries to more experimental and exciting territories playing a wide range of genres and performing with many artists including Nathan Carter, Cara Dillon, Breaking Trad, Dan Tyminski, to name a few.

Conor Caldwell is a fiddle player from Belfast who currently works as a Lecturer in Irish Traditional Music at the University of Limerick. Known for his energetic northern fiddle style, Conor’s music is informed by his research in Irish music which explores both archival and contemporary sources. He was previously based at Queen’s University, Belfast and continues to work with the music community in his native city, particularly with the Duncairn in north Belfast. 

The Summer School’s team of tutors is made up of internationally renowned performers with proven track records as teachers and educationalists. The primary means of teaching and learning will be ‘by ear’ with an emphasis in the less experienced classes of assisting pupils to develop oral/aural skills in addition to instrumental competency and developing core repertoire. All classes are designed for intermediate to advanced (minimum 2 years instrument experience) adults and children over 6 years of age except bodhrán, set dancing, sean nós dancing, traditional singing & sean nós singing which are suitable for beginners.