The harp is an icon of Celtic music. Over millennia, it has served as the accompaniment to bardic poetry, tales of war and peace, love songs, laments, and fairy tales. It is the instrument most associated in art with angels and paradise. In the hands of musician Maeve Gilchrist, it is bold and innovative, and decidedly contemporary.
Described by one critic as "a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity," Gilchrist has taken the Celtic harp to new levels of performance while at the same time raising its visibility worldwide.
Gilchrist was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is currently based in New York. Her new project, The Harpweaver, centers around a poem written by mid-twentieth-century American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay: The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver. While the theme of the poem, "harp as nourisher and savior," is at the core of Gilchrist's album, it's collaborative work sets it apart and marks a leap for this most "Celtic" of instruments into the worlds of classical, jazz, and contemporary folk.
You can learn more about Gilchrist here. Please remember, artists need income. If you like it, please consider buying this music, available from Maeve's website.
Maeve is also our co-artistic-Director for our third annual Rockport Festival coming up this weekend, August 18, 19 and 20, you can learn more here.
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