Happy New Year from Burren Fiddle Holidays!

May the new year bring hope, kindness and solidarity in creativity.

In reflection and movement into 2026 I’ve been inspired by pieces from fellow musicians honouring their creative year just past. It’s amazing what you can experience and achieve in a year of classes, gigs, travels, new friendships and collaborations, new music and recordings.

Here I dived deeper into accompanying songs and played with Áine O’Brien on her solo set as well as with The Kilfenora Roadshow. Festivals included the Micho Russell Festival and Corofin Trad Fest, the Cuckoo Fleadh, the Willie Clancy Week, Doolin Folk Fest, and Roadshows at Féile na Sionainne and the trad tent, Electric Picnic.

Favourite memories which made the world feel small and the connections great, were dancing with local folk under moonlight in an Andalucian mountain village; learning a Sliabh Luachra polka from Roby at a festival in Hungary; meeting friends from far away at a session on Inisbofin; and filming a music and dance around the campfire sequence with a group of musicians and artists.

I really enjoyed hosting fiddle holidays and gained some more insight into different musical worlds and genres from those I worked with. I worked with the lovely students I continue to teach each week. There was also a *mention* of me recording a few fiddle tracks.

Finally Burren Fiddle Holidays hosted its first fiddle camp! Taking place over a week in August, we covered so much – ornamentation, variation and phrasing, with lots on bowing technique and style and the crossover from classical music training to traditional technique. Moving from some of the most common session tunes to more unusual reels, jigs and slip jigs, we had great fun! I hope to run this again this year with an update to come shortly – watch this space – and as always, if you’d like to ask about fiddle classes and holidays, just give a call or send over an email.

Best,

Laura