Piper's Hut Concert Series

Irish Music Awards' 2009 "Top Traditional Group" is Bua, a quartet comprised of some of the most talented young musicians in the US. Bua plays Irish traditional music with "a precision and intensity that is rarely heard on this side of the Atlantic." Their sound stands out among modern bands in the genre by "keeping the music down the path of tradition."

Bua has performed at many of the top Irish and folk festivals in North America including the National Folk Festival, the Milwaukee Irish Festival, the Lowell Folk Festival, the Dublin Irish Festival, Celtic Fest Chicago, the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, CityFolk, Catskills Irish Arts Week and Bethlehem’s Celtic Classic.

Brian O'hAirt's evocative singing, often in Irish Gaelic, is central to Bua's unique sound. His ability as a traditional singer has afforded him great acclaim at his age - the youngest and only American to become a champion All-Ireland singer. Brian's dedication to Irish Gaelic song and the sean-nos style has bonded him to the close-knit singing communities of Conamara (on Ireland's culturally rich west coast). His "delivery and vocal quality are perfectly suited" not only to Irish song but to the sister tradition of Scots Gaelic song as well and both colorful traditions play in to Bua's mix. Bua's shows also feature Brian's mastery of the improvisational sean-nos Irish dance style and his deft finger-work on the concertina.

At Bua's instrumental heart is Sean Gavin's ornate, driving style on flute and uilleann pipes. Sean was immersed in Irish music from a young age. Born in Detroit to Co. Clare fiddler Mick Gavin, Sean played a variety of Irish instruments until settling on the flute at age 10, inspired by Scariff flautist Leo MacNamara. Not long after, he began work on the uilleann pipes with teacher Al Purcell -- himself a student of Leo Rowsome. Currently residing in Chicago, he remains firmly dedicated to playing and teaching traditional Irish music. Sean is a member of the group NicGaviskey, and often performs with his family.

Paired to Gavin's impressive playing on flute and pipes is Devin Shepherd's sophisticated and exciting fiddle style. Devin began violin lessons at the age of four, but at ten years old fell in love with traditional Irish music. He immersed himself in the deep-rooted Irish music scene of Chicago where he studied with virtuosos Kathleen Keane and Liz Carroll. Devin competed and won first prize for nine consecutive years in the Midwest Fleadh Cheoil Irish music competition. Though he earned a degree in music composition at Roosevelt University in Chicago, he has made his living teaching and performing Irish music throughout the U.S. and abroad. His diverse performance venues include the New York New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C, and the Paris Olympia theater in Paris, France.

Guitarist Brian Miller comes from Saint Paul, Minnesota where a vibrant Irish music community, including luminaries Daithi Sproule and Paddy O'Brien, has supported his growth into one of the most sought after accompanists in the American Irish music scene. Also a master of the Greek bouzouki, Brian is a founding member of the Two Tap Trio and the Doon Ceili Band back in Minnesota and he frequently tours with the band Chulrua as well as with the Mairtin de Cogain Project. He has been featured on MPR's All Things Considered, CBC Radio's Canada Live, and Ireland's RTE television, RTE radio and TG4 television. Brian teaches flute, whistle, bouzouki and guitar at the St. Paul-based Center for Irish Music.

Andrew MacNamara is a native of famously musical Tulla in East Clare. In his teens he played with Ireland's most renowned traditional dance band the Tulla Ceili Band and toured with them extensively in Ireland, England, and the USA. Later he teamed up with the group Skylark touring Ireland, Europe, and the USA regularly. In 1996 he formed his own band The Lahawns. Andrew plays his own individual style of traditional Irish music and has the knack of electrifying audiences. His solo performances and group collaborations are unique and listeners are never disappointed. In the past few years he has brought his inimitable magic to audiences in Europe, North America, Japan and Australia.

Orla Harrington has spent her formative years developing and nurturing two art-forms, traditional Irish music and dance. From session music and dance competition to entertainment and folk festivals, she went on to tour with Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance in 2004 and spent the following three years touring extensively with the show as a solo violinist and troop dancer. After returning home, and meeting with influential musician friends around Ennis and East Clare, Orla began concentrating on the more organic style of music she grew up with. Orla has traveled and performed with various other groups such as Rhythm of the Dance and the Merriman Ceili Band and performed at such international music festivals as Le Grand Bal de l'Europe in France, Hemlig Festival in Sweden and on Broadway with the traditional Irish performance group Style. After a lifetime of competing successfully as an Irish dancer on Munster, All-Ireland and World stages, Orla graduated as T.C.R.G (Teagascoir, Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha) at the World Ball, held at City West, April 23rd 2011 and is now a registered Irish dancing teacher with An Coimisiun le Rinci Gaelacha.

