IMDL album launch concert of ‘Mná na bPíob Uilleann: Volume 1’

On Saturday 4th May IMDL will be hosting an album launch concert for Na Píobairi Uilleann‘s Volume 1 release of ‘Mná na bPíob Uilleann‘ – featuring a number of the finest female pipers on the Irish music scene today. This celebratory concert will feature two of our own London-born pipers, Rita Farrell and Marion McCarthy, along with Cork’s Muireann Ní Shé, Waterford’s Claire Fennell and Tyrone’s Maeve O’Donnell.

Saturday 4th May, 7.30pm
The Crown Hotel, 142-152 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 3ED
Tickets: £15/ £6 U18s

Please share this with your networks! For more information please feel free to contact Karen Ryan at irishmusicinlondon@gmail.com

Rita Farrell (London)
Pipes made by Sam Lawrence (concert pitch)
Rita Farrell is a London-born uilleann piper, flute, and piano player. With family roots firmly in
County Leitrim, she initially started playing the tin-whistle at the age of 5. Rita eventually progressed onto the concert flute and uilleann pipes under the direction of Marian Gill, Damien Mullane and Emmett Gill. After studying at Queens University Belfast, Rita returned to settle in London where she practices as an architect and remains a prominent figure in the traditional Irish music and session scenes. Over the years, Rita has played at many traditional music festivals worldwide and has featured at many concerts at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy. She also featured in Na Píobairí Uilleann’s recording of young pipers, The Rolling Wave: A New Generation of Uilleann Pipers (2012) and participated in the performance series, Piping from the Parlour. Rita is a current board member of Na Píobairí Uilleann.

Marion McCarthy (London/Galway)
Pipes made by Leo Rowsome with Benedict Koehler chanter (concert pitch)
Marion McCarthy was born in London into a musical family, her father, Tommy McCarthy played uilleann pipes and concertina. Marion started playing tin whistle when she was seven and by the time she was ten, she performed with her family at various events in the London area, her family were well known in the Irish music scene. When she was 16, Marion and her father, along with his friend, fiddle player Bobby Casey, played for two years in the National Theatre in London for a production of Playboy of the Western World. Bobby greatly encouraged Marion to take up the pipes. Marion started playing the uilleann pipes when she was eighteen. She teaches music regularly and teaches annually at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in Miltown Malbay, Co. Clare. Marion has travelled extensively playing the pipes, including the US, Australia, Germany, Uganda, Shanghai and Mali.

Muireann Ní Shé (Cork)
Pipes made by Derrick Gleeson (C pitch)
Muireann Ní Shé is an uilleann piper, singer, flute, fiddle and whistle player from Ballinhassig in
County Cork. Born into an Irish speaking family, Muireann has been deeply immersed in traditional music all her life, while also having had significant training in classical music through violin, piano and choral singing. Muireann fell in love with the sound of the pipes at a very early age following a visit to Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy in Milltown Malbay. She cites local musicians and her teachers such as Johnny McCarthy, Martin Power, Rose O’Leary Fitzpatrick, Conal Ó Gráda, Eoin O’Riabhaigh, Mary Mitchell and Shane Keating as major influences as well as the piping of Willie Clancy, Séamus Ennis and Liam O’Flynn. Attending workshops with Nollaig McCárthaigh, Mick O’Brien, Síle Friel, Caoimhín Ó Fearghaíl and Sean McKeon have also had a significant impact on Muireann’s music. Muireann takes huge inspiration from the older collections of music and song gathered around Munster by those such as Canon James Goodman and Martin Freeman during the 1800’s. Muireann graduated from the MTU Cork School of Music in 2021, where she developed her love for composition, arranging, conducting, teaching and performance and was awarded the Tomás Ó Canainn Gradam Ceoil for excellence in Traditional Music Performance.

Claire Fennell (Waterford)
Pipes made by John Mitchell (concert pitch)
Claire is from Dungarvan, Co.Waterford, and plays the flute, tin whistle and uilleann pipes. Taking up the pipes at the age of 16 as a transition year project, she attended piping classes at Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy with Mark Redmond, and she continued with David Power and with the help of Caoimhín Ó Fearghail. Claire featured on the Na Píobairí Uilleann recording of young pipers, A New Harvest: A Generation of Uilleann Pipers (2018) After completing her studies at Cork School of Music CIT, Claire teaches tin whistle and flute in Waterford and has returned to Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy as a piping tutor.

Maeve O’Donnell (Tyrone)
Pipes made by Martin Crossin (concert pitch)
Maeve is from Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, and began playing the uilleann pipes at the age of twelve, attending classes in Armagh Pipers’ Club with Brian Vallely, Conor Lavelle, Conor Mallon and Tiarnan Ó Duinnchinn. Currently studying primary teaching with music in Belfast, Maeve teaches traditional music with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and community groups. Maeve has toured extensively in Europe and her piping was featured on the 2017 CD, Bláth na Finne: Uilleann Piping from Donegal and surrounding areas.

IMDL are grateful to our sponsors and funders for supporting our events:
Culture Ireland, Emigrant Support Programme, Irish Youth Foundation, Flannery Hire Plc, Embassy Demolition, The Irish World, The Irish Post, Ashford Place, The Crown Hotel, Irish Cultural Centre, London Irish Centre

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