Winifred Horan
Encyclopedia
Winifred Horan is an Irish-American fiddle
r. After classical training, she played with the all-female Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies before becoming an original member
of the Irish traditional music group Solas.
, New York
to Irish
parents
and studied piano (taught by her father, a carpenter and musician)
and Irish fiddle playing at a young age.
She attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory
in Boston
, Massachusetts
, where she studied classical
violin
,
and the Aspen Music Festival and School
in Aspen, Colorado
. She played with multiple orchestra
s, including the Boston Pops Orchestra
, and string quartet
s, before joining the all-female Celtic music
ensemble Cherish the Ladies
in 1990. She co-founded
Solas in 1994,
and is on fiddle and backing vocals.
On her participation in Solas and, in particular, touring with the group, Horan expressed in a 2008 interview: "Traveling the world with Solas has been one of the best things about being in the band."
Outside of her work with Solas, Horan was a member of and toured with The Sharon Shannon
Band, and also performed with Irish singer-songwriter
Pierce Turner
. She was "featured fiddler" on When Juniper Sleeps, a 1996 solo album by Séamus Egan
, and co-writer of certain tracks for the 1995 film The Brothers McMullen
. She is, , a nine-time champion Irish stepdance
r and an All-Ireland fiddle champion,
having won an All-Ireland Junior Championship at age eleven. In a December 2001 interview, Horan identified Liz Carroll
, Egan, and Sharon Shannon
as her top musical influences.
Horan released her first solo album
, Just One Wish, in October 2002 on Shanachie Records
. In 2006, she and fellow Solas member Mick McAuley, an accordion
ist, released Serenade on Compass Records
, with covers
of "After the Gold Rush
" by Neil Young
and "Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan
.
Siobhán Long, writing for The Irish Times
, listed Serenade as fifth on her list of top five Irish traditional music albums released in 2006. Horan composed two of the album's tracks: "Little Mona Lisa" and "A Daisy in December", which was featured during the third season
of the American reality television competitive dance
series So You Think You Can Dance
.
Horan lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
r. After classical training, she played with the all-female Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies before becoming an original member
of the Irish traditional music group Solas.
Biography
Horan was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
parents
and studied piano (taught by her father, a carpenter and musician)
and Irish fiddle playing at a young age.
She attended and graduated from the New England Conservatory
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where she studied classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
,
and the Aspen Music Festival and School
Aspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
in Aspen, Colorado
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
. She played with multiple orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
s, including the Boston Pops Orchestra
Boston Pops Orchestra
The Boston Pops Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, that specializes in playing light classical and popular music....
, and string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s, before joining the all-female Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
ensemble Cherish the Ladies
Cherish the Ladies
Cherish the Ladies is an American all-female Irish-American super group. The band began as a concert series in New York in January 1985, the brainchild of Mick Moloney who wanted to showcase the brightest female musicians in America in what had been a male-dominated scene...
in 1990. She co-founded
Solas in 1994,
and is on fiddle and backing vocals.
On her participation in Solas and, in particular, touring with the group, Horan expressed in a 2008 interview: "Traveling the world with Solas has been one of the best things about being in the band."
Outside of her work with Solas, Horan was a member of and toured with The Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician. She is best known for her work with the accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there...
Band, and also performed with Irish singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Pierce Turner
Pierce Turner
Pierce Turner is an Irish singer-songwriter. After forming a duo with Larry Kirwan he went solo in the mid-1980s and has since released several albums to critical acclaim.-Biography:...
. She was "featured fiddler" on When Juniper Sleeps, a 1996 solo album by Séamus Egan
Séamus Egan
Séamus Egan is an Irish musician.-Early days:Séamus Egan was born in Hatboro, Pennsylvania to Irish émigrés Jack and Ann Egan. At the age of three his parents moved the family back home to County Mayo, Ireland....
, and co-writer of certain tracks for the 1995 film The Brothers McMullen
The Brothers McMullen
The Brothers McMullen is a 1995 American comedy-drama film directed, written, produced by, and starring Edward Burns. It deals with the lives of the three Irish Catholic McMullen brothers from Long Island, New York, over three months, as they grapple with basic ideas and values — love, sex,...
. She is, , a nine-time champion Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance
Irish stepdance is a type of performance dance originated in Ireland from traditional Irish dance, characterised by solo dancers who dance with hands by their sides and upper body stiff, making quick, intricate movements of the feet, often with a troupe. Irish stepdancing was popularized by the...
r and an All-Ireland fiddle champion,
having won an All-Ireland Junior Championship at age eleven. In a December 2001 interview, Horan identified Liz Carroll
Liz Carroll
Liz Carroll is an Irish-American musician. She was born in Chicago of Irish parents. In 1974 she won the All-Ireland under 18 fiddle championship. The next year she won the All-Ireland Senior Fiddle Championship....
, Egan, and Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon
Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician. She is best known for her work with the accordion and for her fiddle technique. She also plays the tin whistle and melodeon. Her 1991 album Sharon Shannon is the best selling album of traditional Irish music ever released there...
as her top musical influences.
