Nashville 'five' destined for Mullingar's Fleadh Cheoil
A group of students from Nashville have qualified from for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Mullingar later this summer.
The students are from the recently formed Nashville Irish Music School and took part at the Midwest Fleadh Cheoil in St Louis, Missouri.
In total, nine students from the school participated in the Midwest Fleadh, and four of those received a placement of 1st or 2nd in their competition, qualifying them for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann.
These include 15-year-old Loki Bunn, who qualified in Trio (on the fiddle) and in Mandolin; 13-year-old Elora Bunn who qualified in Trio (on the concertina) and in Concertina; 12-year-old Atticus Bunn qualified in Trio (on tin whistle) and in Tin Whistle, Ceili Drum and Bodhran; and 13-year-old Allison Hill, who did not individually qualify but played accompaniment to Atticus on Ceili Dru and Bodhran and will be joining him in Mullingar! Meanwhile, 16-year-old Kaelen Korbel, who qualified in Piano, will unfortunately not be able to attend the Fleadh this summer.
The Midwest Fleadh Cheoil is the primary regional traditional Irish Music competition hosted annually by a Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann branch based in the Midwest. This year’s event hosted by St Louis Irish Arts attracted over 300 participants from St Louis, Chicago, Minneapolis-St Paul, Indianapolis, Atlanta and Nashville. Students performed traditional Irish Music on a variety of instruments ranging from the Tin Whistle, Fiddle, Mandolin, Piano, Concertina, Bohdran and Ceili Drums.
The Nashville Irish Music School, founded in 2019 by Musical Director, Claire Shirey and Board President Ashleigh Bunn, is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Irish music and culture in the Nashville community. The School performs regularly throughout Nashville at various Cultural Events and Festivals. The school also works to strengthen the local Irish culture by hosting bi-monthly Ceili Dances to bring the community together and support the students of the school.
The students will be hosting fundraising events over the coming weeks in order to support their trip to Ireland. One of those included a Benefit Concert with music by the students' teachers and a Benefit Brunch where the students preformed. The students are also soliciting sponsorship with fabulous prizes for patrons!