Maeve Gilchrist

Maeve Gilchrst, harpist, singer, composer and teacher.

Described by one critic as “a phenomenal harp player who can make her instrument ring with unparalleled purity”, Maeve Gilchrist has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility.

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, and currently based in Brooklyn, New York, Maeve‘s innovative approach to her instrument stretches its harmonic limits and improvisational possibilities.

She is as at home as a soloist with an internationally renowned orchestra as she is playing with a traditional Irish folk group or using electronic augmentation in a more contemporary, improvisatory setting.

She tours internationally as a band leader as well as maintaining a number of collaborations including a duo with project with percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, her more electronics based project with Viktor Krauss and as a member of the Irish network commissioned ‘Edges of Light’ quartet: a multidisciplinary group featuring the piper David Power, dancer Colin Dunne and the fiddler Tola Custy.

She has appeared at such major music events as Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Tanglewood Jazz festival, the World Harp Congress in Amsterdam and the opening of the Scottish Parliament. She has played with such luminaries as Kathy Mattea, Esperanza Spalding, Tony Trishka, Ambrose Akinmusire and Darol Anger.

Maeve has released five albums to date, including her most recent recording, Vignette, on Adventure Records, with bassist Viktor Krausse while on her own label her solo Ostinato Project is a beguiling exploration of the possibilities of her instrument.

Maeve was the first lever harpist to be employed as an instructor by Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she taught for five years before switching to a visiting artist this spring. She has written several instructional books published by Hal Leonard Music.

Also an in-demand composer and arranger; this year, Maeve premiered her first concerto for lever harp and symphony orchestra.