Tea With Irish Philly

Interviews and information focusing on Irish and Irish-American culture, music, dance and news in and around Philadelphia.

Interview with Irish Choreographer Marguerite Donlon 11/06/2024

Interview with Irish Choreographer Marguerite Donlon Donlon is a famed choreographer of contemporary dance. She discusses her new piece, "Big Wig," and talks about her journey. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/33821866

Interview with Actor and Casting Director Kirsten Quinn 08/28/2024

Interview with Actor and Casting Director Kirsten Quinn In a revival of a play that explores the mysterious death of Thomas Merton--"Rendezvous in Bangkok ... Who Killed Thomas Merton"--Quinn plays the role of peace activist Joan Baez. The play was written by Sabina Clarke and Thom Nickels. Quinn is a full tenured associate professor of theater and communications at Community College of Philadelphia. She has appeared in productions throughout the Philadelphia area, including, notably, The Irish Heritage Theatre, of which she is also a board member. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/32780192

Uilleann Piper Ivan Goff 09/21/2020

Uilleann Piper Ivan Goff Ivan Goff played this haunting slow air at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Festival in September 2019. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/11290814

Eileen Ivers Interview 03/27/2020

Eileen Ivers Interview Premier Irish fiddler Eileen Ivers has released a stunning new album, "Scatter the Light." We spoke with her about the album, and the uplifting messages behind each of the tracks. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/13727090

Máiréad Carlin Interview 03/19/2020

Máiréad Carlin Interview Celtic Woman was scheduled to perform in Philadelphia toward the end of this month. With the onset of the novel coronavirus, the tour was canceled. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/13619963

Interview with Fiddler Winifred Horan 10/09/2019

Interview with Fiddler Winifred Horan Fiddler Winifred Horan is best-known for her work with the band Solas, but she has also forged a productive and creative solo career. Now, she is out with a beautiful new CD, "The Memory of Magic." We spent a good long time recently talking about the new album and the thoughts and inspiration that went into it. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/11582117

Riverdance Fiddler Haley Richardson 08/28/2019

Riverdance Fiddler Haley Richardson At 17, she is filling some big shoes, playing this summer in the Riverdance band at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre. Haley is already incredibly accomplished. Here are her reflections on Riverdance, her career up to this point, and where she's going. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/11035175

Tony DeMarco 08/16/2019

Tony DeMarco Tony DeMarco came to Irish fiddling in a roundabout way, but he has emerged as one of the foremost practitioners of the highly ornamented Sligo style. He appears at the Philadelphia Ceili Group Irish Festival September 14, 2019. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/10898103

Press Conference with Carl Frampton 08/01/2019

Press Conference with Carl Frampton Carl "The Jackal" Frampton visited the Philadelphia Irish Center to talk about his August 10, 2019, fight against Emmanuel Dominguez at Temple University's Liacouras Center. He talked about a lot of other things. "The Pride of Belfast" held forth on a range of subjects, from fatherhood and family to career highlights to his legacy. And he talked about how the next fight could be his last. (Although he expects to win.) /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/10737674

McLean Avenue Band Live in Philadelphia 06/05/2019

McLean Avenue Band Live in Philadelphia The McLean Avenue Band of New York City debuted in Philadelphia at a waterfront Irish festival in June 2019. This is the band's opening medley, which was very well received. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/10063841

Gathering (Seamus McGroary, C.J. Mills and Joe Kirschen) 06/03/2019

Gathering (Seamus McGroary, C.J. Mills and Joe Kirschen) The lads presented their version of a popular Irish rock standard. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/10020599

Oakwyn 05/13/2019

Oakwyn The Philly Irish band Oakwyn presents "Come Out Ye Black and Tans" at the 2019 Philly Fleadh. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/9753068

Nathan Carter, On Irish Country Music, His Career and What’s Next 05/01/2019

Nathan Carter, On Irish Country Music, His Career and What’s Next Irish country music phenom Nathan Carter has come a long way since his hit song, “Wagon Wheel.” He’s enormously popular. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/9611537

Michael Londra and His “Ridiculously Lucky” Career 03/05/2019

Michael Londra and His “Ridiculously Lucky” Career County Wexford singer Michael Londra burst on the scene as the lead singer in the United States tour of Riverdance, the cultural phenomenon that itself inspired all of the Celtic this and Irish that groups and shows that have also swept the country over the years. He was, by many standards, something of a late bloomer. He was 31 when his career began in earnest. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8890877

Celtic Thunder’s Colm Keegan Brings Irish History to the Philadelphia Irish Center 03/03/2019

