Faculty
Angelina Carberry
Angelina Carberry was born in Manchester, England into a County Longford musical family steeped in traditional music. Starting on the tin whistle, she later moved onto the banjo following in the footsteps of her father Peter and grandfather Kevin Carberry. Angelina moved to Galway in the late 90’s where she recorded the highly acclaimed album ‘Memories from the Holla’ with her father Peter on accordion and John Blake on guitar and piano. Angelina was a member of the all-female group the Bumblebees and toured with the legendary duo Tony MacMahon and Barney McKenna. Angelina performed for the Margaret Barry Hall of Fame Award, at the RTE Folk Awards, 2019 in Vicar Street, Dublin and in 2021 she received the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil, Ceoiltor na Bliana / Musician of the Year.
Angelina’s style has evolved onto one that is incredibly distinctive and its own rhythmical characteristics. Her two solo CD’s, ‘An Traidisún Beo’ 2005 & ‘Pluckin’Mad’ 2014, which were awarded among the Irish Echo’s Top 10 CD’S of the year, showcase her unique banjo sound. Over the years, Angelina has appeared on several albums as a guest performer, including the 2011 album "The Larks Air" by accordionist Dan Brouder and the 2017 album "Music in the Frame" by accordionist Josephine Marsh. Additionally, Angelina released two duet albums in 2003 with accordionist Martin Quinn and in 2017 with Dan Brouder, titled "A Waltz for Joy."
In addition to performing, Angelina is also a music teacher and a popular banjo tutor at summer schools and festivals throughout Ireland, U.K. and internationally. Angelina has performed frequently and taught at Irish music events across North America and Canada, including the Catskills Irish Arts Week NY, Augusta Irish Week WV, Swanannoa Gathering NC, Goderich, O’Flaherty Retreat, TX, Cascadia Irish Music Week, WS, and most recent at Irish Musical Arts and Dance (MAD) week, MD. Angelina has also played popular tv program’s series Fleadh Cheoil RTE, Bosca Ceol, Hup, Sé mo Laoch, and Fleadh tv TG4.
Angelina toured and performed with Brendan Mulvihill in 2023 and 2024, studying with him in person and gathering tunes from him from 2022 until late 2024.
Willie Kelly
Willie Kelly is one of the most well-known traditional fiddlers from the New York area, having performed and taught music there since the mid-1980’s. He learned from the great West Limerick fiddler and teacher, Martin Mulvihill. He and his brother Joe performed as a fiddle duo in the New York area, for radio programs, concerts and festivals. Drawn to the music of Clare and East Galway, he formed musical partnerships with Galway musicians Jack and Charlie Coen and Mike Rafferty, and many other fantastic players in the New York area. He met his wife Siobhán Moloney, a flute-player from County Clare, at a music session in Queens. Siobhán and her father Sean Moloney introduced Willie to the great Clare fiddlers Paddy Canny and Martin Rochford who were family friends back home.
Willie was born in the Bronx of Irish parents and raised in New Jersey. His father was a fiddler from Roscommon, and both grandfathers played fiddle. He was introduced to Clare music at a young age when his father procured a Tulla Ceili band record from a friend. At the age of 8 he took up fiddle, following in the footsteps of his father and his older brother, Joe, who started a year earlier. At the age of 15 he met Martin Mulvihill, who happened to be teaching classes at a nearby church, only two miles Willie’s home. Willie and Martin struck up a great friendship and enjoyed collecting tunes and sharing them.
Willie recorded initially as a guest on Mike and Mary Rafferty’s CDs “The Road from Ballinakill” (2001) and “Speed 78” (2004). He later recorded the highly acclaimed album “The New Broom” with Mike Rafferty and Donal Clancy (2009). Willie also made guest appearances on Clare concertina player Dymphna O’Sullivan’s recordings Bean Cairdin (2007) and Enriched (2014). He later recorded an album of fiddle and uilleann pipes with County Waterford piper David Power, called “Apples in Winter” (2016).
Willie has appeared on PBS documentary “The Song of Seven Families” which featured Jack Coen. He has performed at the Smithsonian Folklife festival and National Endowment for the Arts concerts honoring National Heritage Award winners. His music has been featured on ClareFM radio and Radio na Gaeltachta. In 2009, the popular ClareFM series “The Kitchen Sessions” was recorded at Willie and Siobhan’s home in New Jersey and featured many of the Clare and Galway musicians from the New York area.
Dan Brouder
Dan Brouder is a well-respected exponent of the West Limerick accordion style from Monagae, a parish on the outskirts of Newcastle West. He learned his music in the surrounding parishes of Ardagh, Carrigkerry and Glin on the Sliabbh Luachra boundary from accordion player Donal de Barra and concertina player Timmy Collins from West. Limerick and from flute players Donal O’Sullivan and Francis O’Connor who learned their music from fiddler Peadlin Aherne. Also, flute player Pajo Gleesen from the 1930’s and 40’s whose styles were strongly bedded in West Limerick roots.
Dan had the good fortune to perform with Sliabh Luchra fiddle icon Julia Clifford, in Scartaglen, along with accordion player Johnny O’Leary in Knocknagree, and fiddle player’s Dennis McMahon, Paddy Cronin, and Connie O’Connell. Dan has been greatly influenced by Finbarr Dwyer, Joe Burke, Joe Cooley, West Limerick flute player Donal Sullivan, Martin & Brendan Mulvihill and the Dwyer family from West Cork.
