Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin, MBA, Ph.D.

Since penning his first piece in 1974 for the Clare Champion - an eyewitness account of the funeral of Galway accordion legend Joe Cooley - Dr. Gearóid Ó hAllmhuráin has dedicated his career to promoting the preservation of Irish traditional music, folklife and culture. Author, ethnomusicologist, anthropologist and professional musician, he is currently the Jefferson Smurfit Corporation Professor of Irish Studies and Professor of Music at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the author of the highly respected A Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music (O’Brien Press, Dublin: 1998), now in its third edition.

A recognized authority on the cultural impact of the Great Irish Famine and its resulting diaspora, Ó hAllmhuráin received his doctorate in Social Anthropology and Ethnomusicology from the Queen’s University of Belfast, where he worked with the renowned European ethnomusicologist, Professor John Blacking. He has taught courses at University College Cork (Ireland), St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia (Canada), the University of San Francisco, and the University Missouri-St Louis (USA). He also presents guest lectures, performances and seminars at universities all over Europe and North America.

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