Fiddle and singing retreats at Terralsole. Mornings to play. Evenings to sing. Tuscany in between.
For musicians, Tuscany is a rare kind of setting. Not a distraction. Not a backdrop. A participant.
The light changes your tone. The pace changes your timing. The table, a long one, with wine, with people who understand what you do, changes your playing.
You come to play. You come to sing. You come to be in a place where the music belongs to the hills as much as it belongs to you.
Instrument in hand or voice warming up. Athena teaches the fiddle retreats. Eithne leads the singing workshops. Two hours, maybe three. The room is in the old barn, the windows open, the light good.
The chef has been cooking since nine. You don't rush.
Walk. Nap. Practice. Swim. One afternoon a week, a field trip, a winery, a village, the thermal springs.
Aperitivo. Dinner. Wine. And then the night that every musician recognizes, an open session, where whoever feels like playing plays, and whoever feels like singing sings, and whoever feels like listening listens. Tuscan musicians sometimes drop by. Sometimes Athena picks up her fiddle. Sometimes it goes until two in the morning.
Principal fiddler with Riverdance on Broadway. Twenty years of performance, teaching, and workshops across Ireland, the US, and Europe. Brunello producer at Terralsole since 2004. Teaches fiddle with the same attention she teaches tasting: through feel, not theory.
Listen to Athena →
One of Ireland’s leading sean-nós voices. Recording artist. Workshop leader across Europe. Co-hosts the Singing Retreat, leading all vocal work.
Listen to Inni-K →All evening sessions recorded for participants.
Your instrument. A voice, warmed up. Any music you want to share with the group, tunes, songs, tips, stories.
Everything else is here.
I've been to half a dozen fiddle weeks. This one was different because the wine and the food and the landscape didn't feel added on, they felt like part of the music.
I arrived nervous about my voice. I left having sung something new every night. That doesn’t happen on a normal retreat.
Six nights at Terralsole. 6–12 guests. Led by Athena.
All instruction, morning classes, daily
One private one-on-one session with Athena
Session recordings and sheet music
One concert evening with Athena and a local Tuscan musician
All standard retreat inclusions
Six nights at Terralsole. 12–22 guests. Co-hosted by Athena and Inni-K.
Daily vocal workshops with Eithne Ní Chatháin
Evening singing circles
Private winery visits and thermal spa
Session recordings
All standard retreat inclusions
Athena reads every application personally. Expect a reply within 48 hours.
Write to Athena first →Notes on the music, the wine, and the next dates. No noise in between.
No spam. Letters only when there's something worth saying.
