Tara McNeill
Tara McNeill (pronounced TAR-a) is an Irish violinist, harpist, and soprano singer from Antrim, Northern Ireland. She was born on 27 July.
McNeill comes from a family that is musically inclined. All her siblings play musical instruments. At St. Joseph's Primary School in Antrim, McNeill showed potential as a musician. McNeill took to singing at a young age. By age 7, she was learning to play piano and by age 8, she was playing the violin.
McNeill was part of the junior and senior Ulster / North Eastern Education and Library Board (NEELB) Youth Orchestra, performing with them for 7 years and leading the senior orchestra at the age of 17.
She was selected as Head Girl in St. Louis Grammar School, Ballymena in 2008-2009.
McNeill is a classically trained violinist. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Teaching and Performance, with a focus on violin, from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. There, she studied under Michael D’Arcy. She graduated with First class honours in June 2009 with the highest marks in her year.
McNeill performs on a Roger Hansell violin.
McNeill toured with the Irish choral ensemble Anuna as both a solo violinist and as a singer from 2010 to 2014. She also played violin on the now deleted Anúna album Illumination released in 2012.
In April 2013, McNeill performed the Irish premiere of Finzi's Violin Concerto in the National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland.
In 2014, McNeill was a lead performer in the show Ireland Calling as a violinist, harpist, and singer. The show appeared in Copenhagen, Denmark and Dublin, Ireland in 2014.
In August 2015, McNeill played the harp as part of the orchestra in Celtic Woman: Destiny, a DVD and PBS TV special filmed in the Round Room at the Masion House, in Dublin, Ireland.
On 7 August 2016, McNeill was announced as the newest principal member of the all-female Irish musical ensemble Celtic Woman. McNeill took over for founding and long-time Celtic Woman member Mairead Nesbitt, who took leave from the group to pursue her own projects. McNeill joined Mairead Carlin as the only two principal performers of Celtic Woman to come from Northern Ireland.
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