Horan released her first solo album
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
, Just One Wish, in October 2002 on Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records
Shanachie Records was founded in 1976 by Richard Nevins and Dan Collins. According to Harvey Pekar , it is one of the largest independent record labels in the world, and is currently distributed by E1 Music. Starting as a label that specialized in fiddle music, they began releasing work by Celtic...
. In 2006, she and fellow Solas member Mick McAuley, an accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
ist, released Serenade on Compass Records
Compass Records
Compass Records is a Nashville-based independent record label founded in 1995 by musicians Garry West and Alison Brown. Currently home to nearly 100 folk, bluegrass, Celtic, jazz, and new acoustic artists, the label releases about 20 records a year...
, with covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "After the Gold Rush
After the Gold Rush (song)
"After the Gold Rush" is a song written by Neil Young from the 1970 album of the same name. In addition to After the Gold Rush, it also appears on Decade, Greatest Hits and Live Rust....
" by Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
and "Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
.
Siobhán Long, writing for The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
, listed Serenade as fifth on her list of top five Irish traditional music albums released in 2006. Horan composed two of the album's tracks: "Little Mona Lisa" and "A Daisy in December", which was featured during the third season
So You Think You Can Dance (Season 3)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American television reality program and dance competition airing on the Fox network. Season three premiered May 24, 2007....
of the American reality television competitive dance
Competitive dance
Competitive dance is a popular, widespread activity in which competitors perform dances in any of several permitted dance styles—such as acro, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, lyrical, modern, and tap—before a common group of judges...
series So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
.
Horan lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
with Cherish The Ladies
- 1992 - The Back Door
- 1993 - Out And AboutOut and AboutOut and About is an album by Cherish the Ladies that was released in 1993 on the Green Linnet label.-Track listing:# "The Old Favorite/The Flogging Reel/Leave My Way/The Kerryman" – 4:20# "Spoon River" – 4:44...
- 1998 - One and All: The Best of Cherish the LadiesOne and All: The Best of Cherish the LadiesOne and All: The Best of Cherish the Ladies, an album by Cherish the Ladies, was released in 1998 on the Green Linnet label.-Track listing:# "The Cat Rambles to the Child's Saucepan/Maire O'Keefe/Harry Bradshaw's" – 3:20...
with Solas
- 1996 — SolasSolas (album)Solas is the eponymous debut album by Irish-American music group Solas, released in 1996 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "Níl 'Na Lá" – 2:20# "The Flowing Bowl / Máire Breatnachs #1 / The Doon / The Mason's Men" – 3:50...
- 1997 — Sunny Spells and Scattered ShowersSunny Spells and Scattered ShowersSunny Spells and Scattered Showers is the second album by Solas, released in 1997 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" – 2:55# "Big Reel of Ballynacally/The High Hill/Flash Away the Pressing Gang" – 4:30...
- 1998 — The Words That RemainThe Words That RemainThe Words That Remain is the third album by Solas, released in 1998 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "Pastures of Plenty" – 3:24# "The Stride Set: The Stride/Tom Doherty's/The Contradiction/Viva Galicia" – 6:09...
- 2000 — The Hour Before DawnThe Hour Before DawnThe Hour Before Dawn is the fourth album by Solas, released in 2000 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "Bheadh Buachaillin Deas Ag Sile" – 3:16# "Granny Quinn's/The Lilac Reel/Sporting Pat" – 4:15# "Last of the Great Whales" – 5:41...
- 2002 — The Edge of SilenceThe Edge of SilenceThe Edge of Silence is the fifth album by Solas, released in 2002 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "Darkness, Darkness" – 4:59# "Charmy Chaplin" – 5:17# "Prelude #1/Black Annis" – 6:31...
- 2003 — Another DayAnother Day (Solas album)Another Day is the sixth album by Solas, released in 2003 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "Bird in the Tree: Laurel's Reel/Dougie MacDonalds/The Bird in the Tree" – 5:30# "Scarecrow's Dream" – 4:21# "I Wandered by a Brookside" – 3:47...
- 2005 — Waiting for an EchoWaiting for an EchoWaiting for an Echo is the seventh album by Solas, released in 2005 on the Shanachie Records label.-Track listing:# "The Hanover Reel/John James' Reel/The Copperplate" – 5:01# "The Silver Dagger" – 4:30...
- 2006 — Reunion: A Decade of Solas - CD and DVD
- 2008 — For Love and LaughterFor Love and LaughterFor Love and Laughter is a studio album by Irish traditional band Solas, and the first to feature their new singer Mairéad Phelan. The album was recorded in Ireland and in Philadelphia and features songs from Boston singer Antje Duvekot...
- 2010 — The Turning Tide
Solo and other selected albums
- 1996 — The Irish Isle: Traditional Irish Music (James KeaneJames Keane (musician)James Keane is an Irish traditional musician and accordion player. The Italian Castagnari company issued and continues a line of signature instruments called keanebox in his honor....
with Winifred, Seamus Egan, Sue Richards) - 2002 — Just One Wish
- 2002 — Pleasures Of Home (Cracker BarrelCracker BarrelCracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc. is an American chain of combined restaurant and gift stores with a Southern country theme. The company was founded by Dan Evins in 1969 and its first store was located in Lebanon, Tennessee, where the company is now headquartered...
label) - 2006 — Serenade (with Mick McAuley)