INSTRUCTORS
Fall 2017 classes are now open for registration.
If you already know the class you’d like to register for, please call our ticketing service at 866-811-4111.
To learn more about our full list of class offerings for this semester, beginning September 25, please contact Jessie Reilly at jessie@irishartscenter.org or call 212-757-3318 x214.
Please check back soon for updated information on our website. |
MUSIC
Douglas Barr – Concertina
Douglass Barr has been an instrumental music teacher on Staten Island for the past 37 years. He was the conductor of the Salute to Music Program for 33 years and has conducted several times in Carnegie Hall. In 2010 Mr. Barr was honored by the Music Educators’ Association of New York City (MEANCY) for his longtime contributions to music education in NYC. He has played the concertina extensively in the NY/NJ area for the past 15 years. He was the regular host of a session in the pub Slainte in Manhattan and has hosted sessions at the Landmark Inn in Manhattan, Saint James Gate, the Kilkenny House, and the Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey (IAANJ). He hosted a session with flutist Linda Hickman on Staten Island at the Wild Goose Pub, and they are currently hosting another session on Staten Island at the Flagship Brewery. He has recorded with the guitarist/harpist Iris Nevins and can be heard on her CD “Celtic Guitar Dreams” and “String Theory”. He also hosted and recorded a live session CD at the Irish American Association of Northwest Jersey (IAANJ).
In 2010 Mr. Barr received a grant from The Council on the Arts & Humanities of Staten Island (COAHSI) to bring an Irish music session to Staten Island. Mr. Barr was the curator and one of the performers in a very successful concert “An Evening of Irish Traditional Music, Song and Dance with Special guest Monsignor Charles Coen” on Staten Island in October 2010. Mr. Barr was also involved with The National Endowment for the Arts to create a traveling exhibit of folklife on Staten Island. In 2012 Mr. Barr was awarded a New York State Council of the Arts (NYSCA) Grant to study concertina with Monsignor Charles Coen. Mr. Barr has been particularly influenced by the style and repertoire of Monsignor Coen. Other influences include Mary MacNamara, Claire Keville, Edel Fox and Caitlín Nic Gabhann.
James Cleveland – Fiddle
James Cleveland has been teaching at the Irish Arts Center since 1999. He started playing the fiddle as an adult and learned much of his repertoire from classes at the Center. He plays regularly in NYC sessions, is a member of the Irish Arts Center band and has played the fiddle in several stage plays.
Anna
Colliton – Bodhrán
Anna Colliton is one of America's leading exponents of the bodhrán, the traditional Irish frame drum. From Chicago, a city of Irish musical excellence, Anna plays a highly intricate style of drumming with masterful tonal and rhythm variation. She has taught and performed at festivals across the country, including Milwaukee Irish Fest, Chicago Celtic Fest, the New York Irish Dance Festival, the O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, and the Dollywood Festival of Nations. Anna appeared on Cherish the Ladies' recent album A Star in the East and Grainne Murphy's Short Stories.
Seagda Coyle – Button Accordion
Seagda Coyle started playing the button accordion at the age of 7 and considers musicians such as Joe Madden, Joe Burke and Bobby Gardiner as his earliest musical influences. Learning most of his music from the playing of John Nolan, Seagda has gone on to acquire a collection of gold medals from the Mid-Atlantic Fleadh and has competed in the All Ireland Fleadh multiple times. Both a fan of the traditional as well as the contemporary, Seagda is a composer of tunes and can be found regularly at sessions throughout the New York area as well as teaching music at the Martin O’Grady School of Music and Arts in the Bronx.
