Seán Cleland is an Irish fiddle player, Irish music teacher, adjudicator, collaborator, producer and executive director of the Irish Music School of Chicago, a non-profit traditional Irish music, language, song and dance school, which he founded in 2003.

Seán grew up on the North side of Chicago in an Irish-American household.  He started classical violin lessons at age 7, and at age 9 his parents took him to one of the first North American concert tours of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Ireland's national music organization. The performers that fall night in 1972 were the absolute best traditional musicians, singers and dancers from Ireland including Paddy Glackin, Paddy Ryan and Antoin MacGabhann. That night was so impactful that he decided right then and there that he would play the fiddle.

His musical education through the 1970s was energized by such local legends as Liz Carroll, Michael Flatley and Jimmy Keane who were bursting out of Chicago onto the world stage.  Additionally, there were quite a few older Irish musicians who had emigrated to the United States in the 1950s and Sean was incredibly privileged to get to know them and to spend so much time listening to their music and stories.

The foundation of Irish traditional music is the pulse of its drum, the Bodhrán.  And no other percussionist tills that ground better than Jackie Moran.

Born in Tipperary, ten-year-old Jackie and his family immigrated to Chicago where he quickly began drumming with the best players in the Irish music scene.  The young boy became the man who is preeminent in Chicago Irish music. 

A founding and driving force of such influential bands as The Drovers, Comas,  and Bua, Jackie is a fixture in the studio and in concert settings, sympathetically accompanying such great artists as Alphonso Ponticelli, Kevin Burke, Dennis Cahill, Liz Carroll, John Doyle, Martin Hayes, Paddy Keenan, Michael Londra, Philip Masure, David Munnelly, Howard Levy, and Jimmy Keane.

Jackie’s talents have also led him to appear on stage with “Riverdance,” and to help form and perform with the Trinity Irish Dance Company.  And when Hollywood needs a musician to play the part, and look it as well, you’ll see Jackie. “Backdraft” (1991), “Blink” (1993), “Traveler” (1997) and “The Road to Perdition” (2002) all saw fit to feature Jackie and his Bodhrán

Jesse Langen is an Irish guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who is acclaimed for his beautiful, dynamic and powerful accompaniment of traditional Irish music. Equally comfortable on classical and electric guitar, he seeks to push both the technical boundaries and the conceptual functions of the guitar. Jesse and his brother Tim grew up learning Irish and Canadian fiddle tunes from their grandfather Clarence and that grounding laid the foundation for Jesse’s deep, loving approach to traditional music.  Jesse also plays new classical music and can be heard throughout the US and abroad as a soloist, as the guitarist for Ensemble Dal Niente, in the trio Pesejet, in Hasco Duo with Amanda Deboer Bartlett, and in duo with harpist Ben Melsky.  He is a passionate and committed teacher of young musicians.

Grey Larsen, a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, is a versatile and accomplished musician and an author of books on Irish music. Though he has explored many musical paths since the 1970s, he now focuses mainly on Irish Flute and Tin Whistle along with traditional and contemporary folk music and song and mastering with a specialty in acoustic-based music. While studying early music and composition there, he came ever more deeply under the spell of traditional music, and for several years he followed these parallel streams with equal energy and dedication. He now leads a varied and rich musical life in Bloomington, Indiana (USA) as a performer, teacher, author, recording artist, record producer and mastering engineer. Since 1989 he has been the music editor of Sing Out! Magazine. Since the early 1970s he has also devoted himself to the traditional fiddle music of his native Midwest and Appalachia, in particular the music of southern Indiana fiddler Joe Dawson (1928-2012). Larsen’s books on traditional Irish music have been highly successful, selling over 15,000 copies to date.

James Reilly was born in New York City, James attributes his love of Irish music to his family. His father Tom, a well-regarded flute player himself, attracted many NYC notables such as Martin Wynne, Michael Reilly, Liam Shanahan, Johnny Cronin and Pat Henry to the house for tunes. James began his musical expedition sitting quietly listening to the discussion, interspersed with bursts of dance music.

James plays with a breathy style, heavy with rhythmic accents. It is easy to hear the influence of the button accordion in his playing, as well as the Sligo fiddling that was so popular in NYC in the 80's and 90's. Mostly though, his style is a part of 120 years of traditional Irish music lineage that began with his grandfather and namesake, James Reilly, in Mullahoran, Co. Cavan.

Irish-American musician and singer Eileen Estes has thrilled audiences for years with her extraordinary voice, which effortlessly combines vocal power with subtle emotional expressiveness. She works as a vocal instructor and performer and is a former instructor at Blue Ridge Irish Music School. Daughter of Nita (Conley) Korn, Celtic Thunder’s original lead singer, Eileen grew up immersed in the traditional music of Ireland and Scotland. She is a traditional singer as well as a songwriter who has performed throughout D.C., MD and VA. In 2015, Nita and Eileen released a beautiful album of Irish and Scottish songs called The Apple Tree Project. Eileen recently relocated to the Chicago area.

Eileen Estes YouTube Video Links
Eileen Estes and the Narrowbacks
Childhood Ground by Terence Winch. Vocal and Piano by Eileen Estes.
Lowlands of Holland
Mary and her Soldier
Bonny Light Horseman

Carrie Collins

Erin Flynn grew up singing and learning to play piano and violin. Upon graduation from Northwestern University in theater arts, Erin became a teaching artist and performer for Redmoon Theater in Chicago. For two years, Erin lived in New York City where she worked at the Children's Museum of Manhattan - creating interactive and educational experiences for young children, developing original children's theater, teaching early childhood music classes, and learning to play guitar! For six years, Erin lived in Philadelphia, where she continued her career as a children's musician/performer and taught and directed a preschool for five years. She earned her masters in early childhood education at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia. For fifteen years, she worked as a teaching artist at the largest community arts school in the country and directed its stellar children's music program, serving up to 2000 students a week. She completed three graduate levels of Kodály music education certification at DePaul University School of Music. This is an amazing approach that roots itself in folk repertoire, singing, and community to develop musicianship and music literacy. It’s a wonderful approach to apply to learning Irish tunes and the fiddle. Erin is so happy to join the community of The Irish Music School of Chicago and eager to play music with our children and families.

Carrie Collins earned her BMA from DePauw University School of Music.  She studied piano with Carmen Alverez-Breckenridge, Lorna Griffin, Claude Zimmerman, Julliane Miranda, Jeffrey Swinkin, and accompanying with Mikail Hallak.  Carrie attended the Interlochen Arts Camp and the Las Vegas Music Festival. 

Carrie brings many years of teaching experience to the Irish Music School of Chicago. She taught at the San Francisco Music Center, the Morton Grove Park District and in her own studio. In addition to teaching, she is accompanist and co-founder of the Chicago Womens’ Chorus and was rehearsal pianist for American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco.  She sat on the board of the Music Teachers’ Association of San Francisco, chairing the after-school piano program in the public schools. She has taught movement and music classes for infants to preschool. Carrie enjoys working with all ages, but specializes in working with young children as early as 2.5 years old.