Saturday Evening Concert: Téada - Liz Carroll and Jake Charron - Gary Curley, Stephen McKee and John McCartin

Saturday Evening Concert: Téada - Liz Carroll and Jake Charron - Gary Curley, Stephen McKee and John McCartin

Téada

Oisin Mac Diarmada (fiddle)

Described by The Irish Echo’s Earle Hitchner as “one of the most gifted and creative traditional fiddlers playing today”, Oisín was a founding member of Téada in 2001, toured for 14 years with legendary singer/accordion-player Séamus Begley, and continues to perform and teach throughout the world. He has recorded and toured internationally with Sligo trio Lane to the Glen alongside Daithí Gormley and Samantha Harvey. He took part in a Music Network tour throughout Ireland in 2023.

Paul Finn (button accordion)

Paul Finn from Co. Laois is one of the finest button accordion players in Ireland. Known for a pulsating and rhythmic performance style, his playing featured prominently in major international touring dance productions, as well as in the session scene in Ireland, prior to his joining Téada in 2003. Paul has featured on television performances on TG4, including Geantraí. In 2025 he launched a new trio album, Come What May, with Patricia Clark and Cillian Doheny at Ennis Trad Fest.

Damien Stenson (flute)

Hailing from the rich musical environment of Co. Sligo, Damien Stenson is noted for his extensive repertoire and flowing style of playing. In addition to performing with Téada, he has recorded on several albums and made appearances on television and radio. Teaching activity has included flute tutoring at Celtic Week – Swannanoa Gathering.

Seán McElwain (guitar / bouzouki)

Seán McElwain is a scholar, educator and award-winning musician who as a member of Téada has performed throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is the recipient of a TG4 Gradam Ceoil award (2016) for his Our Dear Dark Mountain With The Sky Over It  project, which focused on the musical heritage of the Sliabh Beagh region of North Monaghan/East Fermanagh.

Tristan Rosenstock (bodhrán)

Tristan Rosenstock is an author, editor, broadcaster and bodhrán player from Glenageary, Co. Dublin. He has worked in television and radio for many years, currently as a broadcaster for RTÉ Radio na Gaeltachta of presenter of RTÉ RadioFor 1's Céilíhouse, and is literary editor of the monthly magazine Comhar. He has toured the world with Téada since 2001.

Samantha Harvey (piano / dance)

Samantha Harvey is an award-winning step dancer, pianist and accordionist. She has performed throughout the world including in RTÉ’s Centenary 2016, broadcast live from the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre in Dublin and with both Omaha and Nashville Symphonies in A Celtic Journey. Samantha has been performing with Téada for over a decade.

Liz Carroll and Jake Charron

Liz Carroll

Liz Carroll is an Irish-American fiddler, composer and recording artist whose music has helped shape contemporary Irish traditional music. Born in Chicago to Irish parents, she astounded the traditional Irish music world aged 18 by winning the Senior All-Ireland fleadh. Since then, she has performed internationally as a solo artist and with groups including The Green Fields of America, Trian, String Sisters, and the duo Liz Carroll and John Doyle. She now performs and records with guitarist and pianist Jake Charron.

Carroll’s stature as a composer is equal to her reputation as a performer. Much of her recorded repertoire consists of her own compositions, many of which have become part of the repertoire of Irish and Celtic musicians worldwide. Her recordings include the solo album On the Offbeat, the collaborative Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, and Half Day Road with Jake Charron.

Her achievements have been widely recognised. In 1994 she received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and in 2011 became the first American-born composer to receive the Cumadóir TG4, Ireland’s most significant traditional music composition award.

Liz has published three collections of her compositions. Following Collected (2010) and Collected II (2020), Collected III was released in 2026, bringing together 75 new tunes.

Jake Charron

In high demand as a touring and recording musician on piano and guitar, and for his ability with various styles of music, Jake Charron collaborates with artists worldwide. He has pursued music, since graduating with a degree in Kinesiology, and has performed with a wide range of award-winning musicians. 

Jake has toured with Liz Carroll, Troy MacGillivray, Shane Cook, and Canadian group, The East Pointers. The group’s debut album, Secret Victory, demonstrates the trio’s take on traditional Canadian-Celtic music, and has been universally well received. 

Last year Jake was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music award for his duo album with Shane Cook - Head to Head.

Gary Curley, Stephen McKee and John McCartin

A native of Boho, Co. Fermanagh, Gary Curley is an accomplished button accordionist and dedicated music tutor for organisations such as Music Generation and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. 

A music graduate from Ulster University his musical foundations were laid at home, where weekly sessions hosted by his parents brought together local musicians.

His grandmother Kathleen Quinn influenced his early musical development and subsequently Dinnie Leonard and leading button accordionists such as Finbarr Dwyer, Darren Breslin, and Oliver Deveney. 

From Draperstown, Co. Derry, Stephen McKee was raised in a musical family and developed his musicianship on the tenor banjo playing music alongside his siblings. 

He  learned music at a young age with Aoibheann Devlin, and later attended the Armagh Pipers Club. Early guidance came from his sister Lisa, alongside tutor Mark Mohan and other key influences include Adrian McAuliffe and Brian McGrath.

Gary Curley and Stephen McKee have combined accordion and banjo in a sound that is rhythmically strong, grounded, and distinctively their own. In 2025, the duo released their debut album, ‘CHUNKY BUSINESS’. 

John McCartin - Guitar 

John comes from County Leitrim. Starting out as a fiddle player, his interest in accompaniment brought him to the guitar. Also a member of the band Garadice he has played and recorded with artists including Frankie Gavin, Dermot Byrne, and Sharron Shannon, as well as bands such as Dervish, Lúnasa and De Dannan. 

John has been the owner of Avalon Guitars since 2024.

*Please note that all advertised concert times are door opening times. Performances will commence 30 minutes after doors open.