Michael Curtin – Theatre Arts
Michael Gargan Curtin is a Brooklyn-born Irish-American applied theatre artist, Irish speaker, and educator in New York City. He uses theatre in schools, community centers, and neighborhood communities to generate dialogue, teach, and build community. Please feel free to contact him with questions about this workshop or his work. michaelcurtin87@gmail.com
Tom Downes – Bagpipes
Tom Downes has been involved with the Irish Arts Center since 1972. He was a performer in some of our earliest theatrical productions and has been teaching bagpipes here for about 15 years. Tom grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s with parents from musical families in West Limerick. Learning music at the piano from age seven, his love of traditional Irish music led him to focus on the bagpipes under the tutelage of the County Tyrone Association band, eventually directing the band as Pipe Major. Tom has enjoyed a 35-year career as a bilingual guidance counselor in the NYC public schools and for years was an adjunct evening instructor in music at St.John's University. He has taught piping to other bands and organizations, also playing uillean pipes, tin whistle and low whistle. Several of his students have gone on to lead bands and to use Tom's original music and arrangements. Tom has made a lifelong effort to collect, research, and adapt traditional Irish music for the bagpipe. He still performs regularly and has been a part of recordings, TV shows and live concerts. Favorite projects include playing solo pipes for Seamus Heaney's reading of his own poems in a dramatic presentation directed by Derek Wolcott at the 92nd Street Y.
Siobhan Egan – Bodhrán
Born in Philadelphia, Pa, Siobhan moved to the west of Ireland at a young age. While living in Foxford, Co. Mayo, she began traditional music lessons at age eight with Martin Donoghue. Learning by ear, she started on the tin-whistle and then went on to the flute, piano accordion, bodhrán and fiddle. When her family returned to the Philly area in 1980, Siobhan started performing at festivals and concerts up and down the east coast with her brother, Seamus, and sister, Rory. A founding member of Cherish the Ladies, she toured worldwide with the band for almost thirteen years. While with CTL, she recorded seven cd’s, many of which feature several of her own compositions. Since leaving the band, Siobhan has enjoyed teaching the bodhrán at the Irish Arts Center for the past few years.
Carrie Erving –Voice
Carrie Ervingis a performing singer, composer and a Lincoln Center teaching artist. Originally from Massachusetts, she developed her love of traditional American folk songs while studying voice at Ithaca College, and traveled to Ireland to earn a Master’s degree in Irish Traditional Song from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. Her eclectic background in opera, rock, and folk music influences both her work with students and her current compositions. She also loves writing and producing music for various projects and enjoys playing guitar and synthesizers. Her love of travel and music has led her to live in Ireland, Germany, New Mexico and New York. She currently lives in Brooklyn and performs with her band Ponyhof, and has worked with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Will Butler (Arcade Fire).
Paddy Glynn –Banjo
A native of Corofin, County Galway, Paddy has recently made the transition to NYC and is quickly finding his way on the Irish music scene. Hailing from an area rich in Irish music, Paddy was fortunate to learn his trade by playing with great musicians like Jonathan Harty, Lorraine Glynn, and the Scahill family, citing Enda Scahill and Gerry O’Conner as his greatest influences.
Raised in a musical household with several prolific musicians and singers, music was always near the fore of any conversation. His musical ear was first noticed by his uncle Bernie, a well-known singer from the Galway area. He further refined and developed his ear by playing for many years in Fleadh Ceols, Scor competitions and sessions throughout Ireland.
Looking to continue on the great work of Pio Ryan who originated the tenor banjo program at Irish Arts Center, Paddy will share his bluegrass and traditional styles with students at the Center to promote the Irish Tenor banjo and traditional Irish music in general.
Thomas “T.J.” Keevins –Bodhran
T.J. has played the bodhran for over five years now, and is a regular participant in the New York City session scene. Having grown up playing multiple forms of percussion from classical to jazz since the third grade, T.J. fell in love with Irish music during law school, and dabbled in the tin whistle before finally returning to his musical roots as a drummer. T.J. began learning the bodhran with the Irish Arts Center’s own Siobhan Egan. He’s further studied, taken master classes with or otherwise been influenced by Jackie Moran, Myron Bretholtz, Junior Davey, and Eamon Murray. He is at work adding mandolin to his repertoire, both for its own sake, and for developing a deeper familiarity with Irish tunes to continue the development his bodhran playing. T.J. is excited to be joining the IAC faculty, and looks forward to growing the bodhran playing community in New York.
