About

Fintan Vallely, PhD, MA, BSc

Adjunct Professor, University College Dublin School of Irish, Celtic Studies, Irish Folklore and Linguistics, 2013-18 and 2022-2027.

PhD Ethnomusicology, University College, Dublin, 2005; M.A. Ethnomusicology, Queen’s University, Belfast, 1993; B Agr. Sc (Hort.) University College Dublin, 1972.

 

Fintan Vallely is …

Musician (Irish Traditional music, flute/whistle)

Writer, Lecturer, Researcher on Irish music and Traditional and Folk musics.

Instrumental music teacher (one-to-one and group workshops, all skills levels – beginner to advanced)

Graphic designer; silkscreen and lithographic printing; magazine production

 

Performance

2024—1966 Playing in Ireland and Europe, Britain, USA, Asia, Australia: festivals, Folk clubs, commercial concerts, cultural events, radio, television. Performance occasions typically involving additional flute and whistle teaching, talks and workshops.

 

Television consultation

  • 1997 Music consultant for RTÉ television, Traditional music series The Miltown Sessions, and High Reel.
  • 1996 Researcher/consultant for 1996 High Reel RTÉ television, fifteen-programme series.
  • 1995 Researcher/consultant for RTE television, The Pure Drop Traditional music television series.

 

Bursaries, Scholarships, Awards

  • 2022 – Deis award for editing, design and photography on Beating Time – The story of the Irish bodhrán
  • 2020 – Arts Council of Ireland bursary for procudtion of Turas dvd and video for the Compánach audio-visual show
  • 2009 – Arts Council of Ireland Deis award for supplemantary editing of Companion to Irish Traditional Music.
  • 2008 – Research secondment (June) award funded under PRTLI, project:Digitisation of hard resource information in Irish Traditional Music
  • Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) 3-year scholarship for PhD research at University College Dublin: The Flute In Irish Recreational And Political Music.
  • Arts Council of Northern Ireland, and Irish Studies Association (Dublin) – bursaries for publication-development work on  Political Perceptions Of Traditional Music.
  • Central Community Relations Unit (Northern Ireland) two-year Research Bursary for project Traditional Music In The Lives Of Protestant Communities In The North Of Ireland

 

Coming in Spring 2024 – the first history of the bodhran in Ireland.

Recent production – Turas – Virtual Ireland in Music, DVD and online video

Review of Merrijig Creek in The Journal of Music, 2022

Review of flute tutor in Irish Music magazine

Listen to a Performance of Fintan and Sheena Vallely on YouTube