From when she began playing harp at the age of five, Rachel Clemente has had a passion for both classical pedal harp music and traditional and contemporary Scottish clarsach music, which ultimately led her to studying both genres in Scotland. She is a recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and holds a bachelors degree in Traditional Music.
She started her studies with harpist Candyce Dunham until attending the renowned arts boarding school, Interlochen Arts Academy under Joan Holland. Her time at the Royal Conservatoire was spent studying under harpist and composer, Corrina Hewat. Rachel won the title of U.S. National Scottish Harp Champion in 2016.
Rachel has recently released her debut EP, A Quiet Uniqueness, and moved back to her home in Granville. She is currently working towards becoming a certified Suzuki Harp teacher.
Rachel Hair was born and brought up in the Scottish Highland village of Ullapool and first came across the Scottish harp through the work of the renowned Gaelic arts organisation Fèis Rois.
Now resident in Glasgow, a city famed for it’s melting pot of musical and cultural style, she has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA and beyond, and has released 5 critically acclaimed albums, the most recent Sparks with acoustic guitarist and fellow Scots Trad music obsessive, Ron Jappy.
A much sought after soloist and teacher Rachel has performed/taught at harp festivals in the USA, Russia, France, Switzerland, Spain, Germany and Scotland and her arrangements and compositions from her harp books feature in the current syllabuses of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Trinity College London.
When downtime allows, Rachel teaches locally in Scotland and she also journeys once a month to the Isle of Man where she teaches Manx celtic harp. Having founded the harp ensemble Claasagh on the island, she is at the forefront of the revival of Manx harp music and her work has firmly established the harp at the heart of the Manx tradition.
*2019 Travel donation from the Scottish Harp Society of America*
Perpetually surprised by what comes out of her mouth, Jen Narkevicius prefers to let her harp do the talking – sometimes. From the Washington DC area, where talk is cheap, she leverages wit to bridge the gaps between the two. Jen enjoys teaching and performing. She also is taken with traveling through Scotland with others, pairing the music with the places, people and events that inspired it. She is Co-Director of Harp Camp in SE Pennsylvania and is beyond delighted to be invited to OSAS. Currently Competition Committee Chair of the Scottish Harp Society of America, Jen is a credentialed SHSA judge. She has been privileged to play for “important people” and to be part of the Harpa tours, but she will be even more fortunate to share some tunes with you! She blogs weekly on topics that range from touring Scotland with a harp to staying healthy and fit as a musician, on to fulfilling your promise as a harper on http://www.jeniuscreations.com/blog/ and she especially enjoys writing about herself in the third person.
Sue Richards is a traditional musician and collector of tunes. She has played the harp since childhood, first classical harp at Oberlin College, then Scottish and Irish harps exclusively. She won the Scottish Harp Society of America (SHSA) championship four times, studied and taught in Scotland, and is now a SHSA Distinguished Judge. Sue has performed at Celtic Connections and the Edinburgh International Harp Festival in Scotland, and toured Norway and Sweden with the “Harpa” ensemble. She has played for Presidents Clinton and Bush, Queen Elizabeth of England, and sat in with the Chieftains Irish band. Sue’s main gig is touring with Ensemble Galilei, performing Celtic, early, and original music. As a member of EG she has written music and performed in three multi-media shows, “A Universe of Dreams” (with images from the Hubble telescope), and “First Person: Letters from the Edge of the World” (sponsored by the National Geographic Society), and more recently, “Seeing America”, using images from the collection of American photographers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has three solo recordings and many with EG, and she has published 6 books of arrangements of Irish and Scottish tunes, a book of exercises specific to Irish and Scottish technique, and more recently a book of her own compositions, “Morning to Midnight.” www.suerichards.net. Ensemble Galilei: www.egmusic.com.