Laurie Norman –Tin Whistle
Laurie first came to the Irish Arts Center in 1973 to study the Irish language and learn songs in Irish. In the 1970s and 80s, she was a lead singer in the Irish Arts Center’s acclaimed production of Siamsa, a history ofIreland through music, dance, song, and story. She also picked up the tin whistle along the way and played in the American premiere of Thomas Murphy’s Famine in 1982. Recently, Laurie has studied tin whistle with former Irish Arts Center teacher Bill Ochs and Irish harp with Gráinne Hambly and other well-known Irish and Scottish harpers.
Peadar Ó hÍcí – Guitar
Dublin’s Peadar Ó hÍcí has been delivering the songs of Ireland’s history to audiences at home and abroad for over a decade. A regular fixture on the Dublin city folk and traditional music circuit, Peadar learned his trade on stage at The Arlington Hotel’s, Oliver St John Gogarty’s and The Temple Bar in Dublin’s Cultural Quarter.On a visit to The Catskills Irish Arts Week in 2010, Peadar decided to take his music to New York City. Since arriving in the United States, Peadar has been busy performing with many of the finest Irish musicians New York City including Ivan Gough, Matt Mancuso and Tipperary banjo player, Pio Ryan. Peadar’s songs and traditional guitar accompaniment have already landed him on stages in all of New York’s five boroughs and as far away as St Louis, Mizzouri. On St Patrick’s Day 2013, Peadar was invited to join All-Ireland winning accordion player Martin O’Connell in a performance at the New York Mayor’s residence – Gracie Mansion. Derek Warfield (founder of The Wolfe Tones) recruited Peadar into his band The Young Wolfe Tones in 2013. Peadar has played guitar, sang and written for the band ever since.
Mia Theodoaratus – Celtic Harp
Mia Theodoaratus is a composer, improviser and harpist who plays Celtic, Rock and Jazz harp. She has enjoyed working with Roscoe Mitchell, Susan Allen, Charlie Hayden, Daniel Carter, Dee Pop, Baikida Caroll, Antony and the Johnsons and Leona Naess. Her goal is to take classical sensibility and infuse it with the dynamics of free jazz and the rhythm of rock. Performance highlights include Chaos & Candy, National Shakespeare Company production of Oedipus with Avery Brooks, Jason Schmidt opening with Gelatin performance group at Deitch Projects, and Butch Morris's New York Skyscraper.
This year Mia is playing in Dueling Harps with Ann Magnuson, Alex Rami and Adam Dugas at the Red Cat Theatre in Los Angles. Her touring duo with Adam Dugas is Ravens and Roses which fuses together Irish tunes, rock songs and Purcell.
Caitlin Warbelow – Fiddle
Hailing from a family of bush pilots in Fairbanks, Alaska, Caitlin Warbelow is a fiddler/violinist currently residing in Brooklyn. Currently, Caitlin is the violinist/fiddler for Riverdance's new production, "Heartbeat of Home", as well as a substitute violinist for Sting's new musical on Broadway, "The Last Ship". She has toured and performed with Cherish the Ladies, Mick Moloney and the Green Fields of America, The Brock McGuire Band, Michael Londra and Celtic Fire, The Mickey Finns, and The Prodigals, among many others. Known as something of a musical chameleon, Caitlin performs, records, and teaches extensively in NYC and around the country in a variety of genres including Irish traditional and rock, country and bluegrass, Texas swing and contest fiddling, and on occasion returns to her roots as a classical violinist. Caitlin holds honors from the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, the National Suzuki Conference, the New England Fiddle Championship, and the Fleadh Cheoil (All-Ireland Competition). Her 2012 CD "Manhattan Island Sessions" was nominated for an Independent Music Award. Caitlin received a masters degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University and double bachelors degrees from Boston University in Violin Performance and Anthropology. www.caitlinwarbelow.com.
DANCE
Dan Hunt – Set Dance
Dan Hunt has been a member of the Irish Arts Center since 1986. A former naval officer and merchant seaman, Dan came to the Irish Arts because he was looking for a club and a community where he could pursue his love of Irish music and culture. Smitten with Irish folk dancing, he attended dance classes taught by well known New York-area teachers such as Josephine McNamara, Kevin Westley and Paul Keating. Later he attended set dance workshops given in the US and Ireland by such legendary dance masters as Joe O’Donavan, Connie Ryan, Pat Murphy, Timmy McCarthy, Larry Lynch, and Padraic McEneneny. He started teaching Ceili Dances at the Irish Arts Center in 1988 and taught his first Country Set Dance class in the following year. He has been involved with Irish dance and music (especially at the Irish Arts Center) ever since.
