Artists › Niamh Ní Charra & Kevin Corbett

Niamh Ní Charra – Violin, Concertina, Voice (Irish & English)

Niamh Ní Charra hails from Killarney, County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland. Strongly influenced by a wealth of local Sliabh Luachra musicians, she started playing music at the early age of 4. A multiple-award winner on both fiddle and concertina, she toured from 1998 to 2006 as a soloist with Riverdance, before returning to Ireland where she is now based. Her recently released 5th album “Donnelly’s Arm”, recorded under challenging circumstances during the Covid-19 pandemic and several lockdowns, has nonetheless received much critical and public acclaim. It was crowned Number 1 Trad Album of 2021 by Alex Monaghan, reviewer for several publications including Irish Music Magazine, Living Tradition and FolkWorld.

She is the recipient of several awards including “Instrumental Album of the Year” in 2014 in the Chicago Irish American News’ TIR awards for her previous album “Cuz”, "Female Musician of the Year" in 2012 and 2014, in the Live Ireland Music Awards, "Best Trad Music Act 2008" from UK publication The Irish World, and "Best Fiddle/Violin 2008" from the American based Irish Music Association. Her music was also featured on the programme “Ireland in Song” which aired on Aer Lingus transatlantic flights, and which also featured on PBS and a selection of her compositions was showcased in the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA)’s Saothar series in July 2022.

Along with touring extensively as a solo artist and with her own band, Niamh has also performed and recorded with The Chieftains, with Galician piper and Sony artist Carlos Núñez and in 2011 released an album "The Basque Irish Connection", in collaboration with Basque musician Ibon Koteron. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses, has performed for several presidents and members of royalty and has additionally coordinated concerts hosted by Irish embassies abroad, on behalf of the Irish government.

Niamh is also a professional archivist and is currently the project manager and project archivist for the Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League) and Mary Robinson collections at the University of Galway. She is the Communications and Campaigns officer for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, she is co-host of the podcast series Archive Nation, and regularly gives presentations on her work in this field, including recently at both Electric Picnic and at the International Council on Archives (ICA) conference in Rome. Her work in both the music and archive professions was recently recognised when she was elected to ITMA’s board.

Kevin Corbett - Guitar

Kevin is a much sought-after guitarist from Newport, Co. Mayo. He took up the guitar at 16 citing the classic rock players of the 70s and early blues players as major influences before a chance encounter led him down the road of traditional Irish acoustic accompaniment. Shortly after making this transition, Kevin toured extensively, working as a freelance session musician for many productions such as the world-renowned dance show Ragús, as well as musicals and theatrical performances. He has shared the stage with some of the top musicians in the country, including Michael McGoldrick, Matt Molloy and Seamus Begley among others. He began performing with Niamh in 2015 and is a core member of the group. He is also a member of the immensely popular Irish Trad band for children Speks and is somewhat of a rock star among five-year-olds! In addition, he has taught at various festivals both at home and abroad and performs regularly on Irish television and radio.

Apart from his Guitar work, Kevin is also hugely in demand as a professional Graphic Designer. Currently the in-house designer for William Fry, he also has his own business KCorbett Design and has designed numerous album covers and websites for Irish Traditional musicians including David Doocey, Caroline Keane, Daithí Gormley and others. His cover design for Doocey’s 2013 album “Changing Time” was listed in the top ten Trad Connect album designs of the year.