Sean Moore Scholarship

Madeleine O’Neil is the 2010 recipient of the Sean Moore Vocal Scholarship. She is 16 years old and is currently a sophomore at Pine Richland High School in Gibsonia, PA. She and her family reside in Wexford, PA. She loves to perform and demonstrated a desire and talent for singing at a very early age. She currently studies voice with Susan Young at Music Innovations in Wexford, PA.

She was a member of the North Star Kids performance troupe and has performed in several musicals with Spotlight Performing Arts Academy and Pine Richland High School. She has been a finalist in the Kean Idol Vocal Competition for several years. She is a cantor at her church and a member of the Pine- Richland High School Chamber Singers directed by Lee Rickard.

Her interest in Irish music and culture was fostered by family influences and exposure through local Irish Dance Competitions. She began Irish dancing at the Bell School of Irish Dance with Julia Bell at age five. Shortly after that she began singing in vocal competitions offered at local feisanna. Since 2006, she has served as a vocalist, singing the American, Canadian, and Irish national anthems at feisanna sponsored by the Irish Centre of Pittsburgh. She was encouraged by Jim Graven of the Pittsburgh Irish Centre to sing the Irish anthem in Gaelic in 2009. In 2009, she received the Gordon Shaffer Award for Best Overall Music Performance at the Akron Feis. With the support of her voice teachers and family she continues to explore various types of vocal performance, particularly her love of traditional and contemporary Irish music.