Dan’s approach to teaching Irish folk dance is more than mere choreography. In his class he insists that only when you’ve begun to move to the phrasing of the music and above all, learn the footwork and movements unique to each dance will you experience the true pleasure of the sets.
Kieran Jordan
Kieran Jordan has been teaching old style step dancing and sean-nós dance in the Boston area for more than 15 years with her school and company, Kieran Jordan Dance. She performs, choreographs, and teaches internationally - most recently, at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Milltown Malbay, County Clare.
Laura Neese
Laura Neese is a contemporary dance artist from Staten Island, NY, where she developed a love for dance under the mentorship of Rosemary Cappozalo and studied Irish dance with Niall O’Leary. She holds a BFA in Dance and BA in English Literature from SUNY Buffalo, with additional study at the University of Chichester, UK, and is certified in the Simonson Method. Laura currently collaborates with the KitchenSink Collective and Staten Island Dance Jam. She presents her own solo and interdisciplinary work and teaches dance and tutors academics throughout the Greater NYC area.
Betty Sheehan (TCRG)
Betty Sheehan (TCRG) has been dancing since she learned to walk. Early on, she showed an affinity for percussive dance, much to the chagrin of her mother, who long lamented her much-scuffed kitchen floor. Betty studied Irish Dancing with Marie Moore, TCRG/ADCRG, in New York, and competed at the local, regional, and national levels during her competitive career. Betty is a registered teacher with An Coimisiun in Ireland since 2005, and she is director of the Aherne Sheehan School of Irish Dance which holds classes on the Upper East Side as well as in Sussex County, NJ.
IRISH LANGUAGE
Muireann Ní Chuív
A native of the Connemara Gaeltacht in Ireland, Muireann has been involved in Irish language teaching for the past ten years. She is a graduate of the National University Ireland, Galway, having completed both a BA in Celtic Studies and a Higher Diploma in Translation Studies. She was also awarded an M.Phil. in Early Irish from Trinity College Dublin for her work on the medieval manuscript Togail Bruidne Da Derga.
As a lecturer with the Translation and Interpretation Unit of Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge in NUI Galway from 2007-2009, she taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses focused on Irish grammar, terminology and translation skills. During this time she served as a university representative of the national Irish language terminology committee, An Coiste Téarmaíochta, which is tasked with the development and standardization of terminology dictionaries and databases.
Aside from her experience teaching at university level Muireann has also worked since 2003 as a teacher, course director and national committee member with Spleodar, an Irish language organization dedicated to teaching Irish to primary and secondary school students. An accredited translator and editor, she currently works with various organizations and state agencies in Ireland including Foinse, the national Irish language newspaper.
Caoimhe Nic Giollarnáith
After graduating from the National University of Ireland, Galway, with a first class honors degree in Irish, Caoimhe began working as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University, where she taught an Irish Language and Culture course. She currently works as an instructor at Manhattan College as part of the Irish Language Program. Apart from her experience teaching at university level, Caoimhe also works as an Irish Studio Coach for Rosetta Stone and as a freelance translator and interpreter. In the past she has featured as a guest on Raidió na Life’s shows, ‘Fada is Fairsing’ and ‘Amharc as Nua Eabhrac’. Caoimhe recently worked on the Irish language documentary series, ‘GAA USA’, in conjunction with TG4 and Sónta Films. Dara Ó Cinnéide, former Captain of the Kerry Gaelic football team, interviewed Caoimhe regarding the status of hurling in New York in the 18th century.
Dónall Ó Héalaí
Dónall Ó Héalaí holds a 1st class honors Bachelor of Arts degree from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, in Irish Language and Media Studies. He has worked professionally as an actor in both stage and screen for the past 5 years. His credits includes Pursuit (2015), Traders (2015), Corp & Anam and Sínte. In 2008 he received The Dr. Henry Hutchinson Stewart Literary Prize for Irish awarded by the National University of Ireland.
