Karen Marshalsay is a master of traditional Scottish harp music. Specialising on all three Scottish harps – both gut- and wire-strung and the baroque bray harp with its buzzing sitar effect – Karen has appeared throughout the UK, Europe, America and Australia.
Career highlights include the Edinburgh International Festival, Celtic Connections, and the Australian National Folk Festival, working with African, Indian and Paraguayan musicians and on multi-cultural projects including Yatra, which premiered at the Edinburgh Mela in 2008.
With a particular interest in pipe music, Karen has played with Allan MacDonald in his acclaimed pibroch concerts, including the Edinburgh International Festival’s From Battle Lines to Bar Lines series (2004), and for the National Piping Centre’s 2013 Ceòl na Piòba concert.
As a composer, Karen has produced new works for Celtic Connections’ New Voices series, Hands up for Trad’s Distil showcase concerts, and Drake Music Scotland, and she was Composer in Residence with Harps North West in 2016. She released a solo album, The Road to Kennacraig, in July 2019.
Karen also currently performs with the legendary Irish flute player, singer and founder of Boys of the Lough, Cathal McConnell’s trio.
Full of entertaining musical insights, Karen’s concerts take you into the timeless world of Scotland’s ancient instrument.
“One of the leading contemporary performers on the instrument” – The Scotsman
“One of the finest harpists in the world…all three Scottish harps centre stage and giving the acoustic lift that heightens the senses gloriously” – Liverpool Sound and Vision
“The Road to Kennacraig is a compelling and well-wrought collection” – The Living Tradition
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