Growing up in County Durham in the northeast of England, Ged (Gerard) absorbed the area's rich tradition of folk song and dance music. It was there that he learned to play mandolin and Northumbrian Smallpipes (the bellows-blown bagpipe native to that part of England), and began to develop his guitar style. At first he teamed up with singer-songwriter Jez Lowe and toured the British Folk scene. Several years with Scotland's Battlefield Band followed. He toured with them throughout Europe and North America before returning home to co-found The House Band with Chris Parkinson. This saw the start of a long period of recording and touring which has taken him all over the globe. Alongside his House Band duties, in 1994, Ged was asked to take over the guitarist's role in Irish super group Patrick Street with Kevin Burke, Andy Irvine and Jackie Daly. In 2001 he became the accompanist for the unique trio of fiddlers, The Celtic Fiddle Festival, now consisting of Kevin Burke, Christian Lemaitre, and Andre Brunet. The year 2002 saw another significant change in Ged's career when for two years he became Artistic Director of the Catskills Irish Arts Week based in East Durham NY. This is a week long teaching festival covering all aspects of Irish traditional music, dance and arts. In addition to his considerable instrumental acumen on both guitar and fiddle, Ged is also a fine singer and a well thought of Record Producer. His teaching credits include guitar at all of the major teaching festivals in the USA and fiddle at the acclaimed Feakle Festival in East Clare.

Laurence Nugent carries on a great tradition of virtuoso flute and whistle playing that has graced Irish music on both sides of the Atlantic. As an established performer and recording artist on the Celtic music circuit, Laurence has performed with scores of musicians, including The Chieftains, Shane McGowan, Van Morrison, The Drovers, The Green Fields of America, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill and Paddy Keenan. He has been a featured performer at Milwaukee Irish Fest, San Francisco Irish Fest, the Glen Echo Festival in Washington DC, the Willie Clancy Summer School in Ireland, and the International Flute Festival De Cornouaille Quimper in France. He has toured extensively throughout Ireland, the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan. He has been heard extensively on radio, including A Prairie Home Companion, The Studs Terkel Show, and Ireland's national network RTE.

Laurence comes from the little village of Lack in County Fermanagh, an area steeped in the traditional arts of music, singing and storytelling. Not surprisingly, his first musical influences came from within his own family. His father Sean Nugent was an All-Ireland fiddle champion and leader of the Pride of Erin Ceili Band, one of the top Irish dance bands of its day, and Laurence grew up listening to some of the finest players in the land. Like many young musicians of his generation, Laurence entered many of the regional and national competitions held under the auspices of the Irish musicians association Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann; he took first prize in junior competitions three times in the late 80's, and went on to win the senior All Ireland Championships in 1994 and 1995.

Since moving to Chicago in 1992, Laurence has played a large part in the local scene as an anchor and resource for traditional Irish music in the area. The informal music sessions he has led over the years in Chicago have been well-known for their fine quality of both music and hospitality. He has taught hundreds of students in private lessons, in classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music, and in workshops throughout the United States and Ireland.

A stunning synthesis of virtuosity and energy, The Outside Track's marriage of Canadian, Scottish and Irish music and song has been rapturously received around the world. Hailing from Scotland, Ireland, Cape Breton and Vancouver, its five members are united by a love of traditional music and a commitment to creating new music on its foundation. Using fiddle, accordion, harp, guitar, flute, step-dance and vocals these five virtuosos blend boundless energy with unmistakable joie de vivre.

Each player within The Outside Track is a master of their chosen instrument with the band stacking up an impressive amount of international awards. This amount of talent alone would be enough to recommend the band but in this case the end result is so much greater than the sum of the parts.

The line up comprises Norah Rendell (Canadian Traditional Singer of the Year nominee), Mairi Rankin (Beolach), Ailie Robertson (Live Ireland Winner, BBC Young Trad Finalist), Fiona Black (BBC Fame Academy Winner), and Cillian O'Dalaigh.

County Antrim born, Len Graham has been a full-time professional traditional singer since 1982. After he won the All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann traditional singing competion in 1971 his reputation began to spread, and at the same time his own passion for the songs of his native Ulster was growing. From the early 1960s Len sought out and recorded older singers such as Eddie Butcher and Joe Holmes. His musical friendship with Joe Holmes resulted in two albums being recorded – Chaste Muses, Bards and Sages (1975) and - After Dawning (1978).

Over the years, Len has collaborated and worked with numerous musicians, poets and storytellers. His association with the late John Campbell brought storytelling and song to a world audience. Their work together over twenty years made a significant contribution toward creating a deeper cross-community understanding of shared cultural traditions during many years of conflict in the north of Ireland. Together they recorded two albums – Ebb and Flow (1998) and - Two for the Road (2001).

Len Graham has performed at numerous Irish and international folk, literary and storytelling festivals, as well as appearing on many radio and television programmes. In 1992 he received the Seán O’Boyle Cultural Traditions Award in recognition of his work in Ireland as a song collector and singer. In 2002, he was honoured as the first recipient of the Irish television TG4 National Music Award for “Traditional Singer Of the Year.”  In 2008 he was awarded “Keeper of the Tradition” from the Tommy Makem Festival of Traditional Song and the US Irish Music Award in the “Sean-Nós Singing” category.

In 2011 Len was awarded the Gradam na mBard CCÉ (CCÉ Bardic Award) at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.