• Brought to you by The CLARSACH SOCIETY

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  • Extra Adult Beginners Course / Come & Try Bodhran

    Due to popularity, we’ve just added another ADULT BEGINNERS harp course to our schedule, with tutor Toni Russell. Harps are provided so please let anyone know who might be interested. 

    • Adult Beginners
    • 4 Day Course 6-9 April: Sat / Sun / Mon / Tue 4.30pm-6.00pm
    • Harps provided
    • Book HERE

    Did you miss out on booking a place on COME & TRY BODHRAN with Gregor Black? Well he’s agreed to teach another session on Tuesday 9th April.  Please bring your own bodhran if you have one, however a limited number of bodhrans will be available, but please contact the office in advance office@harpfestival.co.uk.

    • Come & Try Bodhran
    • Tuesday 9th April, 9.00am-10.30am
    • Book HERE

    Harp course for primary school players…

    We’ve just lowered the price of this year’s primary school age children’s course to just £40 – a real bargain for 90 minutes each day for 4 days!

    Our tutor for this year is Heather Yule so if you know any young player’s who’d like to come to this elementary level course, please let them know about it.

    Book HERE

    • Fun for Primary School Age Children
    • 4 DAY COURSE: Sat / Sun / Mon / Tue 1.00pm-2.30pm 
    • TUTOR: Heather Yule
    • LEVEL: Elementary
    • TEACHING METHOD E+M:Teaching will be initially by ear with written music given out during or at the end of each session.
    • Heather will choose some lovely tunes, mostly from Scotland, and help you get them under your fingers and draw out their magic sound. This course is for children of primary school age who enjoy playing the harp and want to develop their skills further and maybe even hear some stories along the way.



    EIHF Video: Introducing Malachy Arnold

    We’re proud to give young harp players in the early years of their career a platform at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival. This year we would like to introduce you to Malachy Arnold.

    Check out the below video he’s recorded for us featuring his fiery fingernail and rhythmic style of playing. Rooted in both the Scottish and Irish traditions, Malachy learnt from Breton harpist Tristan Le Govic, Scottish harpist Gillian Fleetwood and his aunt, the Irish harpist Laoise Kelly… all mighty teachers and friends of us at the EIHF

    Malachy plays in the trad group Tarran, a 4 piece trad group featuring harp, fiddle, keys and bodhran. They’ll be performing alongside Adriano Sangineto on Sunday 7th April at 7.30pm.

    He’ll also be teaching a 4-day course entitled Regional Irish Tunes for Harp both in-person and online (at a separate time). 

    COURSES (click for more info & to book)
    Each course 90 mins on Sat/Sun/Mon/Tue
    REGIONAL IRISH TUNES FOR HARP (IN-PERSON) with Malachy Arnold (intermediate)
    REGIONAL IRISH TUNES FOR HARP (ONLINE) with Malachy Arnold (intermediate)

    CONCERT (click for more info & to book)
    ADRIANO SANGINETO // TARRAN
    Supported by The United Kingdom Harp Association and Italian Cultural Institute of Edinburgh

    FREE EIHF Youth Outreach Events

    EIHF YOUTH OUTREACH 2024 – 2 FREE EVENTS, with 3 fantastic tutors: Adriano Sangineto , Elinor Evans and Neil Wood.

    To sign up to these events please email office@harpfestival.co.uk

    1- THE DREAM MAKERS:  PRE FESTIVAL EIHF YOUTH OUTREACH

    Do you know any school aged harp players? This year’s EIHF outreach is a two day project bringing together young harpers of all ages to take part in a performance of The Dream Makers, a magical suite of newly created music based upon the traditional tale of the same name. The story will be told live by storyteller Shona Cowie and will intertwine music performed by the EIHF Junior Ensemble, led by Neil Wood and Elinor Evans. 

    The project is open to all school aged harpers of any level of experience provided they have access to an instrument and some previous experience of playing. It is FREE to attend for participants. 

    Music will be distributed at the beginning of March for participants to familiarise themselves with prior to rehearsals. During rehearsals participants will have the opportunity to contribute to the creative process and shape the performance. 

    • Open to all school aged harp players
    • Rehearsals: Thursday 4th April 10.30am – 3.00pm and Friday 5th April 10.30am – 3.00pm (please bring a packed lunch)
    • Venue: Music School, George Watson’s College
    • Performance: Friday 5th April 3.00pm-4.00pm (support by The Royal Celtic Society)
    • Venue: Music School Auditorium, George Watson’s College
    • Audience tickets: £8 for adults, free for under 18. Book via harpfestival.co.uk

    The Dream Makers, Pre festival EIHF Youth Outreach is supported by: Tasgadh, Traditional Small arts grants

    2 – EIHF YOUTH OUTREACH FOR HIGH SCHOOL AGE HARP PLAYERS

    Young harp players of any style and of high school age (approx age 11-18) are invited to take part in an intermediate/advanced level workshop with Adriano Sangineto. It is FREE to attend for participants. 

    An Italian virtuoso musician, Adriano is internationally recognised for his exceptional contribution to Celtic harp music. He’s taught several times for us at the EIHF and his classes are always popular – we are sure the youngster will love his teaching in this workshop!

