Sandie Purcell is a composer, fiddle player and primary school teacher from Kill in Co. Kildare.. Sandie began learning the fiddle with Mary Greevy at the age of seven and composing followed just a couple of years later. In 1996, at the age of thirteen, Sandie won the IMRO Composition Award with the jig “The Crooked Picture” which she performed at the Hawk’s Well Theatre in Sligo.

Sandie holds a BMUS from DIT Conservatory of Music where she was taught the fiddle by Kevin Glackin and whistle by Paul McGettrick and Peter Browne. Sandie took Composition as a specialist subject and was supervised by Dr. Grainne Mulvey. Sandie also holds an MA in Composition from DCU.

During her time working at Na Píobairí Uilleann from 2008 to 2013, Sandie began playing the uilleann pipes under the tutelage of Gay McKeon. Her interest in piping music was ignited and in 2014 Sandie was commissioned by Dublin City Council to compose a piping work to commemorate The Battle of Clontarf. It was performed by the renowned piper Mark Redmond and a short film of the piece was made by Warrior Films Ireland. Sandie then completed a HDIP in Primary Education in Marino Institute of Education and has been teaching in Scoil Mhuire Junior School, Newbridge, Co. Kildare since 2015. She also teaches the fiddle and performs and composes regularly.

Sandie’s publications include the tune-book 101 Original Compositions of Irish Traditional Music by Sandie Purcell (2007), which was supported by the Arts Council and a CD of original tunes and songs by the band Reelan, who formed for the making of the album The Crooked Picture in 2008. Sandie’s tunes have also appeared in Na Píobairí Uilleann’s publication An Píobaire which is distributed to over 70 countries worldwide and “The Indignant Muse, Poetry and Songs of the Irish Revolution 1887-1926”, edited by Terry Moylan.