Karen Dolan

Karen Dolan is an Irish musician with a lifelong connection to traditional Irish music. She started playing the mandolin at six and picked up the banjo at eight, which has since become her main instrument. Growing up, she was brought to Fleadhanna Cheoil and festivals all over Ireland, which gave her a real love and grounding in the tradition from an early age.

She also learned traditional Irish singing as a child, competing in Fleadhanna Cheoil and later joining her school choir in secondary school. While studying Science at Trinity College Dublin, she kept music going alongside it, gigging around Dublin and later in Dungarvan where she spent a number of years playing regularly with different singers and musicians.

These days, she focuses mainly on teaching banjo and really enjoys passing on what she’s learned. More recently she’s come back to singing and has started writing her own songs, which is a new and exciting direction for her. With a strong background in trad and a growing interest in songwriting, she’s continuing to develop her sound and style.