Ray Coen

Ray Coen hails from Drumiskabole, Ballisodare, County Sligo and has many years experience as both a guitar and fiddle player.  His first musical memory is singing and dancing in the family kitchen. He got his first guitar at age 11, but didn’t tune it until he was 13. Into his teens, he turned to electric guitar, playing Rock’n’Roll and Heavy Metal with his first bands Bad Taste and China Red. Eventually the Sligo traditional music scene started calling to him, and he started playing mandola, banjo and fiddle.

In 2000 with Rodney Lancashire he recorded an album of traditional songs called Mactíre. In 2002 he joined Deirde Byron-Smith, Anna Houston and Tommy Scanlon for the Cadenza album Attic Notes where he contributed original songs and tunes. 2009 saw his solo album Out of Sight released. Since then he has performed all over Ireland, England, Europe and Japan playing and recording original, traditional and World music. He is currently a member of The Craic Addicts, The Atlantic Orchestra and No Crows and is touring with fellow No Crows musician Steve Wickham this year, having played at Celtic Connections in Glasgow earlier in the year as well as more recently in the Coleman Centre, Gurteen with upcoming gigs in the UK in early August.

Ray has previously taught guitar at the summer school and we are delighted to welcome him back in 2025.