Guests/y Gwesteion

Ronan Browne

Uilleann pipes

Ronan Browne is one of Ireland’s most accomplished and respected uilleann pipers. Born in Dublin in 1965 into a musical family, he began playing the pipes at the age of seven, his main influences being pipers Willie Clancy, Johnny Doran and Séamus Ennis, and fiddlers Denis Murphy and Tommy Potts.

Ronan has played many prestigious concerts in Ireland and abroad as a solo musician and has also been a guest member to a wide variety of groups. He plays and sings with the band Cran, and also played in a 40-year duet with Peter O'Loughlin. He was the original piper with both Riverdance and the Afro Celt Sound System.

Ronan has been involved in over a hundred and fifty album recordings since his first venture into the studio in 1982 and has collaborated with many top traditional Irish music, classical, pop, jazz and country artists. Although best known as a traditional musician, Ronan is also keenly interested in exploring other musical genres particularly in film and television.

Ronan has been teaching the pipes, flute and whistle worldwide for the last 25 years and has recently developed a much sought-after music appreciation/listening class. He is also an avid photographer with a particular interest in photographing musical instruments.

Ronan will be teaching uilleann pipes Master Classes.

Pádraic Keane

Uilleann pipes

Pádraic Keane hails from Maree, Co Galway and was born into a great musical family. He is a tutor at many music festivals in Ireland and abroad. In 2011 he was awarded TG4 Young Musician of the Year. He has toured America as a soloist with The Irish Chamber Orchestra and has collaborated with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, The RTE Concert and Symphony Orchestras as well as various string quartets. He has also toured Europe with Ragús and worked with Galway's Irish language theatre group - An Taibhdhearc. He has featured on a number of albums including "The Rolling Wave" - a CD of young pipers issued by Na Píobairí Uilleann, "Tunes in the Church" and "Rogha Raelach" issued by Raelach Records. He has also performed at The Masters of Tradition festival held in Bantry House and curated by Martin Hayes. He recently released his acclaimed solo piping album entitled 'In Full Tune'. Pádraic will be teaching the Improver uilleann piping workshops.

Jason Rouse

Uilleann Pipes

Jason Rouse is a true exponent of the Irish uilleann pipes. Hailing from Co Tyrone in the rugged North West of Ireland, his playing is detailed, expressive and typical of the style found in his native region.

Jason started learning uilleann pipes at a young age from his neighbour Noel Devine, and has earned a reputation for his unique style of piping, very much influenced by the older players of the instrument. His first solo piping album, ‘Fieldish Recording’, was released in 2021 and earned critical acclaim from both press and peers.Jason now makes his home in Cardiff, where in addition to being in demand as a musician and piping teacher he is also an award winning visual artist and painter whose work has been shown internationally.Jason will be teaching the beginner piping workshops.

Ceri Rhys Matthews

Flute

Ceri Rhys Matthews has been called "a key figure in the renaissance of Welsh musical traditions” and been described as "a one-man Welsh music industry". He plays traditional and newly composed dance melodies and airs from south and west Wales and is well-known as both a solo performer and as a member of the Welsh folk group, Fernhill. Born and bred in the Welsh speaking village of Treboeth outside Swansea, Ceri plays the wooden concert flute, pibgorn & bagpipes, and guitar, and sings traditional songs in Welsh and English. He has produced twenty-one CDs for Welsh label Fflach's subsidiary fflach:tradd and in 2009 produced Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers - An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song for Smithsonian Folkways, named Best World Traditional Album in the 2009 Independent Music Awards. In 2021, Ceri released his most recent album, Y Gwythienne, a selection of dance tunes from the Swansea repertory from 1717 to the present day performed on solo flute. Ceri's workshop will focus on learning tunes from Welsh traditions. The emphasis will be on melody and will cover a broad range of dance-tune types. Ceri will be teaching a neglected repertoire by ear, so the ability to pick up a tune by ear is the minimum requirement.

Julie Murphy

Traditional Welsh Folk Song

Julie Murphy is a singer and songwriter, member of Welsh folk innovators fernhill and a powerful solo performer. Hugely respected for her exquisite interpretations of Welsh and English language folk songs she has also garnered high praise for her own emotive songwriting. Julie has been described by The Guardian as “a towering talent” and “one of the finest singers to emerge from Wales”. TIME OUT declared her a “must see, must hear singer”. Her remarkable voice, spectrally beautiful one moment and darkly rich the next, has led to collaborations with John Cale and Robert Plant. She describes herself as “an artist working through the medium of music” whose art school background laid the foundation for her continuing musical explorations. In 2016 she released her fourth solo album ‘EVERY BIRD THAT FLIES’ on her own ‘Shells in the ocean’ label, receiving support and airplay from across the BBC plus independents like Resonance and FRUK. The album was included in the MOJO Top ten folk albums of 2016 list and was a fROOTS magazine critics choice album.Julie's workshop will consist of learning songs from the Welsh folk song tradition (rather than choral tradition). Julie will explore folk songs in both Welsh and English, and learning will be by ear as a group. The workshop is open to all and no experience of the Welsh language is necessary.

Mikey Kenney

Fiddle

Mikey Kenney is a passionate and well-respected advocate for traditional music. A brilliant Liverpool-style fiddler drawing primarily on his native North West English and Irish heritage but grounded in a present-day, urban reality.

There are few people who embody traditional music in quite the same way. He’s a walking tune book, dedicated to keeping the old music of his native Lancashire alive. For one still relatively young, he’s seen a lot and he’s played a lot and his music positively drips with the wisdom and experience he’s picked up along the way. His mix of a leisurely calm personality and ferocious playing ability puts Kenney up there with the best of his fiddle playing peers.

If you’ve not come across him before, start with his 2019 album, The Reverie Road, a gorgeous collection of original songs inspired by his time spent living la dolce vita in Italy. For something more earthy and ancient, pick up the new album, Northwestern English Fiddle, which does exactly what it says on the tin and is simply wonderful for it.

Mikey will be teaching fiddle workshops with a focus on the fiddle repertoire of Lancashire.

Chris Coe

Pipes Maintenance

Based in Chester (just over the border from north Wales), Chris Coe is a talented pipemaker and reedmaker with a reputation for detailed, beautiful craftsmanship. Chris is a regular contributor to Na Piobairi Uilleann's PipeCraft pipemaking programme both as an instructor and as a creator of technical drawings of historic sets of pipes.

Chris will be onhand all weekend to assist pipers with maintenance and reed issues.

Jon Turton

Uilleann Pipes

Jon Turton lives in North Wales and has been playing the pipes for more years than he cares to admit. With close family links to Liverpool (and Roscommon) he is a stalwart of the North West session scene, hosting a twice monthly session in Chester.

Jon is the current All Britain winner in Senior Uilleann Pipes and Pipes Slow Airs. At the 2023 All Ireland Fleadh, he came a very credible 3rd in the Slow Airs competition.

Jon will be leading a workshop on playing Airs.