Eileen Ivers is a consummate artist and one of the most innovative of today’s Celtic musicians. Her obvious joy and sincerity in performing make her an audience favorite, and her skill and collegiality should make her a favorite with any orchestra fortunate enough to engage her.

Eileen Ivers will change the way you think of the violin.

Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated, Eileen Ivers continues to push traditional fiddling boundaries, transforming it from a folk music staple to an intensely driving, powerfully beautiful world stage experience. In a career that has spanned more than 40 years, Ivers has performed and toured with diverse artists such as Sting, Patti Smith, Al Di Meola, Hall and Oates, and The Chieftains. She is a 9-time All-Ireland fiddle champion and one of the most awarded All-Ireland Fiddle and Banjo champions ever.

She has guest-starred with the London Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Cleveland Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and over 60 symphony orchestras to date, and was the groundbreaking musical star of Riverdance, a featured instrumentalist on Back to Titanic, and in film soundtracks including Gangs of New York.

She’s been called a “sensation” by Billboard magazine, “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin” by The New York Times, and “a virtuoso” by The Irish Times.

The daughter of Irish immigrants, Eileen was born and raised in the culturally diverse neighborhood of The Bronx, NYC. Proclaimed “a national treasure” by the NCTA chair, she celebrates her renowned career as a performer, composer, producer, songwriter, band leader, educator, multi-instrumentalist, and revered pioneer in connecting her American, Irish traditional, jazz, blues, and world roots.

Ivers graduated magna cum laude in Mathematics from Iona University, and in 2019, Iona University conferred upon Eileen Ivers the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts, for her “lifelong commitment to innovation, excellence, and deep dedication to bringing people together through music.” Eileen currently serves on Iona’s Board of Trustees, and as one of many projects, is further developing Iona’s performing arts curriculum. Eileen also helped establish Iona’s global campus in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, in 2024— not far from where both of her parents were born.

“Scatter the Light” is Eileen’s most recent album release of predominantly original music. It follows her “Beyond the Bog Road” album, which features extensively researched sixteen-page liner notes focusing on the influences of the Celtic tradition on roots music (bluegrass, French-Canadian, Cajun, Appalachian, Americana) and how Celtic music has journeyed on to become a fundamental ingredient of the American country music tradition. Irish Music Magazine called it “a triumph… a musical magnum opus,” and the album reached number one on the Alt-Country Roots Music Chart.

Eileen has recently released her first children’s book, a heartwarming story entitled “Will Someone Play Bluey?” featuring talking instruments and a blue violin. The book has received the prestigious Family Choice Award.

Eileen Ivers is one of America’s preeminent Irish fiddlers. Noted Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt sums up Ivers’s genius eloquently: “Eileen is to Irish music as Michael Flatley is to Irish dance—a pioneer, an innovator, a universalist. She grew up in boom-box Bronx and carries sounds from childhood that are surely embedded in her musical soul. Like Whitman, she contains multitudes and cannot be contained by Irish music itself.”

Eileen’s powerful, entertaining, and copyright-clear full symphony program features her three-member ensemble: Colin Forhan (vocals, guitar), Buddy Connolly (button accordion, piano), and Dave Barckow (percussion, vocals). Together with Eileen on fiddle, mandolin, bodhran, and live looping, the group showcases the connection of roots music through intricate, diverse, and engaging orchestrations and songs.