Over 100 fiddlers expected at the 40th Donegal Fiddle Week

Donegal Fiddle Week is due to celebrate its 40th anniversary. 

There will be a busy programme of events with fiddle classes and concerts in Glencolmcille which begins on Monday, August 4. The week starts with registration for the classes at 10am on Monday in the National School in Glencolumbcille.

During the week, the Folk Village will host two concerts, on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Halla Mhuire is the venue for a dance on Thursday night and the closing concert on Friday night. There will also be lots of impromptu sessions centring on the local pubs.

More than a hundred fiddlers are expected once again, including some of Donegal’s leading players as well as fiddle students from across Ireland and around the world. Those already booked include visitors from the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, the US and Australia and more. 

Ellie Níc Fhionnghaile, fiddler and singer from Glencolumbkille, who'll be performing at a concert in the Folk Village during the 40th Donegal Fiddle Week. Ellie works in Na Píobairí Uilleann (Pipers' Club) headquarters in Dublin.

Rab Cherry of Donegal fiddle organisation Cairdeas na bhFidiléirí, which organises Fiddle Week, says everyone involved is looking forward to a feast of fiddle music. “It’s hard to believe we’re hitting the 40-year mark! We can look back on lots of brilliant Fiddle Weeks in the beautiful and musical place that is Glencolumbkille. We expect 2025 will be another. The Donegal fiddle tradition has won international recognition and continues to produce outstanding players, so the future is bright.

“Fiddling in Donegal was at a pretty low ebb when the Fiddle Week started in 1986. The situation has been transformed since then. Many of the teachers at this year’s Fiddle Week have attended the summer school themselves as students in past years.”

The midweek concerts this year are being recorded for more CDs in the ‘Fiddle Music of Donegal’ series produced by Cairdeas. The Tuesday night concert features one of Donegal’s best-known fiddlers and singers, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, the outstanding Inishowen player Melanie Houton, and two rising stars, sisters Ciannait and Edith Lawlor from north County Dublin. Edith recently played a leading role in the Irish language film, ‘Fidil Ghorm’. 

On Wednesday night, it’s the turn of local fiddler and singer Ellie Níc Fhionnghaile, Dunkineely maestro Aidan O’Donnell (both just back from a festival in Sweden), and another up-and-coming player, Nia Byrne, Carrickfinn.

Aidan O'Donnell from Dunkineely, who's one of the performers at a fiddle concert in the Folk Village in Glencolumbkille as part of the 40th Donegal Fiddle Week. Aidan is now in charge of Music Generation in County Tipperary

The line-up for the closing concert on Friday night includes Derry-born player Dermot McLaughlin, one of those involved in the first Fiddle Week back in 1986, and Siobhán Peoples from Ennis, Co. Clare. Siobhán was given the 2025 ‘Musician of the Year’ award at the TG4 Gradam Ceoil ceremony in Limerick in May. Her late father, the great fiddle player Tommy Peoples from St Johnston in east Donegal, was the first winner of the award in 1998.

All the concerts during Fiddle Week, and Thursday night’s dance, start at 9pm and there’s a €10 charge on the door. All welcome.

A special feature this year is a talk by author and researcher Richie Piggott on Irish traditional musicians in Chicago over the past 100 years, including some from Donegal. Richie will be playing a selection of recordings during his talk, which is in Oideas Gael on Wednesday at 4.30pm. All are welcome and admission is free.

Rab Cherry says fiddle students are welcome to simply turn up for the classes from Monday morning, but it’s helpful if they book in advance at donegalfiddlemusic@gmail.com 

The general daily schedule runs from 10am to 4pm. There are ten classes covering all ages and abilities, from absolute beginner to advanced. There’s also an online class.

Rab adds, “There will also be plenty of fiddle players and fiddle fans who don’t attend the classes and just come to the week for the music and fun, from Sweden, the Netherlands, the US or wherever. We’re delighted to see familiar faces each year, and also to welcome new ones.”