30 May 2025

Máire has fractured her hand and wrist

Máire had a bad fall a few weeks ago and among other injuries, sustained three fractures and two sprains in her hand and wrist. She will have to wear a hefty hand / wrist / arm brace until the end of June and then start rehabilitation with a hand therapist. We're so sorry to have had to cancel all concerts until the autumn.

4 April 2025

Beautiful Valdez, Alaska, the penultimate stop on our current tour of the USA!

The scenery in Alaska is utterly spectacular. Here are a couple of pics taken from the boat of the incredibly knowledgeable David and Annette Janka, who brought us on the most amazing tour of Valdez Harbour on the morning before our concert in Valdez, plus a pic of the great concert poster with a snowy backdrop. Máire used no trickery when taking the photos: this is exactly how the harbour looks - it’s just that the reflections of the mountains in the sea make the scene seem almost otherworldly. Huge thanks to the Valdez Arts Council for hosting us for a concert in their Civic Center!

17 March 2025

Máire’s mother has finally left us, at the age of 102

Máire writes:

“My beautiful, witty and multi-talented mother Úna, school principal, Gaeilgeoir, fine singer and harmonica-player, repository of Irish traditional song, music and folklore, amateur actress and writer, passionate lover and transmitter of Irish language, music and culture, and unstoppable force of nature, has finally left us at the age of 102. 

Born during the Irish Civil War, she was a native of Allihies, Beara, Co Cork, the youngest of eleven children (her parents - my grandparents - married in 1900), who grew up playing for sets - and dancing in them! There were lots of musicians on both the O'Sullivan and O’Dwyer sides of her family: her aunt played the concertina, her older brothers played the accordeon and the flute, and her mother Margaret O’Dwyer (originally from across the hill in Urhan, Eyeries, and another fine singer and set-dancer) used to host music sessions in the family home on Sunday afternoons that featured the playing of my mother, her brothers, and various relations and neighbours. Úna taught me my first songs as a toddler, taught me to play my first dance tunes (slides and polkas) and my first Irish dances. One of the photos here shows her as a young woman in evening dress on a night out; the other is a family photo of her (in the middle with flowery dress) set-dancing on the pier in Allihies in the 1940s - early 50s with various friends and relations. She involved herself in all kinds of cultural activities during her life: she founded an amateur dramatics society in Timoleague when she lived there as a young teacher in nearby Clogagh, sang in both the Glaslinn and church choirs in Bandon, and was a member of Comhaltas Chorcaí, the Cork Pipers’ Club, Conradh na Gaeilge and a founding member of the Bandon Historical Association (Cumann Seanchais na Banndan). She was hilarious company even into extreme old age, a remarkable person with an unquenchable zest for life and curiosity about everything. If will-power alone could have kept her alive, she would have lived forever! Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam ceolmhar Gaelach.

15 March 2025

A sold-out concert this evening at Historic Old San Isidro Church, Corrales, New Mexico

We’re looking forward to playing this evening in the atmospheric Historic Old San Isidro Church, Corrales, New Mexico, this evening. It’s not often you get to play in an old adobe church! Many thanks to Music in Corrales for hosting us again in this special venue!

9 March 2025

A concert this afternoon at Bevens Music Room, Lyon College, Batesville, AR

We’re looking forward to playing this evening in the atmospheric Historic Old San Isidro Church, Corrales, New Mexico, this evening. It’s not often you get to play in an old adobe church! Many thanks to Music in Corrales for hosting us again in this special venue!

6 March 2025

A concert this evening at Cullen Hall, University of St Thomas, Houston, TX

Cullen Recital Hall at the University of St Thomas in Houston, with Máire’s beautiful brand-new Camac Ulysse harp visible on stage. She’s looking forward to playing it for the first time in public at our concert there tonight!

4 March 2025

We’re off to the USA for our Spring tour!

We’re in Dublin Airport, just about to board our flight to the USA and really looking forward to our tour there! We start in Houston (TX) on Thu 6 and continue with concerts in Little Rock, AR on Sat 8, Batesville (AR) on Sun 9 and a masterclass in Batesville (AR) on Mon 10. We then head to Santa Fe & Corrales (New Mexico), New York City, Voorheesville (upstate NY), Cumberland (Rhode Island), and finish up with concerts (and a bunch of sight-seeing) in Valdez and Seward, Alaska!

25 February 2025

A sold-out concert for Folk on the Moor, Plymouth

It was great to finish our UK trip with a sold-out concert at the wonderful Folk on the Moor in Plymouth on Friday! The organisers reviewed the concert on Facebook today:

“You very quickly run out of superlatives trying to describe a performance by Maire ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman. Their virtuosity on their respective instruments is unquestionable - Maire is without peer as the doyenne of the Irish harp. Cascades of golden notes ripple fron her nimble fingers, whether it be a slow air that brings a tear to the eye or a more rambunctious jig that gets the feet tapping. 

Chris Newman has such complete mastery of the guitar that the instrument becomes just an extension of the man himself. He is technically highly accurate and his runs are played at blistering speed. From a Bach partita to a stomping version of Gershwin's "I got rhythm" he has the ability to make jaws drop everywhere he plays.

Put the two together and the whole far exceeds the sum of its considerable parts. Echoes of Hot Club of France, a nod in the direction of George Frideric Handel, and sumptuous interpretations of the work of Turlough O'Carolan and James Scott Skinner all showcase the inestimable talents of these two consummate professionals, enthusiastically received by a rapturous full house who had braved biblical rain to attend. They were more than amply rewarded by an evening of spellbinding music.”

18 February 2025

A photo of the White Cliffs of Dover

A photo of the White Cliffs of Dover (and they really do gleam white in the sunshine!) taken from the deck of the Calais-Dover ferry this afternoon, on our way to play at Dartford Folk Club (Kent) this evening…

17 February 2025

Visit to the restored Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris on our way back from recording in Belgium

On our way back from recording in Belgium, we spent a few days in Paris. It was so moving to see the magnificent 12th century Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris restored to its dazzling medieval glory after a catastrophic fire five years ago, thanks to the superhuman efforts, skill and artistry of hundreds of stonemasons, carpenters, sculptors, artists, picture-restorers, architects, engineers, metal-workers, roofers, organ-builders etc., enabled by the determination of the French state and its President, Emmanuel Macron, and donors from all over the world. It was an awe-inspiring experience - and entirely free, with the result that there must have been over a thousand visitors in the church when we took the photos! We’re now looking forward to playing at Dartford Folk Club tomorrow evening…

7 February 2025

Preview of our concert at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow

Many thanks to Charles Hutchinson for the preview of our concert at Helmsley Arts Centre tomorrow 8 February on his amazing website, in the Ryedale Gazette & Herald and in the York Press!

24 December 2025

Merry Christmas!

After a lovely sold-out Christmas concert at Grindleton Pavilion, Lancashire, on Saturday night - our last concert of the year - we're now running around like dervishes making preparations for our own Christmas celebrations! A very merry Christmas, and warmest wishes for a happy and healthy 2025!