Dónal McCague is from Scotstown, Co. Monaghan and is one of the rising stars of the fiddle. Born in August 1990 into a musical family, he was greatly encouraged by his parents and aunt, Eileen McMahon, from an early age. He has also benefited from music teachers including Laura Beagon, Deirdre and Michael Rooney, Pat McCabe, Edel Connolly and Phelim Ó Raghallaigh. He has just qualified as a primary teacher and taking up his first teaching post in mid-February 2013.

In spite of his tender years, he has been playing in sessions with flute player Dave Sheridan and his guitar-playing brother Michael for the past decade. He is well known for his vibrant, lively and highly ornamented style, as well as his pulsating rhythm and solid technique. He has also performed in concert with world-renowned trad band, Téada.

In 2005, at the age of 15, he played at the Frankie Gavin International Fiddle Festival in Galway 2005 and in the National Concert Hall Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day 2006. He was part of an All-Ireland winning Scór na nÓg instrumental group for Scotstown in 2006; a group that also included his sister Edel on flute.

He has recorded for TV programmes like Geantraí on TG4 and the annual RTÉ Fleadh Programme as well as national and local radio. He has toured Europe extensively; France, Poland, Switzerland and Belgium with the well-known Irish Dance troupes Ragús and Celtic Legends.

He was runner up in both the Fiddler of Dooney competition at Sligo Live and in Fiddler of Oriel, Monaghan which has been won by fiddle legends such as Tommy Peoples, Gerry O’Connor and Jim Mc Killop. Dónal is greatly influenced by the fiddle playing of Tommy Peoples, Séamus Quinn, Brian Rooney, Cathal Hayden, Seán Keane and Frankie Gavin.

In 2011 he released his début solo CD entitled Bits’n’Pieces. Oisín Mac Diarmada wrote in the sleevenotes “Dónal has developed into a fiddler of great expressivity, playing music adorned with an incredible of detail and thought.