Professional Irish fiddle player based in Belfast with 22 years in the city’s session scene and playing fiddle since age 8. I offer a warm, high-quality live fiddle sound for weddings, corporate events, private functions, themed nights, and concerts — solo fiddle, fiddle & guitar duo, or full traditional band.
My Sound
My voice is the fiddle. My tone is Northern: dry and articulate for driving reels and jigs, then warm, reedy and vocal for slow airs and waltzes. It’s a sound built in live rooms, not studios — a hard, clean bow attack that carries across a room, with ornamentation that breathes like speech.
That phrasing comes from Gaoth Dobhair, Donegal, where I was raised around my fiddle-playing Gweedore cousins. Time spent there gave me an ear for the native Gaoth Dobhair dialect of Irish, and its cadence lives in my playing — rolls and cuts like stressed syllables, pauses where the language would breathe. One of my earliest musical memories was watching Dónal Mhic Ruairí of Clann Mhic Ruairí play in Leo’s Tavern in Meenaleck — the famous pub owned by Leo Brennan, father to Enya — and later hearing him on Raidió na Gaeltachta. In that room I understood how much emotion a single instrument can carry. That is still my standard: tone as testimony, not display.
I was trained by Bernadette Muckian A.R.S.M. and Ursula Byrne T.T.C.T. and spent ten years competing in Scóranna, Feiseanna and Fleadhanna nationwide. That led to performances for Presidents McAleese and Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin and at The Titanic Building.
Experience You Can Book With Confidence
I have been a full-time presence on the Belfast music scene since 2006. I was co-founder of Casadh (2008–2010) with singer Gráinne Holland — support act for The London Gospel Choir at Féile an Phobail, Clonard, 2008, featured artists on the acclaimed CD Beo – Live at Madden’s, 2009, and featured on Raidió na Gaeltachta’s Cabaret Craiceáilte in Húdaí Beag’s with Rónán Mac Aodha Bhuí.
From 2006–2012 I performed regularly with Pure Blarney, loosely connected to Cullybackey Pipe Band, with variety-concerts at The Braid, Ballymena and Waterside Theatre, Derry, covering Irish, Scottish, Ulster-Scots and contemporary.
I am equally at home in a pub session or on a large stage. I am a regular in Kelly’s Cellars, The Sunflower Bar, Henry’s and The Jailhouse, The Points and The Dirty Onion, and have broadcast on Féile FM, BBC Radio Ulster’s Blas with Lynette Fay, and UTV’s Gerry Anderson Show. Internationally, I organised and performed with Irish bands for Kentz Oil in Yuzhno City, Sakhalin Island, Siberia, 2012/13/14 for their St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
What I Offer on Encore
• Weddings: Ceremony music (airs, slow marches), drinks reception (lively session sets), evening dance sets. Happy to learn a special request.
• Corporate & Private Functions: Background trad, upbeat dance sets, or a full Irish show. Professional, punctual, and experienced with hotels and planners.
• Full Band Options: Duo, trio, or 4–5 piece ceilidh / trad band with guitar, bodhrán, vocals, accordion.
• Repertoire: Traditional Irish & Scottish dance tunes, slow airs, O’Carolan, modern trad, plus contemporary requests arranged for fiddle.
• Equipment: Fully acoustic or equipped with professional pickup / PA for larger rooms. I can provide my own sound if required.
• Reliable & Versatile: Over 15 years of paid wedding and corporate work across Ireland, Europe and North America. I read a room — from a quiet, reedy air to a floor-filling set of reels.
I am also a composer, writing tunes that feed back into Belfast’s living session tradition.
If you want a fiddle sound that is authentic, emotive and danceable — a tone that can growl, sing, and lift a room — I’d love to play for your event.