Celtic Thunder’s Colm Keegan Brings Irish History to the Philadelphia Irish Center Colm Keegan made his mark as a principal singer in the well-known Celtic Thunder, but before he embarked upon a performance career, he was a high school music teacher, with a master’s degree in music. For years, he’s though about a way to merge Irish history with music, and there never seemed like a good way to do it—until now. On Saturday, March 9, Keegan brings the first chapter of a new series called Irish History through Music to the Commodore John Barry Arts & Cultural Center. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8854136

Interview with Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall 02/25/2019

Interview with Irish Ambassador Daniel Mulhall On March 1, Irish Ambassador to the United States Daniel Mulhall will be on hand to present the Irish American Business Chamber & Network's 2019 Ambassador’s Awards. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8776577

Podcast: Interview with Oisín Mac Diarmada of Téada 02/09/2019

Podcast: Interview with Oisín Mac Diarmada of Téada In the world of Irish traditional music, you would be hard-pressed to find a more accomplished and creative group than Téada. County Sligo fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada, the group’s founder, recently sat down for an interview with irishphiladelphia.com. The conversation was wide-ranging, starting with his earliest days in County Clare learning the fiddle to the successful career he has carved out with Téada and his talented bandmates. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8578232

Interview with Celtic Woman's Tara McNeill 02/07/2019

Interview with Celtic Woman's Tara McNeill Tara McNeill took up singing, harp and violin at a very young age. Ever since childhood, she has known what she wanted to do: perform. For the past several years, McNeill has done just that, and for the past three years, with Celtic Woman. She says it's the fulfillment of a dream. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8560511

Who's Your Granny: The Ins and Outs of DNA Testing 01/24/2019

Who's Your Granny: The Ins and Outs of DNA Testing irishphiladelphia.com's genealogy maven Lori Lander Murphy returns with another installment of Who's Your Granny (with occasional editorial comment from her dog Daisy). /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/8385359

Who's Your Granny: A Beginner's Genealogy Guide 12/13/2018

Who's Your Granny: A Beginner's Genealogy Guide You’ve just caught the Irish ancestry bug. But there’s so much to know before you start the search for where your people came from—isn’t there? /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7911263

Massacre at Duffy's Cut 12/09/2018

Massacre at Duffy's Cut It was a mystery, a story many didn't want told. 57 Irish railroad laborers came to America in search of a better life. Not long after their arrival, they were all dead. Was it cholera? Or murder? /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7849457

Interview with Trevor Hutchinson of Lunasa 12/07/2018

Interview with Trevor Hutchinson of Lunasa Lunasa rolls into the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware, for their annual Christmas show. We interviewed bassist Trevor Hutchinson about the show, and the (relatively) new album, Cas. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7836956

Interview with Derek Warfield 11/21/2018

Interview with Derek Warfield Derek Warfield continues his illustrious musical career, now exceeding the 50-year mark. We recently interviewed him, and he looked back on those 50 years--his life, his career, and his hopes for the future of the Irish musical tradition. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7645472

Interview with Joanie Madden 11/19/2018

Interview with Joanie Madden Joanie Madden brings her band Cherish the Ladies to the Commodore John Barry Arts & Cultural Center (The Irish Center) Saturday, December 1, for the first stop of the Celtic Christmas tour. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7622609

An Interview with Marianne MacDonald 11/19/2018

An Interview with Marianne MacDonald Marianne MacDonald has been hosting "Come West Along the Road" for many years. She's well-known in the Philadelphia-area Irish community. Here she reflects on her years on air. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7617458

Irish Christmas in America Comes to Sellersville Theater 11/15/2018

Irish Christmas in America Comes to Sellersville Theater A bright, balanced blend of Irish music and dance drawing on seasonal inspirations, Irish Christmas in America arrives on stage at Sellersville Theater 1894 Tuesday, November 27. Fiddler Oisín Mac Diarmada, of the Irish traditional supergroup Téada, has been producing the show for 14 years, which never ceases to delight audiences from one end of the country to the other—regardless of whether their roots are Irish. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7565441

Martin McGuinness: the Man I Knew 10/07/2018

Martin McGuinness: the Man I Knew An interview with author, journalist and broadcaster Jude Collins, who visited the Commodore Barry Arts and Cultural Center in Philadelphia recently to give a talk on the late Martin McGuinness, Irish republican Sinn Féin politician and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. Collins' address drew largely on his book, which consisted of multiple interviews with key figures in Northern Ireland's recent political history, including prominent unionists and republicans. /episode/index/show/irishphilly/id/7139161

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