Biography

 

Fiona originally hails from County Clare, Ireland and has been singing and playing music of the Irish/Celtic tradition all her life. She later moved to the US and has lived in both Boston MA and Princeton NJ, and now splits her time between both countries 

Her first album, Deirin De, blended traditional Irish language lyrics with innovative musical and vocal arrangements and received multiple reviews including Siobhan Long, The Irish Times

  • Deirin De whispers of a rare and welcome childlike innocence and naivete. Subtle guitar lines from MacDara Toibin root this collection very much in it's place and time" 

In 2023, well known Irish artist Karan Casey, commented on Deirin De: 

  • “You sing with such incredible ease .... lovely arrangements ......such a treat…. just gorgeous.......how nice for my ear to be caught with happy listening … song choices are superb "     

When living in Boston, Fiona embarked on a new venture of jazz and released her album, Moonglow, a collection of well-known covers with some of Boston’s top jazz musicians.

Her musical interests further expanded while living in Princeton NJ area. Fiona sang funk and soul with The Funkin' Soulnuts, and was lead singer of Rock group, Uncle Albert.

She has created a number of musical shows including Shamrock and Thistle - a blend of Irish and Scottish vocal and instrumentals, and “An Evening with Burt Bacharach” a beautiful music tribute to the master songwriter and “An evening with Joni Mitchell”

During the COVID pandemic, in preparation for her album New Frontiers, a collection of songs by Irish composer Jimmy MacCarthy, Fiona spent a year in Dublin and partnered with musician/arranger Brendan (Benny) Hayes to bring new inspiration to some MacCarthy favorites. In addition to Benny’s versatile and talented musicianship, his gift of creating imaginative, and intricate vocal harmonies, together with innovative instrumentation, resulted in this unique new sound.  Fiona also used the lockdown to her advantage by including her daughters, Aisling and Caoimhe who kindly shared their talent to add unique choral-like harmonies to the recording. New Frontiers was a collaboration with some of Ireland top musicians, including Kieran Munnelly (tin whistle/flute), Fergal Scahill (fiddle), James Blennerhassett (bass) and Tim Edey /Sean Whelan (Guitar) and Davey Ryan/Liam Bradley (drums)

In early summer 2022, in collaboration with friend and collaborator Kathy Haynie, They created a production entitled Celtic meets Classical. In addition to many of tracks from the new album, they performed a number of classical and musical theater numbers with some excellent local musicians. It was performed as a fundraiser for the Red Cross Ukraine humanitarian fund. 

She has also released Celtic and Christmas singles in both English and Irish language. 

In 2023, Fiona released a single, Gabhaim Molta Bride in honor of the Irish goddess and Saint Brigid.

She performs regularly at Robert Burns Nights, St Patrick's Day events and multiple trad sessions venues in NJ and PA   

During 2023/24, Fiona is actively involved in multiple projects including ;

  • Keeping up her knowledge, and networking, and performed at showcases at folk conferences, including NERFA and FAI 
  • Completion certification in Traditional/folk teaching and now offers classes
  • Hosts a monthly Singing Circle for acapella singers 
  • Regularly plays as Trad sessions, singing and playing Bodhran and Tin Whistle 
  • Headlines at her monthly residency in The Dubliner on the Delaware, New Hope PA