January 2027
Rockaway Bound is an exciting new project featuring some of the best young Irish traditional musicians on the scene today.
Led by Diarmuid Ó Meachair (Accordion & Vocals) featuring Andrew Caden (Fiddle), Seamus Noonan (Flute), Colman Connolly (Piano) and Caoimhín Ó Fearghail & Richard Osban (Greek Bouzouki).
Rockaway Bound, refers to the Rockaway Peninsula in New York, which became an important center of Irish social and musical life during the twentieth century. In the decades following the great waves of Irish immigration, Rockaway developed a reputation as a summer destination for New York's Irish community. During the 1930s and 1940s, Irish musicians, singers, dancers, and audiences gathered at the peninsula's hotels, dance halls, clubs, and resorts. The McNulty family, among the most important Irish American musical families of the period, became particularly associated with this scene, performing regularly in Rockaway from the early 1930s onward. The area became an important place for Irish musicians in New York at the time.
This Rockaway peninsula was part of a much larger Irish musical culture that had developed in New York from the previous decades. The city became a crucial hub for the commercial recording of Irish musicians during the 1920s 78 RPM and wax cylinder era. Influential musicians such as Michael Coleman, Peter Conlon, John McKenna and the McNulty family performed on the Rockaway peninsula during the summer months. The repertoire will draw from the music associated with the early Irish American recording era alongside contemporary traditional repertoire.
Diarmuid Ó Meachair is a traditional Irish accordion and melodeon player from Cúil Aodha, Co. Cork and is also a sean-nós singer. In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious TG4 Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana (Young Musician of the Year). Diarmuid currently teaches Irish traditional music at University College Cork and also teaches Irish music at Holy Cross University in Worcester, Massachusetts. He is a former member of De Dannan, with whom he performed internationally from 2022. Over the past two years, Diarmuid has released four solo albums and he has been nominated for three RTÉ Folk Awards: Best Instrumentalist (2023 & 2024) and Best Emerging Artist (2023). He has toured in the US as a solo artist consistently since 2023 and is in high demand as a performer, presenter, instructor and organizer.
Andrew Caden is a fiddle player originally from Bethesda, Maryland USA. He is now based in Dublin working at the Irish Traditional Music Archive and is completing an MA programme in Archives & Records Management at the University College of Dublin this year. Andrew was taught primarily by New York fiddle player, Brian Conway, and his musical influences come from people like Michael Coleman, James 'Lad' O'Beirne, Seán McGuire, and Frankie Gavin. He is in high demand as both a performer and a teacher at many traditional music festivals throughout Ireland, and he has been recognised by numerous established traditional musicians as one of the most promising young Irish fiddle players of today. Andrew released a duet album with flute player Conor McDonagh called "Across the Atlantic" in June 2025 which is available on Bandcamp. It has been met with critical acclaim from The Journal of Music and The Irish Echo.
Seamus Noonan is an accomplished Irish traditional flute and concertina player from the Boston area, learning his music from his father, renowned musician Jimmy Noonan. Deeply influenced by legendary flute players such as Seamus Tansey and John McKenna, Seamus brings a strong sense of tradition to his playing. His dedication to Irish music has earned him recognition at the highest levels — he was a finalist in the 2014 and 2024 Seán Ó Riada competitions, and has placed in multiple Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann events, including the 2023 and 2024 Senior Flute competitions in Mullingar and Wexford.
Caoimhín Ó Fearghail was born in 1989 and comes from An Rinn in the Waterford Gaeltacht. He started to learn the tin-whistle at the age of eight, taking lessons from Bobby Gardiner. He quickly progressed to the uilleann pipes, under the tutelage of David Power. He is self-taught on flute, guitar and greek bouzouki inspired by such diverse flute players as Matt Molloy, Mike Rafferty and Tom Doorley. Some of his strongest piping influences include the old greats such as Séamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Leo Rowsome, Tommy Reck and Patsy Touhey. He cannot deny the big influence that Liam O’Flynn, Mick O’Brien and Waterford pipers Tommy Kearney, Jimmy O’Brien-Moran, Tommy Keane and Donnchadh Gough have had on him, and is very much influenced by the many other great musicians and singers of his home area in Co. Waterford. Caoimhín was the 2012 recipient of the TG4 Young Musician of the Year award (Gradam Ceoil TG4).
Colman Connolly was born into one of Irish music’s real families. His father is a world-class button-accordion player from Ireland who’s shared stages with the likes of Sting; his mother is a flute player; his grandfather built accordions for a living; and his great-uncle Seamus is a renowned fiddler. On his mother’s side, Peter McCann was a prominent Nashville songwriter. He grew up playing traditional Irish music in pubs and bars and competing in Ireland — winning the International Accompaniment Competition at sixteen. He taught himself piano at six off YouTube, picked up guitar and bass, and as a teenager founded the cover band The Low Darts, where he is the sing lead and play keys and guitar — and shot the early promos himself. The Low Darts have 14.7 million views online.
Today he’s an Audio Production student at MTSU, producing for Nashville artists like Savannah Span and Josie James, and writing his own songs to release. Pianist, singer, producer, multi-instrumentalist — and just getting started.
Richard Osban is an accompanist based in Baltimore, Maryland. He got his start with Irish traditional music while living in Europe, and toured internationally with several Irish music projects before returning to the US. He has toured and performed with internationally acclaimed musicians, including the legendary Billy McComiskey and Louise Mulcahy.
Richard is the director of the Baltimore Irish Tenor Banjo Summit and the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest, Executive Director of the Baltimore Irish Music School, where he teaches tenor banjo and accompaniment, and has played at and been on the instructional staff at many festivals across the US and Germany. A proponent and promoter of Baltimore's traditional Irish music community, Richard partnered with Smithsonian Folklife in 2026 and led the recording project "The City that Reeds: Irish Traditional Music in Baltimore, 1976-2026."
