Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School Instructors
Note: All times are listed in CENTRAL TIME ZONE. Thank you!
Bríd Harper
Instructor Website: https://www.bridharper.com/
Teaching Online Irish Fiddle: Tunes of Donegal Workshop (Sunday only)
Bríd Harper is regarded as one of the leading Irish traditional fiddle players of the last forty years.
She grew up close to the east Donegal village of Castlefinn and started playing the fiddle at the age of nine. There is music on both sides of her family. Her grandfather Stephen Harper was a fiddler and came from a musical family. On her mother’s side her uncle Frank Kelly is a well known fiddler.
In the mid 1970’s Bríd began taking music lessons with Pat McCabe at her local branch of Comhaltas. She was also heavily encouraged by her parents who brought her to sessions and fleadhanna. There was a lot of Irish music in the house in the form of LPs and Cassettes.
She won all the underage competitions at the annual All Ireland Fleadh Cheoil both in the Slow Air and Dance Music categories. In 1988 she won three prestigious titles - Senior All Ireland, Fiddler of Dooney and Oireachtas na Gaeilge.
She is an MA graduate of the Irish World Academy of Music & Dance at University of Limerick. She has toured extensively and performed with many great musicians including Dermot Byrne, Steve Cooney, Tony O’Connell, Arty McGlynn, Nollaig Casey, Maeve Donnelly, Harry Bradley, John Doyle, Sylvain Barou Nicolas Quemener and more.
Bríd is highly respected and much sought after as a teacher. She has tutored at Summer Schools and workshops throughout Ireland, The UK, The USA, Canada, many parts of mainland Europe, New Zealand and Australia.