About the Summer School

Traditional Irish music is, at its heart, a living cultural practice that connects people and fosters shared experience and meaning. Our Summer School school will have a collaborative, community-driven atmosphere, all within an intimate setting in the heart of Dublin.

What Makes Our Summer School Different?

• All in One Location
  The entire programme takes place at Waltons New School of Music, conveniently located in Dublin city centre. (See our Location page for details.)
• Small and Personal
  As a smaller, more intimate summer school, we allow for greater individual attention and a supportive and enjoyable learning environment. *
• All Instruments and Skill Levels Are Welcome
  Participants who play instruments not normally associated with Irish traditional music are welcome. The Summer School also caters for all skill levels, from near beginner to advanced. (Participants should have at least one year’s playing experience.) And we welcome both adults and young people (15+).
• A Fully Immersive Experience
  Participants receive at least 4½ hours of expert tuition each day, along with daily 90-minute supervised slow or medium paced sessions. Optional nightly visits to traditional pub sessions around Dublin City offer further opportunities to listen, learn, play and connect. (See the Timetable tab.)
• Creative and Insightful Workshops
  Participants can select from our range of daily 90-minute workshops, all designed to broaden and deepen your understanding and appreciation of Irish music. Topics include developing rhythmic awareness, arranging and accompanying Irish music, learning how to ornament and personalise tunes, exploring the art of slow airs, constructing tune sets, and even composing your own music. (See the Workshops tab.)
• Guest Artist Masterclass and Concert
  Each year’s Summer School will have a different Guest Artist, a renowned Irish musician who will teach a daytime masterclass and perform an intimate evening concert for participants. We are delighted to welcome songwriter, sean-nós singer and multi-instrumentalist Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin as our first Trad Summer School Guest Artist. (See the Guest Artist tab.)

*   Participants will also have the opportunity to book one or more private (one-to-one) or partner (two-student) lessons with members of the Summer School’s expert teaching faculty during the week. (See the Private & Partner Lessons tab.)

Summer School Faculty

Adam Agee

General Tuition and Workshops
Irish Fiddle

Adam is an acclaimed fiddle player with over 25 years teaching experience. None other than the great fiddle player and composer Martin Hayes has written of him: ‘Adam’s music has been familiar to me for many years…. I’ve never heard him play a note that wasn’t sincere and from the heart. His music is true and free from pretence. He constantly seeks the deepest expression of the music.’ Adam’s love for people and for the music have made him a beloved educator. Originally from the United States, he learned the fiddle as a child, and it was his passion for Irish music that led him to come to Co. Clare in 2004 to immerse himself in the tradition. Since then, he has developed his career as a musician, releasing two full-length albums and a single with guitarist and tenor banjo player Jon Sousa. Music from their first album was featured in the 2023 film In the Land of Saints and Sinners, starring Liam Neeson. As a duo, Adam and Jon have toured internationally as both performers and educators. Adam brings innovative approaches to his teaching, creating a learning environment where creativity and communication lead the way for students to bring their own voices to the tradition. He teaches Irish fiddle and the Introducing Irish Fiddle group course with the New School.

Éamonn Galldubh

General Tuition and Workshops
Bodhrán, Irish Flute, Tin and Low Whistles, Uilleann Pipes

An All-Ireland champion with a teaching diploma from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, as well as a Masters degree in Music Performance with First Class Honours, Éamonn began playing traditional music on the tin whistle at the age of eight, moving on to the uilleann pipes (he learned traditional piping technique from Dublin pipers Ivan Goff and Mick O’Brien), flute, whistle, guitar, ukulele and saxophone. While Irish music is his first love, he has pursued an interest in other music forms and received a jazz performance diploma in saxophone from Newpark Music Centre. Éamonn has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, including Clannad, Riverdance, Moya Brennan, Cara Dillon, Damien Dempsey, Ragus, Niamh Ní Charra, Celtic Woman, Hazel O’Connor, Rua, Druid Theatre and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, as well as writing and recording his own material. His most recent project is the musical collective Jiggy, featuring Éamonn (uilleann pipes), Daire Bracken (fiddle), Aoife Kelly (fiddle), Éamonn de Barra (flute & whistle), Robbie Harris (percussion), Niwel Tsumbu (guitar & vocals), Yoshi Izumi (bass) and DJ Jack (decks). Éamonn is passionate about music education and takes a practical approach that encourages pupils to learn by engaging with the music of their favourite artists. Playing along with recordings is used as a means to illustrate theoretical concepts and to learn about structure and rhythm. He has taught a range of instruments, both with the New School and for our Outreach and Music at Work Programmes, as well as our Irish Music Tasters, since 1999.

