2024 Awardee: Laura Penman
Thank you again for your support! I love my new electro harp, and I’m so excited to use it in new projects.
Biography
Laura Penman is a clarsach player, pianist and composer, who has enjoyed playing traditional music from a young age. She has a passion for creating contemporary arrangements and compositions, highlighting the clarsach within the wider traditional music scene. She began playing the Clarsach at primary school whilst attending Gaelic Medium Education in Edinburgh. She later attended the RCS Juniors, which showed her that being a successful traditional musician was a viable option. She went on to study on the BMus Traditional Music course at the Royal Conservatoire and graduated in 2024. During her time there, Laura was immersed in tradition and inspired by musicians from around the world, working with traditional musicians as well as classical and jazz musicians.
Laura has performed at festivals including Celtic Connections and The Scots Fiddle Festival and played in venues such as the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. Her recent projects involved performing and recording with singer Beth Malcolm, as well as forming a Gaelic song band called Duan. She also formed an all-female band with fellow students at the RCS, called Dàna. The band have performed at many events and festivals, including Piping Live and Under Canvas. In February 2025, Laura was selected as a finalist for the Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award.
How the Award Helped
Laura’s award allowed her to purchase an electro harp, which opens up entirely new possibilities. She hopes to explore electronic sounds and pedal effects, incorporating these ideas into both the traditional idiom, as well as challenging and improving her composition skills. She hopes to record and release a new composition suite that she has written, inspired by the Seven Summits of Edinburgh.
Thank you again for your support! I love my new electro harp, and I’m so excited to use it in new projects.