Performer, educator, composer, and scholar Séamus Connolly is recognized worldwide as a master traditional Irish musician. Born in Killaloe, County Clare into a musical family where his parents and two brothers played instruments, he began playing the fiddle at age 12. His father encouraged him to listen to the recordings of the famed County Sligo fiddler Michael Coleman, who became one of Connolly’s musical heroes. By his mid-twenties, Connolly had won the Irish National Fiddle Championship ten times, a feat unequalled by any other musician, and he traveled throughout Ireland, meeting and playing music with legends of Irish music such as Paddy O’Brien, Joe Burke, Denis Murphy, and Cathal McConnell. Connolly was also a member of the Kilfenora Céilí Band, an ensemble noted for its strong rhythms, musicality, and rare tunes indigenous to North County Clare.

Connolly traveled to the United States in 1972 as part of the performing ensemble of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s (CCÉ) first concert tour in North America. A few years later, he immigrated to the New England area and was invited by CCÉ's Boston branch to begin teaching regional styles of Irish fiddle playing. In 1990 he began teaching fiddle and organizing programs at Boston College; in this role he would go on to create and direct the acclaimed Gaelic Roots Summer School and Festival (1993-2003). In 2003 he established the BC’s Gaelic Roots Series of concerts and lectures, and from 2004 until his retirement in 2015 he held the Sullivan Artist in

Residence chair in Irish Studies. Connolly’s previous awards include the 2020 TG4 Gradam Saoil, an award recognizing lifetime achievement in Irish music; a 2013 National Heritage Fellowship from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts; and a 2013 Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the Ellis Island Honors Society.

In 2002 he was named Traditional Musician of the Year by The Irish Echo newspaper and was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the CCÉ North American Province Northeast Region. He has performed at numerous festivals throughout the U.S. including the National Folk Festival, Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Wolf Trap Irish Folk Festival, and American Roots Fourth of July Celebration at the Washington Monument. He also represented Irish music on three Masters of the Folk Violin tours organized by the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Among the many recordings to his credit are two solo CDs, Notes from my Mind and Here and

There, and The Boston Edge with Joe Derrane and John McGann. With Laurel Martin he compiled, arranged, and recorded a book and CD collection titled Forget Me Not. In 2016 with the Boston College Libraries he co-produced an online collection, The Séamus Connolly Collection of Irish Music, featuring over 300 tunes and stories with accompanying recordings by over 100 musicians.