Harry Long

General Tuition and Workshops
Bodhrán, Tin and Low Whistles

Coming from a family steeped in Irish music, with a PhD in Irish History and author of both The Waltons Guide to Irish Music and the Leaving Cert. Music coursebook Soundscapes: Irish Music & Aural Awareness, Harry has devoted a lifetime to the study and teaching of Irish history and traditional music, in all its forms. He has played tin whistle, low whistle and bodhrán for over three decades and has performed with the Irish National Folk Company at St. Enda’s National Historic Park and both solo and in sessions at music and dance festivals throughout Ireland and internationally. He currently performs with the trad/folk band Coscán and has released three albums with the group, most recently Firedance (2019). Harry has composed and recorded music for RTÉ radio and television documentaries, including Head Waters (1991), on the area where Turlough O’Carolan was born, and A Change of Heart (1997). His solo whistle playing can be heard on the album Rinka (2002), as well as the Waltons double CDs, Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes, Volume 1 and Volume 2 and Ireland’s Best Tin Whistle Tunes for Children. As a teacher, he has guided hundreds of students at both private and national schools in Dublin, Meath and Wicklow. Harry has taught tin whistle, low whistle, bodhrán and Irish Music Tasters, as well as directing the Rig-a-Jig traditional music group, with the New School since 2000.

Cathy McEvoy

General Tuition and Workshops
Bluegrass Fiddle, Irish Fiddle

Cathy is a full-time musician, arranger, composer and educator. She holds an honours BA in Music degree from Trinity College Dublin and a Masters in Composition from NUI Maynooth, and she has additionally studied both choral and orchestral conducting with maestros such as George Hurst (UK), Axel Theimer (Austria/US), Robert Houlihan (Ireland) and Rodolfo Sanglimbeni (Venezuela). In addition to directing the school’s Sing Your Heart Out Choir and Company Choirs for our Music at Work programme, Cathy also directs Gardiner Street Gospel Choir, Portmarnock Singers, Sandymount Gospel Choir and The Gospel Project. She has been the recipient of several arts awards, including an Artists Residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in 2018, a Travel and Training Award from the Arts Council of Ireland in 2016, and an EU Youth in Action in Award, which allowed her to avail of Community Arts training in 2014. She has also worked as a vocal coach for both the Abbey Theatre and RTÉ Radio Drama and is on the Artists’ Panel of the National Concert Hall’s Music in Mind Programme. In addition, Cathy maintains a busy schedule as a freelance fiddle player, performing with a great number of traditional, roots and bluegrass bands, as well as the Dublin Symphony Orchestra, among others. Well-known artists with whom she has performed include the Manic Street Preachers, Mary Coughlan, Eleanor McEvoy and Ronan Hardiman (Lord of the Dance). Cathy has taught violin, Irish fiddle and bluegrass fiddle with the New School, as well as directing our choir, since 2011.

