- Born
- Birth nameMáiréad Anna Kathleen Nesbitt
- Height5′ 2″ (1.57 m)
- On August 7, 2016, Nesbitt announced that she was leaving Celtic Woman to focus more on her own projects.
In 2017 Nesbitt toured the United States performing in Rocktopia.
Since 2010, Nesbitt worked on a few solo projects outside of the Celtic Woman while still a member of the group.
She is featured as the soloist on Walt Disney's direct to DVD film "Tinker Bell." The music was composed by Joel McNeely to fit Nesbitt's unique, distinctive style of playing, a cross of fiddle and classical violin.
She has produced two solo albums, one in 2010 and in 2016 announced her new solo album, "Hibernian," in August of 2016.
2016 also saw the introduction of her new line of violins, "Celtic Violins by Máiréad Nesbitt Celtic Violinist." Along with her standard violin, a 17th Century Matthias violin she would also be using her new violin on stage and on other projects, such as her album, "Hibernia."
Nesbitt is married to Jim Mustapha Jr., the lighting director for Celtic Woman. They married just before Thanksgiving, 2011, in a ceremony in Maui, Hawaii.
- IMDb mini biography by: George McGinn
- SpouseJim Mustapha Jr.(November 2011 - present)
- Began playing the piano at age four.
- Is a past member of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.
- In 2004 she was one of the original members of 'Celtic Woman' along with vocalists Chloë Agnew, Órla Fallon, Lisa Kelly and Méav Ní Mhaolchatha.
- Began playing the fiddle at age six and is a former All-Ireland fiddle champion.
- Studied at The Ursuline Convent, Thurles; The Waterford Institute of Technology, The Cork School of Music (under Cornelia Zanidache), and had post-graduate studies with Emanuel Hurwitz in London.
- I don't talk about my age. It's the principle, because men are never asked their age and women are. I don't think it's got anything to do with the music. I think the most important thing for a musician is to be musical. You can do all the technical stuff from a young age, that's absolutely fine, there are so many fiddle players who can do that. God, there are thousands of us out there, but you have to have an inbuilt musicality that you can't actually learn. A lot of young players have a certain amount of expression, but they lay an awful lot of importance on virtuosity. Anyone can be virtuosic, all you have to do is practice and practice, and you will get it. You can do anything, but to have the feel, it has to be a natural thing. It has to be in you, you can't learn it. There's an awful lot of classical players who can't play anything unless they read it. I do a lot of things with different people, and I really think that's so important, because you can become so isolated and insular in yourself. You can think you're right all the time, which of course nobody is. You can think you're the most important thing, if you don't collaborate with other people and look at their perspective on things. It's always a learning experience, once you stop learning, it's over. And nobody ever stops learning. It's great to have a string of letters after my name, but I really do love playing. That's what it's all about.
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