Máire is “the doyenne of Irish harp players” (Scotland on Sunday) and 2001 recipient of Irish music’s most prestigious Award, Gradam Ceoil TG4 – Traditional Musician of the Year – “for the excellence and pioneering force of her music, the remarkable growth she has brought to the music of the harp in Ireland and for the positive influence she has had on the young generation of harpers.” A multiple All-Ireland and Pan-Celtic winner, she developed profoundly influential techniques for harp performance of traditional Irish music, heard on her pioneering New-Strung Harp (1985), her recent trio album with The Casey Sisters and seven duo and two quartet recordings with guitarist Chris Newman – with whom she tours worldwide. A TV programme in TG4’s ‘Sé mo Laoch series about Máire and her sister Nollaig was recently broadcast.
