Musicians of all ages will fill the air with traditional Irish jigs, reels, hornpipes, songs, and airs on Saturday, February 3, 2007. They will be playing their flutes, fiddles, concertinas, Irish uillean pipes and more in the 2007 Atlanta Irish Music Competition at Alpharetta High School in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Musicians and singers will compete in four age brackets ranging from under 7 to adult (19+). Instrument categories will include traditional Irish instruments as well as singing in both Irish and English. New events this year will be competitions for ceili bands, small ensembles, pipe bands, and duets/trios. Winners will be awarded trophies and ribbons.

The judges will be renowned Irish musicians Brian Conway (“First Through the Gate”), Brendan Dolan and Tommy Martin. Brian Conway was a student of fiddle master Andy McGann and is one of the few Irish-Americans to win the All-Ireland Music Competition, having won it three times, including the senior title in 1986. In 2006, he became a member of the Comhaltas Ceoltori Eireann Hall of Fame.

Brendan Dolan is a respected teacher and performer of Irish music in the New York area. He is the son of Felix Dolan, a legendary pianist of Irish traditional. Brendan has performed from Dublin to Anchorage and each summer teaches piano in West Virginia under the direction of NYU Irish Studies head, Mick Moloney. He holds degrees in Music and Composition.

Tommy Martin studied the Uilleann Pipes with his cousin, Mick O’Brien, and in 1988 won first place at the Fleadh Cheoil na Eireann, and again in 1991. From his late teens Tommy has been very much involved in encouraging traditional Irish music by teaching younger musicians around Ireland at various Tionol and Scoil Eigse. Tommy’s performances have varied from solo events to playing with 5 piece folk bands and have been as diverse as being an Uilleann Pipes tutor in New Zealand to performing with "Riverdance" in New York.

After the competition, the competition judges will give a concert at The Red Door Playhouse in Roswell. Tickets will be available at the competition at a discount price and at the door for full price.

Registration for the competition opened on December 1 and is now available online at www.AtlantaIrishMusic.com. There is also more information on the competition, including rules and schedules, posted at the website.

The Atlanta Irish Music Competition is sponsored by the Irish Arts Foundation of Atlanta in order to promote and encourage the growth of Irish musicians through quality competition. The IAF is a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the traditional Irish performing arts in metropolitan Atlanta.