Aisling Moroney

General Tuition and Workshops
Concertina, Irish Harp, Tin Whistle

Aisling is an award-winning Irish harpist; concertina, Irish flute and tin whistle player; and composer from County Clare. She has performed in a range of configurations – solo, in duets, trios and in various music ensembles – in a variety of national venues, including the National Concert Hall, the Royal Irish Academy of Music and Electric Picnic, as well as touring internationally in Bulgaria, France and the United States. She has also won five all-Ireland titles at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Although Irish traditional music is her passion, Aisling also enjoys exploring other musical genres and incorporates elements of classical music, jazz and progressive music into her unique style of playing. And her background is not limited to Irish music, having received a Distinction in her Grade 8 piano exam with the Royal Irish Academy of Music and performing in several musical theatre productions with her university drama society. Aisling has been teaching Irish harp, concertina and tin whistle for a number of years and is passionate about teaching Irish music, as well as passing on and preserving the tradition for future generations. Her teaching approach combines the old with the new, traditional principles with modern ideas, to encourage the continuous development of Irish music playing.

John Sweeney

General Tuition and Workshops
Bodhrán, Guitar, Tin Whistle

John comes from a musical family and has been studying, playing and teaching guitar, as well as bodhrán, tin whistle and a range of Irish traditional instruments, for over thirty years. He works in many different styles, including blues, rock, jazz, traditional and flamenco, and he has performed and recorded with a number of Irish groups, gigging extensively throughout Ireland, Canada, the UK, the US and Spain. He began teaching in 1988 at the Scarborough School of Guitar in Toronto, Canada, where he also studied composition and flatpick technique. He has also studied flamenco guitar with Miguel Escudero Lopez in Seville, Spain and traditional music at St. Enda’s Folk Park & Museum, and he continues to develop techniques in a range of guitar styles. John was the only guitar player selected by the renowned vocal innovator and improviser Bobby McFerrin to perform with him in the National Concert Hall for Bobby McFerrin Meets Ireland (2013), a unique collaboration for the Waltons World Masters Series between Bobby and a small, select group of Irish performers – chosen to represent the creativity, tradition and spirit of Ireland and selected through an Ireland-wide audition process. He has taught with the New School since 2003 and also teaches our Introducing Guitar for Adults, Introducing Guitar for Teens, Introducing Bodhrán, Acoustic Blues Guitar Basics and Trad Guitar Basics courses, as well as guitar and bodhrán courses for our Outreach Programme and Music at Work Programme.

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin

Eoghan is singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Dublin, whose musical roots are in the Conamara sean-nós singing tradition. A versatile performer, he draws on a variety of vocal techniques like lilting and throat singing, concertina playing that breathes with his singing, and a lifting flute style that all combine to create a rooted, expansive soundscape. His songs, carried by a powerful, resonant voice, have a storytelling quality to them, and move through themes of struggle, loss, resistance and healing. Eoghan’s musical roots are in sean-nós singing – the style of his father – and he grew up listening to Sorcha Ní Ghuairim, Seán ‘ac Dhonncha, Colm Ó Caoidheáin and other greats from the tradition. He is also influenced by folk singers from the English language tradition, such as Liam Weldon, Luke Kelly, Anne Briggs, Margaret Barry and Thomas McCarthy. Eoghan has performed and collaborated with numerous artists and groups over the years, including Dublin folk band Skipper’s Alley, Mary Ann Kennedy from Scotland, Ruth Keggin from the Isle of Man on their Aon Teanga: Un Chengey album (2015), Clare fiddle and viola player Ultan O’Brien (their debut album Solas an Lae won best album at the RTÉ Folk Awards in 2021) and the trad/electronica band Jiggy (he has featured on both of their albums, Translate and Hypernova). Eoghan is also a powerful solo artist and songwriter. His songs – written in both English and Irish – build on his sean-nós singing foundations but combine hard-hitting lyrics with other musical influences to create a rich, contemporary sound. His debut solo album, The Deepest Breath, was released in November 2022 to widespread critical acclaim.

‘Eoghan has a creative streak on a par with some of this country’s greatest ever songwriters. The lyrics of The Deepest Breath are proof and testament to that. Incredibly powerful words which not unlike the great Liam Weldon, are words that belong to and represent the working people. Words of hope for the overlooked and hard done by.’
– Myles O’Reilly

‘Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin has a wondrously sonorous voice’
– Irish News

‘…once you hear his voice, you’re unlikely to forget it’
– Folk Radio UK

Summer School Timetable

* During this period, participants can either play together in a slow or medium session (depending on their level) or take optional private (one-to-one) or partner (two-person) lessons with one of our expert teachers.