Dan’s debut solo album, “The Larks Air” was released in 2011 received critical acclaim by musicians and music reviewers. Dan appeared as a special guest on the 2008 recording, ‘Cairde Cairdin’ by fiddler Diarmuid O’Brien, which also featured a group of West Limerick accordion players. A Waltz for Joy (2017) and Back in Time (2021) are two duet albums that Dan recorded with banjo player Angelina Carberry. Dan has featured extensively on popular RTE and TG4 program’ series Geantrai, Fleadh Cheoil RTE, Hup, Se mo Laoch, and Fleadh TV.
Dan is a musician who is highly regarded among his contemporaries for his musical honesty and the joy he passes on through the music he plays and cherishes. He traveled and performed with Brendan Mulvihill from 2023 to late 2024, studying with him since mid-2022.
Donna Long
Donna Long grew up in Los Angeles, California. As a child, she was introduced to music by her father, Byron Long, a pianist in both the jazz and classical genres. After moving to Baltimore in the early ‘80s, a chance meeting with Irish fiddler Brendan Mulvihill gave her the inspiration to learn the fiddle and accompany him on the piano. They played as a duo for ten years and recorded two duet albums together, The Steeplechase and The Morning Dew.
In 1995, Donna became a member of Cherish the Ladies and toured with the band for ten years. She recorded six albums with them, including New Day Dawning, Threads of Time, and The Girls Won’t Leave the Boys Alone.
Her solo piano CD, Handprints, was released in 2003 to critical acclaim. It featured reels, jigs, hornpipes, and slow airs. Her composition Luna includes musicians Billy McComiskey, Liz Knowles, and her son (and fellow IMI instructor) Jesse Smith. She performs in the Baltimore/Washington DC area with artists Billy McComiskey, Laura Byrne, and Peter Brice. Through the years, she has played many tours with the National Council for the Arts accompanying artists such as James Kelly, Brendan Mulvihill, Jerry Holland, Seamus Connolly, and dancer Kevin Doyle.
Diarmuid O’Brien
Diarmuid O’ Brien from Limerick is well renowned as one of Irelands finest and sought after fiddle players. Having started learning traditional Irish music at the age of 9 he had won all Ireland honours by the age of 15. His music hails from the West Limerick tradition which is one associated with the rhythmic lift of Irish dance music. His vibrant fiddle playing and unique style has earned Diarmuid a high reputation in the music industry and has seen him tour extensively with various groups performing in countries throughout the world including America, Canada, Australia, Moscow, Singapore and Dubai, to mention but a few. He has performed at home and all over Europe on all stages including the Irish National Concert Hall. He has performed for Uachtaran Na hEireann, An Taoiseach, and the Prime Minister of Australia. In 2007 Diarmuid released a CD entitled “Cairde Caridin” . The CD which received critical acclaim reached no 8 in the “Top 10 albums of the year 2007” by the Irish Echo new newspaper in New York City and received 8/10 in a review by Sarah McQuaid of “Hot Press” magazine.
In 2021 Diarmuid released a critically acclaimed duet album with renowned flute player Donal O Sullivan entitled “Abroad in the Back Kitchen”. The album features a composition of Diarmuid’s for his daughter Isla along with music from West Limerick area and musicians of the past including Martin Mulvihill, Patneen Ahern, Moss Murphy and John Joe Hartnett. Described by Nioclás Mac Amhlaoibh “Music, like Poetry, an expressive Art form, should touch the emotion of an aesthetic heart, and it is in this style Diarmuid and Donie treat us to a rendition of indigenous music from West Limerick, enhanced by “The Belles of Liscarroll”, stirring, haunting memories of Patrick Ahern. “Molann an Saothar an Saotharaí” Ar agaidh leis an Saothar.
The album was further described by renowned traditional Irish music agents Custys of Ennis as “A gem from the bowels of west Limerick and like any music that has issued from there recently, it is pleasureably listenable to, music of such authenticity and quality that makes you feel happy in the knowledge that at least some great things never change in that most musically fecund quarter”.
Shannon Dunne
Shannon Dunne is an acclaimed sean-nós and set dancer, concertina player, community builder and educator. A leading figure in North America’s traditional Irish arts scene, she has performed internationally, including the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Symphony Space in NYC, and the Shetland Folk Festival. Shannon has performed with the Green Fields of America, Billy McComiskey at the Smithsonian Folk Festival, and collaborating with Brendan at various venues including the National Folk Festival.
Shannon’s dancing comes from Mick Mulkerrin and Mairead Casey, Aidan Vaughan, Patrick and Gerard Devane, Roisin Ni Mhainin, and Paraic o’hOibicin. Her dancing has been described as“playful musicality” (The Washington Post). Her studio, Shannon Dunne Dance, is a multigenerational Irish dance company that has 3 All Ireland medals in sean-nós to its name, in U12, U12, and U18, and in 2017 received a special commendation at the All-Ireland Fleadh in Ennis, County Clare.
Currently, Shannon is the Founder and Director of the Notre Dame Ceili Band and Set Dancers at University of Notre Dame. At the university, she developed a comprehensive Irish music and dance program for the Department of Irish Language and Literature, offering classes in tin whistle, sean-nós, and social dancing, along with a performing ensemble that attends the fleadh annual.
Her community building work is always at the heart of her work. In 2021, she also founded the Irish Music Club at Westville Correctional Facility through the Moreau College Initiative, bringing traditional Irish music to the incarcerated population. Her work has been recognized by the NEA and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
