I caught up with Dr. Siobhán Armstrong, director of the The Historical Harp Society of Ireland on the eve of this years’s events, “Scoil na gCláirseach”, being held in Kilkenny.
Passionate and enthusiastic as always, we shot the breeze rather my interviewing Siobhán. We covered a fair bit of ground about this most beautiful of instruments, heard some of its intriguing history and the importance of preserving the heritage, learning from the past and encouraging a new generation of players.
We’ll return to this again.
Time went against us, but we did get to mention the impressive series of events, talks, workshops and two major concerts happening over the festival. Each feature the harp of course, but in the first in its traditional form and the second in its classical environment. All will feature some of the finest musicians and will be in the almost perfect venue in Kilkenny Castle.
All details of this year’s event and much more about the HHSI can be found on the website.