Workshops

Participants can select from our range of daily 90-minute workshops, all designed to deepen your understanding and appreciation of Irish music. There are at least two workshops each day to choose from. The scheduling of workshops this year will be based on participants’ interest. (We asked for your preferences in the enrolment form.)

Masterclass & Concert

Masterclass

Songs and the Supernatural

Stories and themes of the supernatural are woven throughout Irish traditional song, music and folklore. Songs of spirits, fairies and otherworldly encounters often give voice to deeper aspects of human experience — suffering, joy, loss, the unknown and our relationship with the natural world. In this masterclass, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin explores how these themes appear in the sean-nós tradition and how singers and musicians can interpret and reanimate them today. Drawing on his own creative work, Eoghan will discuss approaches to storytelling, vocal expression and experimentation within the tradition, offering participants insight into how contemporary artists can engage imaginatively with this incredibly rich body of material.

Details

Where • Waltons New School of Music
When • Thursday, 16 July 2026, 2 pm

Concert

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin Trio

Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin • Voice
Ian Kinsella • Guitar
Kaitlin Cullen-Verhauz • Cello

Details

Where • Waltons New School of Music
When • Thursday, 16 July 2026, 8 pm

Private & Partner Lessons

Participants also have the option of taking one or more private (one-to-one) or partner (two-person) lessons with one of our expert teachers over the course of the week. These will be scheduled every afternoon between 4 and 5.30 pm, while other participants are taking part in the slow-medium sessions. (You are welcome to join – or re-join – one of the sessions, either before or after your lesson.) Both private and partner lessons are available for:

• Bodhrán
• Concertina
• Irish Fiddle
• Bluegrass Fiddle
• Flute
• Guitar
• Harp
• Tin Whistle
• Low Whistle
• Uilleann Pipes

You can book lessons when you are completing the Enrolment Form, as well after the Summer School has begun, depending on teacher availability.

If lessons are booked and paid for by 1 May 2026, participants can avail of a 10% early bird discount.

* Fee per person. If you are entering the Summer School with a friend at the same skill level, you can book partner lessons in advance. Otherwise, you should book private lessons. If you find a ‘partner’ to take lessons with you over the course of the Summer School, you can book lessons together then (subject to availability).

Summer School Tuition Fees

Both the standard and the early bird fees below are all-inclusive and cover all morning tuition, afternoon workshops, slow-medium sessions, the masterclass and concert. They do not cover private or partner lessons or food and drink at the evening pub sessions.

* For participants who enrol and pay
their tuition fees no later than 1 May 2026.

Tuition Assistance

The New School is dedicated to providing high quality music education for a wide range of students, whatever their financial circumstances, and our Tuition Assistance programme is designed to help defray the cost of tuition with us. Although there are a limited number of Tuition Assistance awards each year, every effort will be made to assist students (or their parents) who, because of financial circumstances, would otherwise be unable to study with us. Tuition assistance awards are in the form of discounts of between 10% and 40% off the student’s fees and depend on the both student’s and the New School’s financial circumstances, as well as the type of tuition. See our Tuition Assistance Policy for more information or follow the link below to apply for tuition assistance.

Enrolment Form

Summer School Tune List & PDFs

Although we encourage participants to develop the skill of learning new tunes by ear in the traditional way, we also provide notated versions of all tunes that we will learn over the course of the week and play in our daily slow-medium sessions. These are useful for revision and reinforcement, as well as learning new tunes you haven’t heard before the summer school begins. For those who don’t currently read sheet music, it is also a very useful skill that enables you to delve into the thousands of tunes that have been collected and notated over the past two centuries.

We will have all of the tunes that we will be learning and playing in the Summer School, in pdf format and including note names and guitar chords, available to download from this web page shortly. If you have enrolled in the Summer School and would like to be notified when the tunes become available, please contact us (providing your name).