Katie Hanley (Katie Baseman) is a contemporary musician who resides in Limerick, Ireland.  An active performer in both western classical and traditional Irish music, Katie is involved in many projects throughout the country.  Her main engagements include; flutist with the Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra, second flute in the Limerick Orchestra conducted by Robert Houlihan, a contemporary folk singing duo with Fiona Booth, and traditional Irish music duo with fiddle player Therese McInerney.  She has been afforded the opportunity to play in well-known local venues such as St. Mary’s Cathedral, The University Concert Hall, and Upstairs in Dolan’s Pub.  With various musical acts, Katie has performed in The United States, England, Ireland, and Holland.  

Katie holds a Bachelor of Music Degree, concentration in Flute Performance from Towson University (2009) where she studied with Sara Nichols.  During her time at Towson, Katie took an interest in Jazz music along with her classical studies, and performed with the Big Band in the U.S. Premier of the Hart Concerto.   She holds a Master of Music of the same subject from George Mason University (2012) where she studied with Julianna Nickle and graduated cum laude.  Katie feels lucky to have had the honour and privilege of studying with the late Judy Lapple.  Katie also had the opportunity to work under Lapple’s direction at her woodwind summer music camp.  Ms. Lapple was an incredible musician and mentor, and continues to be one of Katie’s biggest inspirations to make flute music.  During her time at George Mason Katie studied classical music extensively with a particular interest in modern flute performance as well as the unique composition style of Charles Ives.  Katie became greatly interested in the juxtaposition of musical genres and the heavy use of folk music within classical composition, a specialty of Ives’.  She began performing folk-inspired works (such as by Béla Bartók) and began learning American Old-Time and Irish traditional music.  With a strong developing interest in Irish music, Katie came to the Irish World Academy to study traditional Irish flute playing in 2014, and completed the M.A. in Irish Traditional Music Performance in 2015.  Still fascinated with the interaction between traditional and classical music, Katie decided to turn her interest into a PhD thesis, and she is due to finish in the summer of 2021.  

In addition to her performance endeavours, Katie is also an in-demand teacher.  She currently teaches classical flute and music theory at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick, Music Theory and Flute at the Redemptorist Centre of Music and maintains a private flute studio out of her home in Farranshone, which is always welcoming new students.