Time, Date & Location:

10.30am-1.30pm, Saturday April 5th, 2025, Music Department, Stranmillis University College

The Tutor:

A leader of a new generation of Donegal singers and fiddle players, Nia Byrne was born and raised nearin the North-West Donegal Gaeltacht. She has learned her fiddling from her mother Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and her cousin Ciarán Ó Maonaigh and her father Dermot Byrne. A regular attendee throughout her childhood at the Fiddle Week in Glencolmcille, County Donegal, every August and The Willie Clancy Summer School in July, Nia has listened and learnt a lot of her music from the Campbells of Glenties, Dermot McLaughlin, Liam O’Connor, Clare Friel to mention but a few. She has a great store of tunes and songs and a deep understanding of Donegal musical traditions. She teaches regularly in Donegal and in her current home in Dublin. She has performed at festivals and on radio and other media with her mother and father Dermot Byrne. She has toured along with Altan in the USA and Australia and has recently been a part of 2024’s Lorient Interceltic Festival music camp.

The Workshop:

This is an upper intermediate/advanced fiddle workshop where Nia will teach tunes from her own special repertoire and talk about her own experiences. This workshop is open to players over 12 years of age. Also on the day there will be an accordion workshop with Nia’s father Dermot Byrne and a guitar workshop with Steve Cooney. All the students and tutors will join together at the end of the workshop for a short session. The trio of tutors will be performing in concert the same evening in An Droichead.

Cost and booking:

Registration is £25. Places are limited and booking is essential.