"Some would say that having put in the hours and submitted her thesis – so to speak – as evident in this production, she has earned herself a higher degree in fiddle playing. Laura says that the “album was made with gratitude to mentors and friends who have graciously shared and passed on their love of the music” and I can hear their response, “Didn’t she do well and do us all proud?” She plays like she was born to it." - Irish Music Magazine
BIOGRAPHY
Laura Flanagan is an outstanding fiddler playing Irish traditional music from Lubbock, Texas. Over the last 20+ years, she has traveled widely in the United States and Ireland to study with fiddlers Randal Bays, John Carty, James Kelly, Martin Hayes, and Brendan Larrissey.
She has performed and taught at several music camps including ZoukFest, The Cascadia Irish Music Week, O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, and the West Texas Chamber Music Strings Camp. She has performed with American Irish bouzouki master and scholar Roger Landes, and Austin, Texas based Irish flute player, Jonathan Milton. Most recently she's recorded her first solo fiddle album, The Great Southern Ocean, with Australian master musicians Luke Plumb (bouzouki) and Peter Daffy (guitar).
She holds Bachelor’s and Master's degrees in Music Education from Texas Tech University and was an orchestral director in the Lubbock, Texas public school system for fifteen years. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Fine Arts, Musicology, also at Texas Tech.
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Her classical and academic music background, grounded in two decades of experience in Irish traditional music, make her a particularly effective educator bridging the worlds of vernacular and academic music traditions.
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Laura has a deep belief in the power of community in music, and a love of the fiddle playing of Irish masters like Bobby Casey, Paddy Canny, and Joe Ryan. Through playing and teaching she hopes to share these two passions and facilitate the opportunity for others to find themselves through music.