The City that Reeds: Laura Byrne plays the Wounded Hussar

Flutist Laura Byrne playing a slow air during her interview for the City that Reeds: Irish Traditional Music in Baltimore, 1976-2026. Recorded in conjunction with Smithsonian Folklife. Recording and mixing by Brennish Thompson. Laura Byrne moved to Baltimore from Vermont in 1989 to attend the Peabody Conservatory of Music. After earning degrees in flute performance and music education, she devoted her career to Irish traditional music. Her playing is rooted in the older generations of musicians, shaped by time in Ireland and learning from musicians in the U.S. Her mentors and influences include Billy McComiskey, Catherine McEvoy, Matt Molloy, and Mike Rafferty. Laura has performed and taught at festivals and major venues throughout North America and Ireland, including The Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, National Cathedral, Birchmere, Catskills Irish Arts Week, MAD Week, and Goucher College. A central figure in Maryland’s Irish music community, she is a multiple MSAC award recipient and Founder and Artistic Director of the Baltimore Irish Trad Fest. Her recordings include solo albums Tune for the Road (2005) and Lucky Day (2010); Crabs in the Skillet with The Old Bay Ceili Band (2011); and Forget Me Not (2014), a much-loved duo album with NY Sligo-style fiddler Rose Flanagan. Her newest project is a landmark recording with Tidewater, with Billy McComiskey, Donna Long, Joanna Clare, Eileen Estes, David McKindley-Ward, among others, documenting Irish traditional music in the Mid-Atlantic