Liz Doherty "...a bundle of amazing musical energy !"

Donegal fiddler Liz Doherty was brought up in Buncrana, Inishowen, in Ireland's most northerly peninsula. Having been introduced to the fiddle by local maestro Dinny Mc Laughlin, she moved to Cork to study with Micheal O Suilleabhain, graduating from the Music Department of University College Cork in 1991. She was awarded a PhD in 1996 from the University of Limerick for her research on Cape Breton with a dissertation entitled The Paradox of the Periphery - Evolution of Cape Breton Fiddle Tradition c 1929-1995. Liz has lectured in traditional music in the Music Department of University College, Cork for the past seven years, and has been a guest lecturer at many institutions and events throughout Ireland, the U.K. and Canada, as well as having several publications to her credit. In 2001 she decided to resign from her full-time academic position to pursue her fiddle playing.

Fiddle Teaching

Liz is already well recognised internationally both as a performer and as a fiddle teacher. Her teaching engagements have included Music Under the Mountains (Tasmania), The National Folk Festival (Australia), Fiddles of the World (Halifax, Nova Scotia), Celtic Connections (Glasgow), The Ceilidh Trail School of Celtic Music (Cape Breton), Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle School (California), Fiddle Affair (Glasgow), Folkworks Adult Summer School (Durham), Fiddles at Witney (Dorset), Fiddle Days (Wigmore Hall, London), ALP Fiddle Festivals (Edinburgh) and the Frankie Kennedy Winter School (Donegal, Ireland).

Performing

As a performer, Liz frequently tours as a soloist and with musicians featured on her album, Quare Imagination. Appearances over the last eighteen months have included The National Folk Festival (Australia), Port Fairy Folk Festival (Australia), Brunswick Music Festival (Australia), Celtic Connections (Glasgow), Shetland Fiddle and Accordian Festival, Cork Opera House, Orkney Folk Festival, Earagail Arts Festival, Donegal, and Wigmore Hall, London. She also played in Riverdance - The Show in Hammersmith, London.

Recordings

A founder member of the Cork based group Nomos, she featured on their first album, I WonÕt Be Afraid Anymore (Solid Records, 1994), and has toured extensively with the all-female band, Bumblebees, featuring on their second album, Buzzin' (Beehave Records). She founded and directed of Fiddlesticks, a group of over a dozen fiddlers from the Music Department of University College Cork, which has released itÕs album, Racket in the Rectory in 2000 (Foot Stompin' Records). Her own debut solo album, Last Orders, was released in 1999 (Foot Stompin' Records). Liz's other recording credits include Fiddlesticks Š Traditional Music from Co. Donegal (Nimbus Records, 1992), Heat the Hoose (Tartan Tapes, 1998), Heat the Hoose 2 (Foot Stompin' Records 2000).

TV and Radio

Liz has also appeared on numerous TV and radio shows including The Late Late Show (RTE), The Kelly Show (UTV), Geanntrai (TG4), Flosc (TG4), Banish Misfortune (RTE), The Celts (BBC Wales), Travelling Folk (BBC Scotland), and River of Sound (Channel 4).

Academic Work Profile

  • Lecturer, Irish Traditional Music, University of Ulster (2003 -)
  • 2002 Guest lectures at Music Department, National University, Canberra, Australia
  • 2001 The Joan C. Edwards Distinguished Visiting Professor of the Arts, Marshall University, West Virginia
  • 2001 Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh
  • 1994-2001 Lecturer in Traditional music, University College, Cork
  • 1997 (Summer) Celtic Music Course, University College of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
  • 1992-present Various papers given at universities, conferences, symposia (Ireland, U.K., Canada, Australia) - topics include Cape Breton Fiddle traditions, Irish fiddle styles, Connections between Donegal-Scotland-Cape Breton, Gender issues in same traditions.

Research/Consultancy

  • Research and Development Projects in Music, Arts and Education for various Organisations and Local Authorities (2002 - )
  • European Network of Traditional Music and Dance, Researcher, Training and Transmission of Traditional Music at University and Professional Level across Europe (2001/2)

Publications

  • 2003, Various articles in The Encyclopaedia of Ireland (Gill and MacMillan)
  • 2002, Information Dissemination in A Needs Analysis for Traditional Music in Ireland, Traditional Music and Dance Development Network
  • 1999, Various articles in The Companion to Irish Traditional Music (ed. Fintan Vallely, Cork University Press)
  • 1999, Co-editor on published proceedings from Crossbhealach an Cheoil -The Crossroads Conference
  • 1994, O'Riada Memorial Lecture - The Cape Breton Tradition - An Irish Perspective
  • 1994, Sleeve notes to CD - Traditional music from Cape Breton Island (Nimbus Records)
  • 1992-2000, Articles in magazines e.g. Strad magazine
  • 1996, PhD, University of Limerick: The Paradox of the Periphery - The Cape Breton Fiddle Tradition c1928-1995

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