SUMMER SCHOOL OF EARLY
IRISH HARP
Evocative Gaelic Harp, Pipe & Vocal Music of the 16th-18th Century with three of the world’s foremost historical harpists playing early Irish harps strung with brass, silver and 18-carat gold wires, together with acclaimed Gaelic singers & Scotland’s pre-eminent historical piper.
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Friday, 19th August, 8.00 p.m.
The medieval Holy Trinity Church, FETHARD, Co. Tipperary
Saturday 20th August, 8.30 p.m.
St. Patrick’s Church, Ormonde Rd, KILKENNY
Mac-talla nan Dun:
Echoes of a Gaelic Chieftains’s Castle
Evocative Gaelic Harp, Pipe & Vocal Music of the 16th-18th Century
Ann Heymann, Andrew Lawrence-King and Siobhán Armstrong Early Irish harps
Griogair Labhruidh, Gaelic song
Barnaby Brown, Highland pipes
Fethard: €12/10; Kilkenny: €18/12, payable at the door. Bookings: 087 113 0578.
Friday, 26th August, 7.30 p.m.
St. Audoen’s Church, DUBLIN
Mac-talla nan Dun:
Echoes of a Gaelic Chieftains’s Castle
Evocative Gaelic Harp, Pipe & Vocal Music of the 16th-18th Century
Ann Heymann, Andrew Lawrence-King and Siobhán Armstrong Early Irish harps
Talitha MacKenzie, Gaelic song
Barnaby Brown, Highland pipes
€18/12, payable at the door. Booking is highly recommended due to the limited venue capacity. Bookings: 087 113 0578.
Over the centuries, Ireland and the Scottish Highlands and Islands have shared a common culture, language and musical heritage. Irish harpers travelled to Scotland and were valued at Scottish chieftains’ courts for their skill and beautifully evocative music. Much of the older Irish harp repertoire, which has been lost in Ireland, can be found in Scottish manuscripts and other sources, while Scottish piping and vocal traditions have preserved much common Gaelic musical heritage. These concerts explore and celebrate that heritage and these musical connections, established many centuries ago.
This is a rare opportunity to hear early Irish harps, the ancient instruments depicted in Ireland’s national emblem, in contemporaneous surroundings, in the medieval churches of Fethard and Dublin. Exquisite replicas of the Trinity College or Brian Boru harp, Ireland’s only surviving medieval harp, will be heard and audiences will have a rare opportunity to experience the meltingly beautiful sound of brass, silver and 18-carat gold strings played in the old manner with fingernails by three of the world’s foremost early Irish harp players.
Our harpists will be joined by Scottish singer and piper Griogair Labhruidh (19th and 20th August), whose family has been steeped in the musical traditions of Argyll for centuries; acclaimed Gaelic singer Talitha MacKenzie (26th August), and historical Scottish piper, Barnaby Brown, whose haunting early 19th century pipes complements the harps and voice so perfectly.
