The Elmhurst College World Music Festival

Featured Performers

Liz Carroll, Celtic/Irish fiddler, was born in Chicago of Irish parents. A junior and senior All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, she has toured as a solo artist; as an ensemble artist with the Greenfields of America, Trian and String Sisters; and as part of the duo Liz Carroll & John Doyle. In March of 2009 she performed at the White House for President Obama in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, and in 2011 she became the first American-born composer honored with the Cumadóir TG4, Ireland's most significant traditional music prize. In 2009 she became the first Irish-American musician nominated for a Grammy Award. A 1994 recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship Award, Liz is featured on nine albums and has appeared on many more.

Watch the video: Liz Carroll and John Doyle perform for President Obama.

Liam Teague, hailed as the Paganini of the steelpan, has won many awards in his homeland Trinidad and Tobago, including championships on the steelpan, violin and recorder. In addition to being the co-winner of the National Steelband Festival Solo Championship of Trinidad and Tobago, Liam won the Saint Louis Symphony Volunteers Association Young Artist Competition in 1998. In 1995, Liam gave the world premiere of composer Jan Bach’s Concerto for Steelpan and Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Chicago with the Chicago Sinfonietta. He has also performed with many ensembles including the Taiwan National Symphony, Czech National Symphony, Panama National Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Dartmouth Wind Ensemble, University of Wisconsin-Madison Marching Band, TCL Group Skiffle Bunch and the BP Renegades Steelband.

Liam currently serves as head of steelpan studies and associate professor of music at Northern Illinois University, where he co-directs the Northern Illinois University Steelband.

Watch the video: Liam Teague performs "Tico Tico" with the Panama National Symphony.

Kathleen Bremer is a professional flutist and flute teacher, focusing primarily on classical music but also Irish. A classically trained musician, she holds a BM in flute/piccolo performance from Indiana University and a MM in flute performance from Northwestern University. She plays the concert flute, piccolo, Irish flute, whistle and piano, and she sings. Kathy teaches private lessons as her main gig, and plays in Chicago-area Celtic sessions. She also is a guest artist with the great Milwaukee traditional Irish group, Athas.

Watch the video: Kathleen Bremer performs at Milwaukee Irish Fest.

Louise Brodie has played any and every style of music on the violin since she was a child, and has the ability to switch musical gears on a dime. She flies on the fiddle, taking the listener from a Celtic festival to a smoky blues bar to a place of enchanted dreams. Her husky alto voice is tinged with country and conviction, and her original fiddle tunes draw on her deep love of traditional music.

Louise has performed in productions at the Blackstone and Goodman Theatres. A member of the Celtic group Glen Ayre, Louise appears on Glen Ayre’s CD, The Uneven Bridge. She is a classically trained violinist with a degree in music education, and she teaches in suburban Chicago.

Watch the video: Louise Brodie and Patti Ecker perform "Colorado Christmas/Foo Mama".

Edgar Gabriel is a versatile musician who can play many diverse styles on the violin. He has performed with such diverse groups as Mannheim Steamroller, Chicago Opera Theater, Big Apple Circus, Cirque du Soleil, and as a founding member of the 3rd Coast String Quartet. He is also the creator of String Groove™, a system of teaching improvisation, fiddling and other styles of music not usually taught with the traditional classical repertoire. He teaches String Groove in courses and workshops throughout the country.

Edgar is on the faculty of Elmhurst College and William Rainey Harper College teaching violin, viola, jazz strings, improvisation and String Groove. Edgar holds an undergraduate degree in music from Northern Illinois University and a master of music in jazz studies from DePaul University.

Watch the video: Edgar Gabriel's StringFusion.

Glen Ayre is a trio of professional musicians who play fiddle, flute and guitar. They champion the traditional music of Scotland and Ireland as well as its American and Provincial derivatives. They are known for their masterful performances of the most popular ballads, airs and ditties, wild and reeling dance music, songs and tunes old and new, traditional and original. Listeners delight in Glen Ayre’s stirring performances of the Emerald Isle, Olde Caledonia and, of course, North Amerikay executed with energy, style and dexterity. Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Glen Ayre is a favorite at many venues and events including the Chicago Celtic Fest, the University of Chicago Folk Festival, the Fox Valley Folk Festival, the Two-Way Street Coffee House and the Illinois St. Andrew’s Society Scottish Festival & Highland Games.

Watch the video: Glen Ayre performs "The High Drive," "Andy Renwick's Ferrett," and "The Pachelbel Fantasy."

Kathy Cowan has been the featured soloist with several major symphony orchestras, singing Irish songs from her Irish repertoire. She has appeared with Doc Severinsen and the Milwaukee Symphony, as well as the Buffalo and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras and the Toledo Symphony. She has toured as guest artist with the Paul Winter Consort, and has been featured on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center. Kathy is a core faculty member of The Old Town School of Folk Music and teaches at the Victory Gardens Theatre and Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

Zachary May performs Scandinavian and American Old Time fiddle music on violin, cello, guitar and bass. In 2010, he presented at the American String Teachers’ Association National Conference on the topic of Swedish folk music, exploring the particularities of dance, participation and tradition in Swedish traditional music and their implications to American music education. An orchestra and guitar teacher at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Zachary earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. During his time at the University of Illinois, he spent a semester studying at Uppsala University in Sweden, where he served as assistant principal cellist of the Uppsala Royal Academic Symphony Orchestra.

Now celebrating their 27th year, the Mullane Healy Godley Academy continues to be one of North America's global premiere Irish dance academies. The Academy has always taken a global approach in instruction where all dancers are treated equally and share in the commitment of a dedicated teaching staff. Through this global approach, dancers share in the talent of a teaching staff that has choreographed and coached a multitude of Regional, National, and World Champion teams and solos, along with the only school in Chicago that has two World Champions on staff.