Harpist

Leading lever harpist of her generation, Dr Anne-Marie O’Farrell from Dublin has performed all over the world as a solo artist, accompanist and in ensembles, and is regularly featured in broadcasts. On lever harp, she is particularly recognized for her expansion of repertoire and levering techniques, as a result of which the world’s leading harpmakers Salvi Harps redesigned their lever harps to become concert instruments. Her development of harp repertoire has led to the inclusion of her harp compositions and arrangements in exam syllabuses used around the world. She has given multiple premieres of many works for Irish harp, some commissioned especially for her. She has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Crash Ensemble, the Irish Memory Orchestra, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with whom she premiered Ryan Molloy’s Concerto for lever harp, Gealán.

A prolific recording artist, she has released several CDs, including Just So Bach, Harping Bach to Carolan, The Jig’s Up and My Lagan Love; Double Strung and Duopoly with Cormac De Barra; and Harp to Harp with harmonica player Brendan Power. As a musician experienced in performing at state events, she was called upon to play during the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland, and has performed for President Robinson, President MacAleese, President Michael D. Higgins and President Bill Clinton. She has also recorded with The Chieftains in Abbey Road Studios, London and has performed internationally with Moya Brennan of Clannad.

Equally at home on pedal harp, she is frequently invited to give recitals, workshops and masterclasses at international conferences and festivals around the world, in addition to performance at several World Harp Congresses. She has recently composed several large-scale commissions featuring the harp, including a lever harp concerto commissioned by RTÉ Lyric FM, and a five-movement work for large harp ensemble commissioned by Harp Ireland.

For more about Anne-Marie’s composition see here.

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