    • Open to all High school age harp players
    • Workshop: 6th April, 4.30pm-5.30pm
    • Venue: George Watson’s College, Edinburgh

    Seachdain na Gàidhlig 2024

    Seachdain na Gàidhlig is Scotland’s nationwide language and culture week and takes place this week and lasts until Sunday 16th February. 
    The theme for 2024 is ‘Your Language. Your Opportunity’ encouraging us to celebrate the ways we embrace Gaelic language and culture in our everyday life. Keep an eye our Facebook page where we’ll be sharing daily 9am videos and  “A’ toirt iomradh air saoghal na clàrsaich”  – talking all things clarsach! 

    Interested in learning more Scottish Gaelic? We have 3 Come and Try Gaelic sessions at EIHF 2024 – each only £8!

    COME & TRY GAELIC with Màiri Macleod
    Saturday 6th April: 4.30pm-5.30pm
    Monday 7th April :  1pm-2pm 
    Tuesday 8th April :  9-10am 
    Come learn some basic vocabulary and simple phrases that you can use around our festival and in different scenarios. 

    BOOK HERE

    EIHF 2024 brochure now available to view online

    The 2024 brochure is available to view and download online HERE. This is the best way to find out what happens at our festival.

    INSIDE: concert/course/workshop listings & details, artist & tutor biographies, course level guide, exhibitor list, venue guide, how to get more out of your visit to the EIHF and much more!

    Paper copies will be available in Edinburgh, from branches of The Clarsach Society and at the festival.

    IMPORTANT: The online box office will open on Wednesday 31st January at 10am. Please don’t try to book before then, as it will not be possible.

    The Iain MacLeòid Young Composer Award 2023 – The Winner!

    The Clarsach Society and the Edinburgh International Harp Festival are proud to announce that the 2023 winner of the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award is Donnchadh Mac Aodha.

    Harp player Donnchadh Mac Aodha is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Dundalk Co.Louth, Ireland. 

    Currently studying composition under the direction of John Godfrey as part of his BMus degree at University College Cork, Donnchadh is both a traditional Irish and classical musician and finds himself most at home with these genre allowing his bi-musical upbringing to influence his works. In particular, he is drawn to the Irish language and deals with ideas of belonging and identity in his music. 

    Already a prize winning composer, having taken away honours from the New Ross Piano Festival and the West Wicklow Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, The Clarsach Society are thrilled to award him The Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award. 

    We look forward to hearing the premiere of his award-winning composition Ambaist at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival in April. 

    EIHF ’24 Artist / Tutor announcements

    The 43rd Edinburgh International Harp Festival will take place from the 5th -9th April, in George Watson’s College, Edinburgh. We’ve been working hard to organise a wonderful festival for you to enjoy in April and next month we’ll be ready to share with you the full details of the 2024 concerts, courses (including a small selection of online zoom courses).

    However, we have some news to share with you now. We’ll be updating this post on week days (until 21st Dec) with who you can expect to see performing and tutoring at the festival. Read on to discover more…

    • Our box office will open in January.
    • Full information on all concerts/courses/workshops will be available in January.
    • Harp hire (for those of you coming from afar) will open on the 10th January.

    2024 PERFORMERS:

    • ADRIANO SANGINETO (ITALY) 
    • ALICE GUSE (SCOTLAND)
    • ANNE-MARIE O’FARRELL (IRELAND)
    • CHRIS STOUT & CATRIONA MCKAY (SCOTLAND)
    • DIEGO LAVERDE ROJAS (COLOMBIA)
    • ELEANOR DUNSDON & GREGOR BLACK (ENGLAND/IRELAND)
    • ELINOR EVANS (SCOTLAND)
    • RHONA SMITH & STEPHANIE HUMPHREYS with THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
    • INGRID HENDERSON & IAIN MACFARLANE with MARGARET STEWART (SCOTLAND)
    • JAMES RUFF (USA)
    • MARIA MONK (SCOTLAND)
    • SIXTO CORBALAN & PEDRO MARTÍNEZ (PARAGUAY)
    • SUE ROTHSTEIN (ENGLAND)
    • SUNITA STANESLOW (USA)
    • TARRAN featuring MALACHY ARNOLD (SCOTLAND)
    • RNCM HARP ENSEMBLE

    2024 COURSE TUTORS:

    • ADRIANO SANGINETO
    • AILIE ROBERTSON
    • ANNE-MARIE O’FARRELL
    • BILL TAYLOR
    • CATRIONA MCKAY
    • CHARLOTTE PETERSEN
    • DIEGO LAVERDE
    • ELEANOR HETHERINGTON
    • ELINOR EVANS
    • FIONA RUTHERFORD
    • HEATHER DOWNIE
    • HEATHER YULE
    • INGRID HENDERSON
    • ISOBEL MIERAS
    • JAMES RUFF
    • MALACHY ARNOLD
    • PEDRO MARTÍNEZ
    • RACHEL HAIR
    • ROSEMARY MCKERCHAR
    • SIXTO CORBALAN
    • SUE ROTHSTEIN
    • SUNITA STANESLOW
    • TONI RUSSELL
    • WENDY STEWART

    EIHF ’24

    Hello everyone,

    We know we’ve been a bit quiet lately – that’s because we’ve been busy planning our next festival!

    We will begin announcing artists and tutors in December with full details of all courses/concerts/workshops available in January. Our box office will open shortly after that.

    We hope you will join us in 2024. Put the dates in your diary – 5-9 April – as we can’t wait to reunite with you all for some happy harping times again in Edinburgh!

    The EIHF