Kathleen Loughnane & Cormac Cannon

Kathleen Loughnane: Harp
Cormac Cannon: Uilleann pipes, Flute, Whistle

Kathleen Loughnane is one of Ireland’s leading harpists, recognised for her work in arranging traditional Irish dance tunes and airs for the harp and for her research into the music of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Irish harpers. She was nominated for an Irish Meteor Award in 2010 and in 1990 co-founded the ensemble Dordán, whose innovative combination of Irish and Baroque music received widespread acclaim and earned a National Entertainment Award for traditional music in 1993. She has released several recordings and accompanying publications, including Affairs of the Harp, Harping On, Harp to Heart, and The Harpers Connellan, and her arrangements are included in the harp syllabus of the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

She has performed and taught extensively in Ireland and internationally, including invitations to perform at the World Harp Congress in Dublin and at the British Museum in London. In November 2025, she was awarded an Honorary Degree in Music by the University of Galway in recognition of her outstanding contribution to Irish musical heritage.

Cormac Cannon is an accomplished traditional musician specialising in the uilleann pipes, as well as flute and whistle. He began learning the whistle at an early age with Mary Bergin and later took up the uilleann pipes, studying initially with Tommy Keane and further developing his playing through regular participation in the Willie Clancy Summer School and through close study of historic recordings of earlier generations of traditional musicians. His musical style reflects a deep engagement with the piping traditions of Clare, Kerry, and other regional schools.

He has performed and taught extensively throughout Ireland, Europe, Japan, and the United States. His recordings include the acclaimed album The Trip to Carrick, a collaboration with Lamond Gillespie and John Blake, as well as appearances on several recordings with harpist Kathleen Loughnane, including Patrick O’Neill’s Manuscripts and The Harpers Connellan. His other recorded work includes contributions to The Cobblestone Sessions and Rogha Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy 2008.

Together, Kathleen Loughnane and Cormac Cannon present performances rooted in Ireland’s historic harp and piping traditions, drawing on early repertoire and traditional sources to bring this rich musical heritage to contemporary audiences.