Conor Arkins is a multi-instrumentalist performer, and educator from Ruan, County Clare. With music and song in the house from a very young age, Conor quickly took to the fiddle and hasn’t looked back since.

A graduate of University College Cork, Conor was awarded two first class honours degrees, a BA in Music and Irish and a BMus during which he was a recipient of the prestigious Quercus Talented Students Scholarship. Conor continued his postgraduate studies both at the University of Limerick, where he graduated with a master in education and at University College Cork, where he undertook a Masters by Research funded by the College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences’ Excellence Scholarship Programme. Having received the Staff Gebruers Memorial Prize in Music, Conor’s research has also been co-funded by the Jago Trust. His research interests focus primarily on the music of West Clare, in particular the fiddle musics of Bobby Casey and Junior Crehan.

In 2023, Conor released two albums: The Morning Thrush (with Paul Clesham) and Taobh na Mara (with Taobh na Mara Céilí Band). Both recordings have been highly acclaimed and Conor can regularly be heard performing around the country as part of these projects.

Conor is a well regarded teacher of music having worked in music education for over a decade in various formal and informal educational settings and is now the director of the level 5 programme in Irish traditional music at Cork College of FET, Tramore Road Campus.