Fiddles and Whistles and Bodhráns, Oh My!

Darrah Carr is an Assistant Professor in the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College.  She holds a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman's University, received her MFA from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University. Carr is active in both the modern and Irish dance communities as a choreographer, dancer, educator, and writer.  She is the Artistic Director of Darrah Carr Dance, a Bessie-award nominated professional Irish dance company.

Since 1998, Darrah Carr Dance has created a sensational and unique blend of traditional Irish step and contemporary modern dance. The company draws from Irish music, step dance footwork, and spatial patterns to create high-energy, rhythmically based work that is accessible to a broad audience. Carr calls her style ModERIN: a playful combination of the words modern (dance) and ERIN (an Irish American reference to Ireland). Darrah Carr Dance has performed at venues throughout the United States including Jacob's Pillow, MASS MoCA and The Yard. The company has toured internationally throughout Ireland and Canada. Recent performance highlights include: "Good Morning America," NBC’s “The Today Show,” a performance with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, The Duke Theater on 42nd Street, Celebrate Brooklyn, Victory Dance at the New Victory Theater,
 

Stuart Jackson, originally from Williamsburg, Virginia, now based in Brooklyn, has been playing traditional Irish music on the uilleann pipes and the tin whistle for over a decade now. After studying the pipes with Eliot Grasso and then Mikie Smyth, further erudition came primarily from listening, absorbing, and interpreting old recordings from pipers such as Seamus Ennis, Tommy Reck, and Leo Rowsome. In addition to traditional music, he also holds a Masters degree in contemporary percussion performance, which has influenced his approach to the uilleann pipes in traditional music, and led to experiments with it as a sound source in the interpretation of avant-garde scores. 

Siobhan Egan-Moore was born in Philadelphia, PA, and moved to the west of Ireland at a young age. While living in Foxford, Co. Mayo, she began traditional music lessons at age eight with Martin Donoghue. Learning by ear, she started on the tin-whistle and then went on to the flute, piano accordion, bodhrán and fiddle. When her family returned to the Philly area in 1980, Siobhan started performing at festivals and concerts up and down the East Coast with her brother, Seamus, and sister, Rory. A founding member of Cherish the Ladies, she toured worldwide with the band for almost 13 years and recording seven CDs, many of which feature her own compositions. Since leaving the band, Siobhan has enjoyed teaching the bodhrán at Irish Arts Center.

Liz Hanley, a native of Boston, is one of the top young musicians in the New York Irish music scene. She plays the fiddle with great energy and flair and is a fine singer whose repertoire spans multiple genres from Irish traditional and rock to hip-hop and classical. Liz graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s of Music in classical violin performance and has toured the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. She can be seen playing around New York in seisiúns and with the likes of Mick Moloney and Frogbelly and Symphony. Be sure to check out Hanley's debut album The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia.