C1
MÁIRE NÍ CHATHASAIGH, CHRIS NEWMAN + BAND
Friday 28th March 7.30 – 10.00pm *
Tickets £10 and £8 *

C2
RAY POOL
ENSAMBLE CRIOLLA
  
Saturday 29th March 7.30 – 10.00pm *
Tickets £10 and £8 *
Ray Pool is known in the US for his harp stylings at The Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. He will play a concert of American standards evocative of Park Avenue in Manhattan. On both lever and pedal harp, you'll hear songs like "I Got Rhythm," "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" and others standards from Broadway and The Swing Era.
George and Ira Gershwin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Rodgers and Hart … "Who could ask for anything more"

ENSAMBLE CRIOLLO
One of the first images that people have of South American music is Indian flutes and pipes, Argentinean Tango, or Salsa. But we have other rhythms and sounds too. These include the sounds of “el arpa” (Colombo-Venezuelan harp), “el cuatro” (small guitar with four strings), “las maracas” (shakers), and a whole host of other local percussion instruments.

Together we are “Ensamble Criollo”, a Colombo-Venezuelan band based in the UK since 2001. Originally from a region in the West of Venezuela and East of Colombia known as “Los Llanos” (The Plains or The Low Lands), our repertoire has widened to include music from all over Latin America, from Mexico to Argentina, creating a new and exciting fusion of sound. Especially for the EIHF, we are delighted to include dancers to create a riot of sound, movement and colours to bring alive the hot, spicy images of Latin America.

Sponsored by Bowbrand

C3
“NO SPRING CHICKENS”

Sunday 30th March 3.00 – 4.00pm *
Tickets £9 and £7 (children 12yrs and under – Free)
Marie-Louise Napier and Kirsty Shilson, sisters from Grantown in the Scottish Highlands, invite you to join them for an hour of prose, poetry, harping and song – the perfect Sunday afternoon entertainment! Winners of 5-Star reviews at the Edinburgh Festival, the girls like to use a theme when putting together their programmes. They have chosen “islands” for their second concert at the Harp Festival and will feature poems by MacKay Brown, and Sorley MacLean, songs by Burns and Brady, and traditional music from the Hebrides.

“Charming collage of music, verse and story-telling…an altogether harmonious and satisfying performance” - The Stage.

“Brilliant conjurors of every emotion” - The Scotsman

Sponsored by Solway Harps

C4
ISABELLE MORETTI
THE EDINBURGH QUARTET
  
Sunday 30th March 7.30 – 10.00pm
Tickets £10 and £8
ISABELLE MORETTI
THE EDINBURGH QUARTET
John Kenny - Trombone
Ruth - Flute
Shinobu Miki - Clarinet
Gillean McDougall -Narrator

“The most colourful and ingenious pieces of harp repertoire-my deeply favourite pieces.”

Isabelle Moretti is one of the world’s finest harpists with a fresh and instantly recognisable style of her own. Equally celebrated as a soloist and chamber musician, she is joined in this concert by the famous Edinburgh Quartet and by trombone player, John Kenny.
The programme will feature Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, Guest Sextet by Scotland’s Eddie McGuire and a performance of Conte Fantastique by André Caplet. This last work, based on the story, The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe, will include the text read by Gillean McDougall.

Sponsored by The Scottish Arts Council and Camac Harps

C5
JAVIER SAINZ
LINNAEA
  
Monday 31st March 3.00 – 4.00pm
Tickets £9 and £7 (children 12yrs and under – Free)

JAVIER SAINZ
In his concert, Javier presents music from his most recent CD, Silva Caledonia: Scottish Harp Music of the Seventeenth Century, performed on the early Clarsach (wire-strung harp). He will focus on the rich Lowland and Highland repertoire of the time, faithfully rendering the music as it is found within the sources and bringing to life the music from both Castle and Court.

LINNAEA
Experience the colours and flavours of Nordic traditional music. Lise Vemmenby will sing songs that were integral to everyday life throughout centuries in Norway and Sweden while, Susan Enochsson enhances the heartfelt sentiments with harp music, weaving delicately around the melodies. The duo is known for its presence and authentic representation of the Scandinavian soul.

Sponsored by Salvi Harps

C6
CLAIRE HEWITT
MARGARET COLLIN
  
Monday 31st March 7.00 – 8.00pm
Tickets: £7 (children 12yrs and under – Free)

CLAIRE HEWITT – Traditional Tales
Siberia. The coldest inhabited place on Earth. a land where whole songs are said to freeze mid-winter and come spring they thaw and fill the world with their melodies! From this beautiful land comes an oral tradition that has altered very little until the last 50 years.
As a storyteller and singer, Claire has been drawn for many years to the culture of these Nomadic peoples, the Reindeer People. This evening, she will be telling two of their traditional folk tales....travel with her to the land of ice and snow and share with her the beauty of these enchanting stories.

MARGARET COLLIN - Stories in Song
Come and hear a ‘family album’ of Scottish songs accompanied with the clarsach.
Lullabies and love songs: stories, humour and reflection.
Be enthralled by songs, through the ages, for all ages!

D1
FAMILY CEILIDH with THE THUNDERDOGS
Monday 31st March 8.00 – 11.00pm
Tickets: £6 (children 12yrs and under – £3)

Come and join the Thunderdogs for a fast and energetic session. Suitable for everyone even if you have not done ceilidh dancing before – the band are excellent at calling.

Special all inclusive price for Monday evening’s Scottish evening - £10 adults; £3 Children

C7
TRISTAN LE GOVIC
CHEYENNE BROWN & SEYLAN BAXTER
  
Tuesday 1st April 3.00 – 4.00pm
Afternoon Tea Concert
Tickets £8

TRISTAN LE GOVIC
From his native Brittany to Scotland, passing Ireland and Wales, Tristan Le Govic invites you to embrace the extraordinary with reality. In the hearts of legends, deep forests or tumultuous seas, his music is like a magic moment of intense emotion. His varied repertoire combines arrangements of traditional tunes of the Celtics countries with his own compositions in a contemporary style. Cheerful dances in a jazz swing, marches with lively variations, love songs perfumed with colourful harmonics, alternate in his programme.

CHEYENNE BROWN AND SEYLAN BAXTER
The combination of Cheyenne Brown's exuberant yet sensitive harp playing and Seylan Baxter's mellow, natural singing and creatively atmospheric cello playing forms rich and varied musical textures with a distinctive style. Whether in slow airs, jigs and reels or traditional songs, Cheyenne and Seylan bring precision and empathy to their quirky, innovative arrangements. Their energetic performances and warm stage presence dispel any stereotypes of stuffy instrumentalists and prove the effectiveness of this unusual line-up.

Sponsored by Allingham & Co

C8
TZALOOL
FITKIN WALL; STILL WARM
  
Tuesday 1st April 7.30 – 10.00pm
Tickets £10 and £8

TZALOOL,
Sunita Staneslow, harp and Gal Shahar, fiddle
The strings of the harp and fiddle resonate with the echoes of ancient footsteps. The music of Tzalool reflects the dynamic melting pot of today’s Israel, yet draws from the deep well of traditional music. The duo’s interpretations of traditional Jewish music are intertwined with both Celtic and jazz influences. Tzalool’s performance mixes joyful dance music with soulful and exotic Jewish melodies.

STILL WARM - RUTH WALL AND GRAHAM FITKIN
Still Warm is the new show from two fantastic musicians:
harpist, Ruth Wall and composer, Graham Fitkin.

With three harps, keyboards, live electronics and pre-recorded sounds, Still Warm takes the intimate and beguiling sound of the harp out of its comfort zone. The familiar qualities of these plucked instruments are meshed into Fitkin Wall’s mesmerising new world of pixellated sounds, new harmonic horizons, driving rhythms and scattered beats.

The music is edgy and sensual, intricate and intriguing and blurs distinctions between electronica, dance, jazz and new classical. Still Warm was premiered at the Eden Project in the summer of 2006 alongside Goldfrapp, Marconi Union and Muse and is now touring nationally.

Sponsored by Holywell Music Ltd and Bristol and West of England Branch , Clarsach Society

C9
CELTIC NATIONS IN HARMONY
Wednesday 2nd April 3.00 – 4.00pm
Tickets £9 and £7 (children 12 yrs and under – Free)
The Kylemore Harp Ensemble. Ireland
Mil ha ur Gorden Brittany
The EIHF Orchestra with na Clarsairean Scotland

This concert brings together harp ensembles from three Celtic nations. The Kylemore Harp Ensemble, directed by Anne-Marie O’Farrell, Mil ha ur Gorden, led by Tristan le Govic and the Festival Orchestra with na Clarsairean, the Scottish Harp Orchestra, directed by Isobel Mieras, join to present a programme of traditional and contemporary music.

C10
GRAINNE HAMBLY AND WILLIAM JACKSON
SAVOURNA STEVENSON AND ALYTH McCORMACK
  
Wednesday 2nd April 7.30 – 10.00pm
Tickets £10 and £8

GRÁINNE HAMBLY AND WILLIAM JACKSON
Two of the foremost harpers of Ireland and Scotland join forces to present a concert of traditional and newly composed music from their respective traditions. Besides the contrasting and complimentary sounds and styles of the harps, the concert will also include concertina, whistle and bouzouki.

Sponsored by Culture Ireland and Harps North West

SAVOURNA STEVENSON AND ALYTH McCORMACK
Savourna Stevenson is one of the most exciting virtuosos on the harp today - 'her harp music spins sheer magic' (The Scotsman). As a composer and songwriter, she finds her perfect collaborator in the acclaimed Scottish singer, Alyth McCormack, whose exquisite and versatile voice has been described as having 'spun glass fragility belying a sinewy strength'. Together they share a passion for storytelling in music.

'A brilliant new duo, who move freely between traditional and contemporary songs ... with amusing on-stage cheeky banter' (Scotsman).

Sponsored by the Edinburgh Branch, Clarsach Society