Jerry Kelly
Jerry Kelly’s father was a storyteller, his grandfather a traditional musician, and his great-grandmother was known as a friend of the daoine maithe. When he learned to read, Jerry started with his grandfather's books filled with the history and myth of Ireland, and hasn't stopped since.
Jerry is a former Adjunct Professor of Irish Language and Culture at Fordham University. He taught Irish Gaelic on behalf of The Irish Arts Center in New York at Citibank from 1979 to 1981; plus mythology and Seanchas through the medium of the Irish Language at Scoil Ghaeilge Ghearóid Tóibín / The Gerry Tobin Irish Language School from 1989 to 2007. In 2004, he helped re-organize Cumann Carad na Gaeilge / The Philo-Celtic Society, and helped institute its on-line Irish Language school in 2007.
He currently teaches Irish Language & Culture in the Irish Studies Institute of Molloy College, serves on its Advisory Board, writes the Seanchas column for the Irish Language magazine AN GAEL, and publishes books about Irish history and Gaelic culture. He holds a B.S. from Yale, an MBA from Harvard, and just completed his dissertation for his M.A. in Celtic Studies at University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
Barry Ó Séanáin
Barry Ó Séanáin was born in Dublin. He was educated exclusively through Irish at primary and secondary school levels before studying Modern Irish and English Literature at Trinity College Dublin. In May 2015 he completed his undergraduate degree, and currently interns in the programming department at the Irish Arts Center.
Barry was an active committee member of the Cumann Gaelach, Trinity’s Irish language society, and was the editor of the Cumann’s publications Tuathal and An Scríbhneoir Óg. He has debated in Irish at varsity level, and was heavily involved in theatre during his time in Trinity, taking part in many of the college theatre society’s productions. During the summer of 2015, he wrote and co-produced an Irish language children’s play, which was featured in Trinity’s popular Myth Fest. Barry’s main interest is literature, both in Irish and English. He has a particular interest in the Irish language writers of the mid-twentieth century and the bardic poets of the 18th century.
He has been living in Sunnyside, Queens since September 2015, and he hopes to give the Irish language further exposure in New York through both his work with IAC programming and his role as a teacher for the winter and spring terms.
LITERARY ARTS
Andrew Fox
Andrew Fox was born in Dublin and lives in New York City. He is a graduate of UCD and Trinity College, and a PhD candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in the Dublin Review, the Stinging Fly, the Daily Beast, and the anthologies Dubliners 100 and All Over Ireland. His first book, a collection of short stories entitled Over Our Heads, will be published in 2015.
Yvonne Cassidy
Yvonne Cassidy was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland and she moved to New York in 2011. Yvonne is the author of three novels: “The Other Boy”, “What Might Have Been Me” and most recently “How Many Letters Are In Goodbye?”
In addition to writing fiction, Yvonne has written journalism and for television. Working with new writers to help them find and develop their writing voice is something Yvonne is passionate about and while based in Ireland, she developed a Creative Writing program for the training division of The Irish Times.
Yvonne is a member of New York Writers’ Workshop and has taught at the New York Public Library as well as the Andrew Glover Youth Program and Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen where she has helped young offenders, homeless and other marginalized writers to find an outlet for their experience through creative writing.
Yvonne has taken part in many writing festivals and events in Ireland and the US. For latest information on readings and book events visit:http://www.yvonnecassidy.com or follow her on Twitter @YvonneCassidyNY
She is currently working on her fourth novel.
Honor Molloy
Honor Molloy’s dramatic work has been produced by New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, the Public Theatre, the Irish Theatre of Chicago, Sydney's Mardi Gras Arts Festival, Selkie Theatre, and the Inishbofin Arts Festival. An alumna of New Dramatists, she has garnered support from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. The author of Smarty Girl (Simon & Schuster Audio / GemmaMedia 2012), she is currently working on Little Room, a play about Dublin Bohemians in the early 1950s.
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