Mary Bergin with Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill

Mary Bergin is an Irish Traditional musician who is widely acknowledged as one of the great masters of the tin whistle.

Mary is one of the iconic performers in our time and a musician of such startling virtuosity that one could claim she almost single handedly launched the humble Irish tin whistle as a first-tier instrument onto the stage of modern day traditional Irish music.

Her two virtuosic recordings of the solo tin whistle, Feadóga Stáin (1979) and Feadóga Stáin 2 (1993), have been critically cited as “outstanding and unequalled”.

In 2000 Mary was awarded the prestigious TG4 Gradam Ceoil ‘Traditional Musician of the Year’ Award. She was the first female traditional Irish musician to receive this award and one of only four women ever to have received this award.

In 2022 Mary received an Honorary Doctorate from UCD for her contribution to the Arts.

She has toured extensively in Europe, America and in Australia playing in concerts and festivals, and giving workshops and seminars. She has also given masterclasses in many Universities around the world.

Mary has taught hundreds of students, in Ireland, across Europe, and in the United States, to play the whistle.

In 2023 Mary published her third and final volume of her Irish Tin Whistle Tutorial.

Mary & Pádraig perform as part of the celebrations for the Cork Fleadh in Ballincollig, 21st to 27th April 2025.

Pádraig Ó Dubhghaill was born and raised in Inverin, situated in the Connemara Gaeltacht.

He started learning the tin-whistle at a young age before picking up the guitar at 17 years of age. After spending a couple of years playing a variety of music, Pádraig decided to apply his guitar-playing skills to Irish traditional music. While completing the MA in Irish Music Performance at the University of Limerick, he learnt from some of the best accompanists in the tradition including Steve Cooney and John Blake.

Pádraig was featured on his first Irish traditional music recording in 2018 – ‘Fear Inis Bearachain’ with Johnny Óg Connolly and has since been involved in various commercial recordings and television broadcasts. In 2022, Pádraig got the chance to represent Ireland for a month at the World EXPO in Dubai as a member of the National Concert Hall’s EXPO Players group.

He has a great interest in the music of his locality as well and has been involved in a number of archive projects with the Irish Traditional Music Archive in recent years.

Pádraig regularly performs with some of the finest exponents of Irish Traditional Music at various concerts and festivals at home and abroad each year and is also in-demand as a guitar teacher.