Ryan Molloy, Fergal Scahill & Shauna Mullin

Fergal Scahill is a virtuoso musician whose journey in the industry spans over two decades. At the tender age of two, he discovered his love for music and began playing the bodhran. By the age of five, he was already taking the stage with the Siamsa show in Galway, Ireland, and performing in front of captivated audiences. Over the years, he has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments, including multiple All-Ireland titles on the fiddle, bodhran and guitar accompaniment, as well as many group competition wins.

At 18 years of age, Fergal took his talent to the professional stage and has since performed with several shows, including Ragus and Celtic Legends. He has a rich discography, including five solo projects, two albums with his band Freewheel, and seven albums with his current band We Banjo 3. Fergal’s social media project,”Fergal’s Tune a Day,”showcases his musical prowess and collaboration skills, as he has recorded over 750 different tunes and worked with hundreds of artists.

Fergal’s musical reach extends beyond borders, as he has performed in over 30 different countries across all continents. He has shared the stage with a diverse array of musicians, including the likes of Mairtín O’Connor, Wallis Bird, Gerry O’Connor, Mick Flannery, Máiread Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Shannon, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Billy Strings, Sierra Hull, and Brittany Haas. In 2020, he was honoured with the Male Musician of the Year award from the American Celtic Listener Supported Radio Awards and in 2021, he received the Album of the Year award for “One Day ::November Woods.” Fergal’s current band, “We Banjo 3,” has also received recognition, including the Traditional Album of the Year award from the Irish Times, the Album of the Week accolade from RTE Radio 1 and best folk album at the 2018 RTÉ Folk Award.

Ryan Molloy’s compositional work engages with the boundary of contemporary music and traditional Irish music, drawing on his extensive experience as a traditional Irish fiddler and pianist. Ryan’s has written over fifty works and his music has been performed to audiences on four continents for over fifteen years, as well as featuring regularly in national and international TV and radio broadcasts (including BBC, RTÉ and UTV). Ryan was awarded the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil Composer of the Year in 2024. He has been commissioned by both RTÉ and the BBC, as well as a range of renowned performers such as the Danish String Quartet, Ulster Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Hard RainSoloist Ensemble. He has represented Ireland at the prestigious ISCM World New Music Days festivals in Hong Kong(2015), Vancouver (2017) and Auckland/Christchurch (2022).

Ryan has recorded on over thirty albums as a pianist, composer and arranger and in both 2020 and 2021 he was nominated in the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards Best Folk Instrumentalist category in recognition of this work. Described as a ‘milestone’ in traditional piano performance, Ryan’s critically acclaimed first solo recording ‘pianophony’ was released in 2019and his recent works, including casúir ’s cnaipí and PIANO BOXING, showcase his innovative approach to traditional piano performance. As an Associate Professor of Composition at Maynooth University, Ryan continues to push the boundaries of Irish music.