About Máiréad Nesbitt

A Grammy- and Emmy-nominated artist and composer, Máiréad Nesbitt has enchanted millions around the world as the featured Celtic violinist and founding member of the globetrotting music phenomenon Celtic Woman. Loyal fans of all ages, across geographical and cultural boundaries far beyond the musical heritage of Ireland, have adored her beguiling stage presence and versatile instrumental talents. She is the featured violin soloist on eleven Celtic Woman albums that all reached the number one slot on the Billboard World Music Chart.

Máiréad created her own show Celtic Spells which played to sold out shows in March 2023 on the West Coast and is booking now for 2024! Celtic Spells the album is out now on all streaming platforms and available at Target and Amazon with free shipping on Amazon Prime.

See Máiréad as featured soloist with Lindsey Sterling in Disney’s newest Epcot show Harmonious Live on Disney+ for the 50^th Anniversary hosted by Edina Menzel. This is a spectacular show featuring the very best on the Disney+ Channel!

Máiréad is now a pop culture icon! The famous comedy show SNL parodied Máiréad along with Celtic Woman making them modern cultural icons. View the full video on the SNL youtube channel.

Growing up in a multi-generational musical family in County Tipperary, her parents are renown music educators and all five of her siblings are award winning musicians!

A former all-Ireland fiddle champion and past member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, Máiréad completed her studies at CIT, Cork School of Music under Cornelia Zanidache and at the London Royal Academy, with post-graduate studies under Emanuel Hurwitz on violin and piano. As musical influences, Máiréad cites her family, along with a wide range of musicians that includes classical violinist Itzhak Perlman, jazz great Stephane Grappelli, bluegrass icon Alison Krauss, Irish fiddlers Liz Carroll, Michael Coleman and Andy McGann, and rock performers like David Bowie, Sting and Bjork.

Hailed as “A demon of a fiddle player” by the NY Times, Máiréad has emerged as one of Ireland’s most in-demand musicians. Her multitude of awards include Irish Music Magazine’s Best Traditional and Multi-Instrumentalist Artist awards.

Máiréad’s solo albums, Raining Up and Hibernia, have charted on four different Billboard charts. The album Devil’s Bit Sessions features three generations of her family and was recorded in the three-hundred-year-old Nesbitt family home in County Tipperary, Ireland.

Máiréad began her professional career at sixteen with the prestigious RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Despite her young age, Máiréad’s playing was featured on the original soundtracks of the shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames, resulting in touring the world as the lead fiddler with the latter two shows. She composed the original music score for the show Irish Dance Invasion, is featured on the Celtic Tenors’ Live in Concert DVD and is the featured violin soloist on the soundtracks of two Disney films, Tinker Bell and Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. 

Máiréad’s distinctive blend of traditional Irish and classical styles is featured in her works with such international artists as: Nigel Kennedy, Van Morrison, Sinéad O’Connor, Clannad, Emmylou Harris, Aslan, Chris De Burgh, Jimmy Webb, Sharon Shannon, Paul Brady, Frances Black, Cooney and Begley, Jimmy McCarthy and Dónal Lunny’s Coolfin.  

Máiréad has performed at both the White House and the Pentagon for four U.S. presidents. Additionally, among the hundreds of famous venues where she has performed are Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Red Rocks Colorado and Hyde Park in London.

Máiréad made her Broadway debut in 2018 at the Broadway Theatre in the multi-genre spectacular Rocktopia, which had a six-week sold out run. Máiréad is now one of the featured soloists in the new show Rock Me Amadeus.

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“I have to tip my hat-or rather my metaphorical bow- to Máiréad Nesbitt. Nesbitt’s album Hibernia proved itself a great accomplishment in both Classical and Celtic genres. It used the image of Hibernia to promote a musical legacy with integrity and energized re-vision.” –The Irish Echo.

“There’s a bit of the ‘divil’ in the music too, as the tunes ranges from the core reels and jigs to sprightly strathsbeys and sentimental slow airs. Devil’s Bit Sessions is a rivetingly engaging listen. More power to the Nesbitt’s.” –Irish Music Magazine.

“Raining Up is  a contemporary Celtic masterpiece.” –The Birmingham Post.

“Raining Up is an album of considerable beauty, and shows Nesbitt with one foot in the traditional camp and another in a chill-out ambient groove.” –The Irish Post.