Brianna Madden with her classmates from DkIT.

Brianna's Trad goes global in Glasgow, today!

Music student Brianna Madden from Cavan Town will bring Irish traditional music to a global stage today, as she performs alongside her Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) classmates at the International Society for Music Education (ISME) conference in Glasgow (July 24-29).
Multi-talented musician Brianna, who plays the tin-whistle, flute and button accordion, will perform at the prestigious event as part of the DkIT Irish traditional music ensemble, Ceol Oirghialla. This is the second time that the group has been selected to represent Ireland at the event, having previously flown the Irish flag at ISME in Brazil in 2014.
The ensemble will take part in performances and workshops at various high profile venues such as the National Piping Hall. Following the conference, the students will head north to the Scottish Highlands to appear at Speyfest, a three-day festival celebrated in the town of Fochabers, which showcases the best in traditional and contemporary Celtic music.
“Finally, it’s here! This is such an exciting opportunity,” said Brianna. “I’m really looking forward to being inspired by new musicians and hopefully I can give something back in addition to developing some new skills along the way. The thought of playing to such a large audience is very exciting. I can’t wait to be there!”
Ceol Oirghialla brings together students from across the island of Ireland with undergraduate and postgraduate music students from counties Cavan, Wexford, Limerick, Kerry, Down, Dublin and Louth.
To participate in the trip, the ensemble secured funding from the Society for Music Education in Ireland (SMEI), which supports DkIT’s overall goal in participating at the ISME conference which is to provide valuable performance experience for its students and to continue to promote Irish music education at a global level.