Welcome to the Website of the
O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat!
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Please mark your calendars for the next O'Flaherty Irish Music Retreat:
October 23-25, 2009
Hoblitzelle Camp & Conference Center
Midlothian, Texas
Our Guest Instructors
We are pleased to announce our guest instructors for 2009! June McCormack, Pat Egan and Mickey Dunne are returning. New to our retreat will be Manus Maguire, 
Brian Conway, Brendan Dolan, Enda Scahill, Michael Rooney and Patty Furlong.
June McCormack is considered one of Ireland's leading ladies on flute. Joining her this year is her husband and fellow Draiocht member Michael Rooney. Michael is one of the finest exponents of the Irish harp in traditional Irish music today and also plays Anglo concertina. Pat Egan is a highly-regarded guitarist (standard tuning) and singer that more than pleased our pickers and singers alike last year. Mickey Dunne, our uilleann pipes teacher for the 
third year, comes from one of Ireland's most prominent musical families and is a respected pipes maker, player and teacher.
Manus McGuire, our advanced fiddler teacher for the next retreat, has distinguished himself as "one of the great musicians and 
composers of our time" says fiddler Seamus Connelly. In 2007, LiveIreland awarded Manus male musician of the year. Joining Manus is fellow bandmate from the Brock McGuire Band, Enda Scahill, one of the most exciting tenor banjo players ever to play the instrument. His mastery of the banjo must be seen and heard to be believed.
The winner of two All- Ireland junior titles in 1973 and 1974 and the All-Ireland senior championship of 1986, Brian Conway is a New York fiddler in the Sligo fiddling style. Brian 
often performs and records with Brendan Dolan, widely recognized as one of the best in piano accompaniment and a great player on flute and whistle. Patty Furlong has won numerous New York championships as well as three All-Ireland titles, including one solo title. An original member of Cherish the Ladies, Patty plays the ceili circuit throughout the Tri-state New York area and concerts throughout the U.S.
And of course, we have many other wonderful instructors who are rich in their experience in teaching Irish music on their instruments. All in all, an exciting group of teachers for 2009!
Online Registration Begins March 9
We will begin taking online registration for this year's retreat on March 9th. Before clicking on the "Register" link above, we suggest you review the classes, schedules and lodging before you start the regsitration process. If you encounter any problems, you can contact our registrar Rick Roberts at enroll@oflahertyretreat.org or by phone most weekday evenings and weekends at (972) 578-9918.