Newry-born violinist Rachael Masterson is a graduate of MTU Cork School of Music, where she completed her undergraduate and Masters studies. During her time at CSM, she studied with Ruxandra Petcu-Colan and Katherine Hunka.

Rachael has performed with a range of orchestras and ensembles including the Irish Chamber Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, Ulster Orchestra, Irish National Opera, Camerata Ireland, Wexford Festival Opera and the Irish Baroque Orchestra. Alongside her work on modern violin, she has also explored historically informed performance and was selected for the Irish Baroque Orchestra’s apprenticeship programme in 2020–21. She also took part in the St Andrew’s Summer Baroque course, where she had the opportunity to work with Rachel Podger and Laurence Cummings.

Chamber music has been an important part of Rachael’s musical life. She was a member of the Doolan Quartet, which won the Chamber Music Cup at Feis Ceoil in 2018 and the CIT/CSM Vanbrugh Chamber Music Competition. They also participated in the West Cork Chamber Music Festival in 2017 and 2018.

In 2023, Rachael received the Cork Orchestral Society Emerging Artist Award and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Support for Individual Artists Award. These awards supported a series of chamber music performances during the year, including recitals with Grace Coughlan and Cahal Masterson.

Rachael has also worked in community music, including with Music Network on Orpheus in the Garden in 2026. She is now looking forward to returning to Music Network for the Wicklow Teaching Residency, working with participants as they reconnect with instruments they have previously played and rediscover the enjoyment of making music together.

Rachel Duffy is a harper from Bray, Co. Wicklow. She enjoys a varied career as a performer, teacher and researcher. She has played at venues across Ireland including Dublin Castle, the National Gallery and the National Concert Hall and internationally in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Scotland, Spain and Wales. An experienced teacher, Rachel holds a first-class honours degree in Music Education from Trinity College and the Royal Irish Academy of Music and has taught with Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ), Music Generation Wicklow, Rathdown School of Music and at Technological University Dublin Conservatoire. She directs the Bray CCÉ harp ensemble and works as a tutor and composer with Music Generation Wicklow’s Rithim Orchestra. She is also co-director of The Sugarloaf Sessions, a new
traditional music festival in Bray, and of the international harp festival An Chúirt Chruitireachta. Her interest in both the Irish harp’s history and its contemporary transformation is reflected in her performances and teaching and is the subject of her doctoral studies at Technological University Dublin under the supervision of Professor Clíona Doris.

Susan Doyle is a flautist and a founder member of the cutting-edge contemporary music group, Crash Ensemble. She is also a valued member of the Wind and Brass Faculty at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin. She plays with Irish National Opera and the Orchestra of the National Concert Hall and works on a freelance basis with the National Symphony Orchestra and RTE Concert Orchestra. She has also played for many years with the Wexford Opera Orchestra, Irish Film Orchestra, Irish Ballet Orchestra, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and Opera Theatre Company.

Susan’s musical journey started, at the age of 6, in a piano class in the Cork School of Music, on a keyboard that made no sound. While Susan loved playing the piano, it was the flute that gave her the chance to really experience what it was like to perform with other musicians. She was Principal Flute with the Irish Youth Orchestra and the Irish Youth Wind Ensemble and was fortunate enough to win a place in the prestigious European Community Youth Orchestra.

Susan went on to complete her performance degree, receiving her BMusPerf from Trinity College, Dublin. Following a masterclass, the opportunity arose for Susan to study further in Italy, under Marzio Conti. Italy was a wonderful experience and gave Susan the opportunity to indulge in one of her other great loves - food.

Susan is a passionate chamber musician and, while studying in college, formed a duo with guitarist and composer Benjamin Dwyer. She considers herself privileged to have worked closely with so many of her contemporary composer friends.

Experimenting with new sounds and ideas sparked an interest and enthusiasm for New Music that has remained such an integral part of her musical life. It was after a performance of his composition, ’Swerve’ at the Mostly Modern Series in The Bank of Ireland, College Green, that Donnacha Dennehy asked Susan to join Crash Ensemble. With this exciting new group Susan has travelled the world playing in Carnegie Hall, The Barbican, The JFK Centre for the Performing Arts, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, GAIDA Festival and working with artists such as Dawn Upshaw, Gavin Friday, Iarla O Lionaird, Julie Feeney and Sam Amidon.

Another important collaboration between Susan, clarinetist, Deirdre O Leary and oboist Sile Daly lead to the formation of Prey Trio. This trio set out to explore further the importance of the interaction between the performer and the audience. They introduced audience participation, improvisation and inventive and novel staging into the performances to bring them alive and engage with the listeners. For ten years Prey Trio toured Ireland with Music Network, delighting audiences with their eclectic mix of singing, drama, drumming and improvisation.

More recently Susan has joined forces again with clarinetist, Deirdre O Leary, bassist, Malachy Robinson and accordionist, Dermot Dunne to form the Merry Band. The aim is to bring our love and joy of playing together to audiences countrywide.

Susan is also a keen educator and has been teaching at the Royal Irish Academy of music since 1994, after she returned from her studies in Italy. She was involved for many years in the Education and Outreach Programme in the National Concert Hall and more recently in the Wexford Opera House. She has worked with primary and secondary school children, after school clubs, preschool children, hospital patients, nursing homes residents and libraries.