Untitled - The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Cherish the Ladies
2010-2011 75th Anniversary Celebration!
JOANIE MADDEN is the Grammy Award winning whistle
and flute player who has been the leader of Cherish the
Ladies since its inception. Born in New York of Irish parents,
she is the second oldest of seven children raised in a musical
household; her mother hails from Miltown Malbay, County
Clare and her father Joe, an All-Ireland Champion on the
accordion, comes from Portumna in East Galway. Joanie won
five gold medals at the All-Ireland World Championships,
and made history becoming the first American to win the
coveted Senior All-Ireland Championship on the whistle. In
addition to her larger than life persona, she is also a gifted
composer and many of her compositions are basic session
tunes known around the globe and have been recorded by
some of Ireland’s leading musicians. She has in constant demand in the studio and has
recorded on over 75 albums running the gamut from Pete Seeger to Sinead O’Connor.
She has many awards and citations including; the youngest member inducted into both
the Irish-American Musicians Hall of Fame and the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Traditional Music
Hall of fame, recipient of the Wild Geese Award, chosen twice as one of the Top 100
Irish-Americans in the country and also voted Traditional Musician of the Year all for
her contributions to promoting and preserving Irish culture in America. Her extremely
successful solo whistle recordings entitled “Song of the Irish Whistle” have sold more than
500,000 albums worldwide, making her the most successful whistle player in history. All
these accolades and more are why Dr. Mick Moloney, noted folklorist and scholar, has
proclaimed Joanie “The First Lady of Irish Music.”
MARY COOGAN was born in New York and also raised in a musical household. Along
with Joanie, she is one of the founding members of Cherish the Ladies and has been
with the band for over twenty-five years. Her mother comes from County Roscommon and
her father Jim was a first generation Irish-American accordion player. Her father bought
her a guitar for Christmas when she was four years old and Mary began the process
of teaching herself how to play. She began listening to various types of acoustic music
and along the way learned the mandolin, banjo and bouzouki. She has a number of
projects that she has been involved in; her duet album she recorded with her father
Jim entitled “Passing Time” featuring renditions of tunes both old and new and her first
solo recording, “Christmas” have received rave reviews across the board. Mary also
holds her masters degree in education, and is named in Who’s Who among American
Teachers. This close tie to children pushed her to make a wonderful collection of music
for our young fans entitled “The Big Ship Sails. She continues to teach music to children
in New York and is a highly sought-after accompanist. Acoustic Guitar Magazine named
Mary one of the top four Celtic guitarists in Celtic music.
MIRELLA MURRAY grew up in Claddaghduff, near Clifden, on the coast of Connemara
in County Galway. Her father John Joe, a notable sean nós dancer, comes from Inishark
Island and had a deep understanding and love for traditional music. Mirella studied the
piano accordion from Mary Finn and during that time, she met up with local fiddler Liz
Kane. They began to tour and play together as a duet and went on to win the All-Ireland
championship duet title, the same year, Mirella won the solo All-Ireland title on the piano
accordion. Mirella recorded a duet album with famed fiddler Tola Custy called “Three
Sunsets” which was voted one of the top five albums of 2002 by The Irish Times. They
were one of the nominee’s as ‘Best Newcomers’ by the Irish Music Magazine in 2003.
Outside the realm of performing, Mirella has an incredible flair for teaching, and it
35