Máiréad Nesbitt ( , ) is an Irish musician. She is known for performing Celtic and classical music and being the former fiddler for Celtic Woman. She was also one of the two original fiddlers in Michael FlatleyâÂÂs Lord of the Dance in the mid to late 1990s, along with its extended version Feet of Flames in the early 2000s.
Nesbitt was born to John and Kathleen Nesbitt, both music teachers in County Tipperary, Ireland. She has a sister, Frances, and four brothers, Seán, Michael, Noel and Karl, all of whom are musicians. She has been a piano player since the age of four, and began playing the violin at age six.
Her formal musical studies began at The Ursuline Convent in Thurles, County Tipperary and progressed through the Waterford Institute of Technology and the Cork School of Music, during which time she participated in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. Nesbitt completed postgraduate studies at Royal Academy of Music and Trinity College of Music in London under Emanuel Hurwitz.
Besides her family, Nesbitt has stated that her influences range from Itzhak Perlman and Michael Coleman to bluegrass artist Alison Krauss and rock's David Bowie and Sting.
Nesbitt has been married to Jim Mustapha Jr., Celtic Woman's then-lighting director, since 2011.