Irwin Thomas Fiddle Studio

Katherine Irwin Thomas is the director of The Atlanta Irish Music School in Atlanta, Georgia and orchestra director at Riverwood International Charter School in Atlanta, Georgia. She opened her private fiddle studio in 2006 and several of her students have since placed at The Midwest Fleadh Cheoil and The Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Cheoil in fiddle, concertina, piano and duets, qualifying for the Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann in Tullamore, Ireland. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree cum laude from TTU, Master of Education degree from KSU and a Teastas i dTeagasc Ceolta Tire (traditional music teaching certificate) from Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann in Dublin, Ireland and has taught Irish fiddle at several summer camps in the U.S. and Canada. As an advocate for quality world string styles in the orchestra classroom, she just completed a workbook series for Irish fiddle for school orchestra and has was a speaker at The American String Teacher's Association National Conference 2009.

Katherine has been featured in Irish Music Magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and as the fiddler at Emory University's Celtic Christmas. Performing at a myriad of concert halls, festivals and other venues across the southeast with her band Music in the Glen, she last performed at Spivey Hall in March 2009 with piper, John Maschinot and with The Chieftains and her U15 Ceili Band at The Fox Theatre in February 2009. She is featured on albums The Road to Swannanoa, Letting go... and Fuar. A U.S. Scottish Junior Fiddle Champion, Katherine is originally from East Tennessee where her grandfather, Frank Irwin, inspired her playing. As a teen, she studied with Bert Murray of Aberdeen and most recently has studied with Brian Conway of New York and Siobhan Peoples of Ennis.

Katherine specializes in teaching Irish fiddling to classical musicians through educational concerts, workshops and summer camps. Please contact her via email.

Photography Mark L. Anderson; Portrait Innovations & Adam Davenport