Meet the teachers
Zoë Conway
Fiddle
Irish fiddle player, Zoë Conway, is a prodigious talent, equally at home in both traditional Irish and classical styles.
Zoë has performed across the globe, both as a solo artist and also playing with international acts such as Riverdance, Damien Rice, Rodrigo y Gabriella, Lisa Hannigan, Nick Cave and Lou Reed among others.
She is a holder of the much coveted All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Champion title, winning the prestigious competition in 2001. She was voted Best Traditional Female of the Year in Irish Music Magazine and she is also a featured musician on the current Leaving Certificate music syllabus in Ireland.
Louise Mulcahy
Flute & uilleann pipes
Louise Mulcahy began playing the tin whistle at age five and a few years later moved on to flute. At thirteen she took up uilleann pipes, taught by Dave Hegarty in Tralee and in monthly master-classes at NPU in Dublin.
One of the few female performers on what is a male-dominated instrument, she featured on the NPU compilation A New Dawn in 1999, and is the only person in the fleadh’s history to have won four senior All-Ireland titles in the one day.
John McIntyre
Guitar
John McIntyre grew up in the Cooley Mountains of north County Louth where he took up guitar at 8 years of age. He began his career as electric guitarist with the successful indie band, The Revs, with whom he performed on many famous stages and festivals.John studied classical guitar and piano for many years, and from early childhood was immersed in the language, songs and traditional dance music of south west Donegal - his father's homeplace.
Together, folk duo Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre have been described as “simply one of the best folk duos on the planet” (BBC), and audiences in Ireland and beyond keep coming back for more.
Sarah Fennell
Modern Irish dance
Sarah is a dance artist and teacher based in Limerick. Her exploration lies within the parameters of Traditional Irish step dance through the lens of contemporary dance. Sarah is primarily interested in the processes involved when making dance.
She has worked as a professional dance artist with various Irish based dance companies and choreographers over the past ten years, including Breandán de Gallaí (Ériu dance company). She had also made a number of solo and collaborative works as an independent artist.
Having graduated from an MA in Traditional Dance and Contemporary Dance at The University of Limerick, she is delighted to be a tutor of Creative Practice on the BA in Traditional Dance at The Irish World Academy in UL.
Aoife McCabe
Sean-nós dance & Harp
Aoife is a traditional Irish sean-nós dancer, Set dancer, and musician based in Monaghan, Ireland. She has a BA in Irish Dance Performance from the Irish World Academy, University of Limerick.
Aoife has a particular interest in the rhythmical relationships between music and dance. She is also a musician and plays the button accordion and harp.
Aoife has received many All Ireland titles and has also been awarded ‘Gradam na hEigse’.
To date, Aoife has performed all over Ireland and has also travelled abroad on
numerous occasions to perform and teach music and dance.
Maranna McCloskey
Traditional singing
Maranna McCloskey is an Irish folk singer/songwriter, from The Benedy, outside Dungiven, Co.Derry.
Coming from a highly musical family; music, song and dance were a large part of Maranna’s childhood and adolescence. Maranna displayed real talent for singing as a child and regularly participated in fleadhs and seisiúns. When she was still a student, she joined local traditional band, Óige, and in 2008, Maranna released her first solo album, ‘At Last’, comprising old traditional songs and a number of her own compositions.
Maranna says: ‘It’s a wonderful gift to be able to sing, and it is an honour to be invited to this year’s Féile Oslo. I am so excited to perform and teach some of my favourite traditional songs.’
Alana Flynn
Bodhrán
Alana Flynn is a bodhrán player from Mullaghbawn, County Armagh. She started playing at the age of 8, winning many county and Ulster medals and contending in the All-Ireland on two occasions.
She has been influenced by a range of bodhrán players; in particular Eamon Murray and John Joe Kelly but will always be grateful for being introduced to the bodhrán by Fergal O’Brien.
Despite her young age, she had the privilege of playing alongside some of the most amazing musicians and bands like, KAN, The Ollam and Mary Dillon and hopes to continue to do so in the future.
Brendan T. Monaghan
Whistles, grúpa ceoil
Brendan is from Banbridge in Northern Ireland and has worked as a professional folk musician since 1991. He is a multi-instrumentalist specialised in uilleann pipes (Irish bagpipes) and tin whistles.
Back in Ireland, he was teaching in primary and secondary level schools as well as in several Comhaltas branches. He has several years of experience teaching music to children and adults alike.
Cecilie Stensrud
Choir
Cecilie started out with modern Irish dance in 2008 and has since then developed her passion for Irish music and more traditional dance styles. She is currently the only one in Norway to teach Irish ‘sean nós’ or ‘old style’ dance.
She has conducted the Mná Oslo Irish Choir since 2022.
Åse Kristine Waglen
Ceili
Åse Kristine Waglen teaches Irish dance at the dance school Sound-Irish dance Factory in Oslo and is a member of the Sound- Irish Dance Company. She took up Irish dancing at 16 and began teaching only a short time after this. Her main motivation is always to give people the opportunity to enjoy Irish music through dancing and community building.
Åse is our ceili caller at the Féile Oslo and will teach a ceili crash-course for all those who want to join the ceili night but want to be prepared.
