Biography

Born and raised on the Isle of Skye, Steaphanaidh grew up in a large family immersed in Gaelic music and culture. Her parents are both freelance artists, her father being a Gaelic writer and her mother a sculptor.

In 2006, Steaphanaidh became an instrumental pupil at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, studying the clarsach, clarinet, saxophone and Gaelic singing.  Her tutors included Helen Macleod, Catriona McKay and Patsy Seddon. In 2010 she was encouraged to start exploring the pedal harp and was immediately struck by the musical and tonal possibilities she found the instrument could deliver.

Steaphanaidh has played at Celtic Connections with the band Kilairum, at festivals at home and abroad, and on tour with youth orchestras and on the Feis Rois Trad Trail.  In 2010 and 2011 she was a finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards and a semi-finalist at the 2011 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year.

Steaphanidh is extremely passionate about music and enjoys exploring different genres and instruments, which she feels feeds creativity and spontaneity back into her harp playing.  She writes:

“What I have discovered is that music is always contemporary, no matter how ancient the instrument: the desire of all musicians at all times was (and remains) to articulate the world in which they live.  The harp and clarsach do that for me.”

How the Award Helped

Steaphanidh gained a place at the prestigious Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, studying harp under the tutorship of Eira Lynn-Jones.  She was granted an award to support her studies.

Biography

Newcastle-born Emily studied harp first with Isobel Meiras at the City of Edinburgh Music School and later continued studying pedal harp and clàrsach with Catriona Mackay at St Mary’s Music School, also in Edinburgh, where she was considered to be one of their most outstanding instrumentalists.

Emily distinguished herself on many occasions as a concerto soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player and has won many prestigious prizes, including the Audrey Innes Concerto Prize 2009, the Traves Trophy in 2010 at the Edinburgh Festival Competition, the Mozart Concerto Competition and the Director’s Recital Prize at St Mary’s Music School.   In 2005, at the age of 13, she was awarded a Dewar Arts Award to buy a pedal harp.

Emily has been a member of the National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and, since September 2009, has been principal harp in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.

Emily is also an accomplished clàrsach player and is a member of the Sage Gateshead Folkestra and the Celtic fusion group Kilairum. She has been a finalist in the BBC Radio Two Young Folk Awards and a semi-finalist in the Young Traditional Musician competition. With Kilairum, she won a place in the Danny Kyle Open Stage at the 2010 Celtic Connections Festival.

Emily has won a scholarship to study harp with renowned harpist Nancy Allen at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. She describes this as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award enables Emily to study music at Juilliard School of Music, New York.

After a very successful first year at Juilliard, Emily’s award was extended for a second year.

Biography

From Sleat, the Isle of Skye, Màiri has been described as ‘outrageously talented’. Not only is she a prodigious talent on the clàrsach, but she also plays the fiddle and piano to an equally high standard. Currently studying at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh, Màiri is a member of the Scottish National Children’s Orchestra.

Màiri has won a number of significant music awards at the Royal National Mod and other music festivals. She is currently the youngest finalist to compete for the Director’s Recital Prize at St Mary’s Music School.

Màiri has performed on the Celtic Connections Open Stage and plays clàrsach with the Celtic fusion jazz group Kitairuri. She is considered to be one of the most talented harpists of her generation who has the potential to develop into a significant musician of the next.

To date, Màiri’s most memorable concert was at the Skye Feis with the Luminescent Orchestrii of New York, a punk-gypsy-indie-kleismer group, playing clàrsach in the context of world music. Her verdict? “Gaelic riffs alongside Balkan stomping and Russian dance and Latin sounds was great”.

How the Award Helped

Since the Award

Since her Award, Màiri has been nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award twice, has been a finalist in the BBC Young Traditional & Jazz Musicians of the Year, and is now a graduate of the Berklee College of Music (which she attended with full scholarship).

Biography

Fourteen-year-old Jemma from Glasgow got involved in playing traditional music at the age of six.  She demonstrated a fine musicianship from the start  and has the ability to play a number of instruments with stunning sensitivity and maturity for her age.

Jemma is a talented fiddle player, having gained notable competitive success including several All-Britain titles in both solo and group competitions and a coveted All-Ireland gold medal in the Under 12 section. For the past two years, as part of ‘The Southside Fiddlers’ and at the invitation of well-known Irish fiddler, Liz Doherty, Jemma has performed at the Buncrana Festival in Co. Donegal.

It is on the small harp, however, that Jemma shines, her playing has been described as ‘magical’. Within a year of starting to learn the harp, she came second in the Scottish championships which qualified her to represent Scotland in the 2008 Great Britain championships. Since then, Jemma has played at many Celtic and Scottish traditional festivals and concerts, wowing the audiences with her talent.

How the Award Helped

Biography

Born in Inverness and brought up on Skye, June learned the harp when she was 12 years old. June spent a year studying at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music in Plockton before going on to study at Strathclyde University, where she is studying with renowned Celtic harpist Savourna Stevenson.

