Kieran O'Hare

Kieran O'Hare is a highly respected and sought-after performer on the uilleann pipes, concert flute, and tinwhistle. He was born into a musical Irish-American family, and he began to play at home while in his early teens. Kieran moved to Dublin, Ireland, in 1991, where he received a degree in Modern History from Trinity College, Dublin, and now resides in Chicago with his wife, the fiddler Liz Knowles.



In 1994, Kieran received the honor of being the first American-born player of Irish music invited to perform in the annual 'Ace and Deuce of Piping' concert, held in Ireland's National Concert Hall. Since then, he has made countless appearances at festivals and concerts in North America, Japan, and Europe.



Among the many artists with whom Kieran has performed, toured or recorded are Mick Moloney and The Greenfields of America; Chicago fiddler Liz Carroll; Cape Breton fiddlers Jerry Holland and JP Cormier; Canadian singers Dave Gunning and Gordie Sampson; Irish vocalists Danny Doyle and Niamh Parsons; Celtic and early music performers Ensemble Galilei; the Trinity Irish Dance Company; the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra; Irish choral group ANÚNA; Bonnie Raitt; The Paul Winter Consort; Josh Groban and Don Henley. In 2006/2007, Kieran was the featured uilleann pipes and tin whistle player for the new musical, Boublil & Schonberg's The Pirate Queen, on Broadway. In March 2008, he played the uilleann pipes for the U.S. premiere of Shaun Davey's Relief of Derry Symphony at Symphony Hall in Chicago.



Kieran also has a reputation as an outstanding teacher of Irish music, beginning with the years he spent as a teacher of the pipes in Na Píobairí Uilleann, The Pipers' Club in Dublin. Since then, Kieran's reputation as a teacher of Irish music has grown, and has included stints at the Willie Clancy Summer School, The Swannanoa Gathering, the Catskills Irish Arts Week, The Augusta Heritage Festival, and at various pipers' tionóls and musical gatherings, including in 2008 the 41st Tionól of Na Píobairí Uilleann in Dublin.