Eileen Ivers

In the 1970s, fiddler Eileen Ivers, prize pupil of Limerick teacher Martin Mulvihill, was an unbeatable fleadh competitor. In the 1980s she was a founding member of Cherish the Ladies and performed with Mick Moloney’s Green Fields of America troupe. In the ‘90s, she formed a recording and touring partnership with English-born button accordion ace John Whelan, who was then living in New York, and starred in Riverdance on Broadway. In more recent years, she has fronted her own band, Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, a musically eclectic group that includes two other worthy traditional players in button accordionist Buddy Connolly and fiddler/guitarist/trumpet player Matt Mancuso.