Cathal Hayden & Matt Lewis

Irish fiddle and banjo legend Cathal Hayden is joined by Houston-based multi-instrumentalist Matt Lewis for an intimate evening of Irish traditional music — virtuosic melody meeting dynamic, responsive accompaniment.

Cathal Hayden is a fiddle and banjo player from County Tyrone whose career has placed him at the very top of Irish traditional music. A multiple All-Ireland champion on both instruments, he is best known as a member of Four Men And A Dog, one of the most successful Irish bands of all time — their debut album Barking Mad remains a landmark of the genre.

Cathal's musical partnerships read like a who's who of Irish music: accordionist Mairtin O'Connor, piano accordion maestro Alan Kelly, and Bothy Band piper Paddy Keenan. His duet work with Mairtin O'Connor has taken him across the globe, including tours of Japan with the O'Domhnaill family and tours of China, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands as a guest of the Donal Lunny band. Audiences here are in for something rare — he is widely regarded as Ireland's greatest ambassador for fiddle and banjo playing.

Matt Lewis is a critically acclaimed Houston-based multi-instrumentalist. His approach to accompaniment — on guitar and bodhrán — is marked by rhythmic versatility, supportive dynamics, and an intuitive responsiveness to the melody. He took 1st place in bodhrán at the Midwest Fleadh Cheoil in back-to-back years, 2025 and 2026.