Tidewater in Concert at the Lyceum

Irish Traditional Music from the Mid-Atlantic

Laura Byrne is highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic for her mastery of the Irish traditional flute and whistle. Laura studied at Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore where she earned Bachelor’s degrees in both flute performance and music education. Though classically trained, she chose to devote her musical career to Irish traditional music, committing herself to the playing of the older generation of musicians through her many trips to Ireland and from close study of the emigrees to the United States.

​Joanna Clare is an acclaimed Irish fiddler and violinist having won numerous awards for her talents as a fiddler and as a composer. Like Laura, she began with a classical style and committed to Irish fiddling as a student of Brian Conway. As well as performing with her other musical group The Mount Clare Connection, she teaches Suzuki Violin, Irish fiddle, and baby music classes at her private studio and through The Baltimore Irish Music School and The School of Musical Traditions. In 2022, Joanna released her debut album, To Keep the Candle Burning, which has received accolades from both sides of the Atlantic.

​Whether performing at home or touring, Eileen Estes has thrilled audiences for years with her extraordinary voice, which effortlessly combines vocal power with subtle emotional expressiveness. She also works as a studio musician and a vocal coach. Eileen is a former faculty member at Blue Ridge Irish Music School, where she is still a visiting instructor, and travels to teach Master Classes in the United States and abroad. 

​When she was five years old, Donna Long began taking piano lessons with her father, Byron Long, a jazz/classical pianist who instilled in Donna a love for music. As a child, Donna was exposed to many different genres of music, including players from the old and new Jazz eras, Classical, Scottish, Indian, and African. In 1978, she moved to the Baltimore/Washington, DC area and heard fiddler, Brendan Mulvihill playing Irish music. He inspired her to pick up the fiddle and gave her a solid foundation in style and playing. She then began to accompany him on the piano and now Donna is considered one of the finest pianists playing Irish music and toured with the acclaimed female group Cherish the Ladies.

​​Billy McComiskey holds four All Ireland Championship titles, two (gold and silver) with Brendan Mulvihill for their superb duet playing, and two (gold and silver) for his work as a soloist. Billy won the coveted All Ireland Championship for the Button Accordion in 1986. He is the recipient of the 2011 Irish Echoes Traditional artist of the year award, and has received one of the highest honors a traditional musician can be awarded: the 2016 NEA National Heritage Fellowship. He's made quite a few recordings and has performed around the globe with some of the mightiest musicians playing Irish Music today, including the Irish Tradition, Trian, Green Fields of America, and the Pride of New York. 

• Tidewater Web Page

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The Tradtional Music Series at the Historic Lyceum in Alexandria is made possible by support from:

• The City of Alexandria

• The Folklore Society of Greater Washington (FSGW)

  • FSGW - Home

• Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann O’Neill Malcom Branch, Washington, DC

  • CCÉ O'Neill Malcom Branch

• The series is coindcuted under the auspices of the North American Morris Dance Organization a 501 (c) 3 Organization.