Via The Journal Of Music: Uilleann piper Sorcha Ní Scolaí and harper Lily O’Connor have won the Bonn Óir Sean Ó Riada Competition 2025.
Each year, the traditional music competition focuses on a different instrument or set of instruments and for this edition the focus was on uilleann pipes and harp.
After a call for entries last September, the final took place at the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on Friday 24 January and was broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, presented by founder Peadar Ó Riada.
Each winner was presented with a bespoke gold medal designed by Niamh Utsch and a cash prize of €2,500.
Sorcha Ní Scolaí from Dublin has previously won several solo uilleann piping titles at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and has featured on TG4 and RTÉ. Last year at the RTÉ Radio 1 Folk Awards she was invited to perform solo to mark the induction of Séamus Ennis into the Hall of Fame. Also a sean-nós singer, Ní Scolaí is the granddaughter of the late music collector, singer and flute player Séamus Mac Mathúna. For her performances in the Bonn Óir competition she performed the air 'Gol na mBan san Ár’ and the jigs ‘Banish Misfortune’ and ‘The Miners of Wicklow’.
Harper Lily O’Connor is from Ballygriffey in County Clare and also plays concertina. She learned harp from Fionnuala Rooney and concertina from Mary McNamara and Liam O’Brien. O’Connor comes from a musical family in Clare and is now a secondary school science teacher in Ashbourne, Co. Meath. She performed the air ‘Caoineadh Deireadh Ré’ and the reels ‘Miss McGuinness’s’ and ‘The Fisherman’s Lilt’ in the competition.
The full list of finalists this year included harpers Aoibhe Kettle from Co. Laois, Aoife Ní Chonghaile from Limerick, Catherine Joyce from Castlebar, Éilís Needham from Sligo, and Emma Benson from Keadue in County Roscommon. The pipers included Joe Kelly from New Jersey, Iarla Mac Mathúna from Armagh, Micheál Fitzgibbon from Limerick, Muireann Meade from Castleiney in County Tipperary, Ciarán Browne from Dublin, Síofra Ní Mhóráin from Dublin, Sean O’Malley from Achill, and Tara Boyle from Clonbur in County Galway.
The judges for the competition were Mick O’Brien, Ailean Domhnallach and Siobhán Armstrong. The Bonn Oír Seán Ó Riada is sponsored by RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Gael Linn, IMRO, Rochestown Park Hotel and Iontaoibheas Fodhla.
Read more from The Journal Of Music here.