June is a member of award-winning band ‘Bodega’, winners of the BBC2 Young Folk Award. With the band’s increasing success, they travel extensively internationally to perform, and consequently June’s student-model harp is beginning to look careworn. June is considered to be a real talent and rising star in Traditional Music.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will help June purchase a professional model harp with flight case.

Since the Award

Biography

Shian Blackwood from Dunscore, near Dumfries, has been studying clàrsach for six years. In 2003 she was awarded the junior trophy for harp playing in the Dumfries Music Festival. In 2006 she received a Dewar Arts Award to buy an electric harp.

Shian is currently studying music at Stevenson College in Edinburgh. She writes: “The electric harp you so kindly granted me funding for has helped me advance in my studies and personal abilities as a player.” She has studied with our own Maeve Gilchrist, one of the first Dewar Arts Awardees.

Shian reached the point where she needed to upgrade her acoustic harp. Rather than ask us for money to buy a new one, she has asked for funding to go on a course to build her own 33-stringed acoustic harp. We were delighted to help and look forward to hearing the Bohemian harp she hopes to build under the tutelage of Christoph Locherbach from Southern Germany.

How the Award Helped

Biography

Twelve-year old Stephanie from Gartmore is both a strong singer and extremely talented clàrsach player. She has already recorded a Burns song for use on the soundtrack of ITV’s South Bank Show, and she sang the role of Catriona in Shenachie in the Highland Quest finals broadcast on BBC TV.

From the start Stephanie displayed a natural talent for clàrsach playing far above average for her age. She is involved in a number of groups at her school and participates in the school orchestra, playing challenging parts especially arranged for the harp.

Stephanie is also interested in composing, developing arrangement ideas and is a natural communicator through her music. She is a talent to watch out for in the future.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award helped Stephanie to purchase a professional harp to help her development as a musician.

Since the Award

Stephanie writes that since getting her new harp, a Starfish ‘Glencoe’ model, the difference in the sound her playing makes is “incredible” and that having her own instrument has helped her to have “a greater sense of my own musical identity”. Stephanie plays in her school orchestra, performed at the official opening of the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park Visitor Centre and at the opening of her own school new building.

Biography

Calum is a pupil at the City of Edinburgh Music School, based at Broughton High School. Already an accomplished all-round musician, Calum plays clàrsach, as his main instrument, as well as piano and recorder. He plays in many school and local region ensembles and is a member of his school choir and the Lothian Gaelic Choir.

Calum has won a clutch of gold and silver medals at national Mods, including in 2005, winning the National Mod Junior Advanced Clàrsach competition and the following year the Clàrsach Recital competition. He has also enjoyed consistent success in the harp competitions of the Edinburgh Competition Music Festival, and in 2007 was awarded the prestigious Harp Medal for a 15-minute recital, the highest award one can win at the Festival.

A fluent Gaelic speaker and passionate about the language, Calum sings Gaelic song, both unaccompanied and with clàrsach accompaniment.

Calum is a dedicated, hard-working and talented musician with enormous potential.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award enables Calum to buy a professional model clàrsach.

Since the Award

After some research, Calum ordered a Mark Norris Lute-Back harp in American Black Walnut. Since delivery of his new clàrsach, Calum has played at a number of high-profile events, including some by invitation of the Clàrsach Society. He played in the opening ceremony of the International Pan-Celtic Festival in Donegal Town and subsequently won the three harp competitions he entered at the festival.

Calum writes, “Having a quality instrument at this stage of my musical development has given me tremendous confidence in my performance. I plan to take part again in [2009’s] Royal National Mod in Oban, and have been booked for several Fringe concerts at [2009’s] Edinburgh Festival.”

Biography

Cheryl is the sixth generation of traditional musicians in her family, an unbroken lineage dating back to the early 1800’s in County Donegal in Ireland. She plays accordion and fiddle, as well as clàrsach, which she started to learn when she was 11. Initially she used a full-size school clàrsach which she shared with five other pupils. Once every three weeks she was able to take it home to practise.

Despite this major drawback, Cheryl has had success in the many Feis and Fleadhs she’s taken part in. In 2006 she won first place at the All Scotland and second at the All Britain in clàrsach. She won first at the Scottish and British Fleadhs in accordion, ceili band and Groupai Ceol for the under 12’s. Cheryl is a member of the East Renfrewshire folk group and is also a member of St Roch’s Ceili band of the Irish Minstrels, Comhaltas.

Coming from a musical family, Cheryl has been encouraged to play music from an early age and is a confident and pleasing performer. She has regular lessons with Gillian Fleetwood and attends workshops whenever she can to develop her musicianship.

In the current vibrant traditional music scene in Scotland, Cheryl stands out as one of Scotland’s bright young talents for her age. She is talented, dedicated and ambitious to be a musician.

How the Award Helped

The Dewar Arts Award will enable Cheryl to buy her own clàrsach.