Maeve Gilchrist

Maeve Gilchrist (harp), an Edinburgh-born harpist and composer, has been credited as an innovator on her native instrument and has taken the Celtic (lever) harp to new levels of performance and visibility. Currently based in Kingston, NY, she tours internationally as a solo artist and composer as well as with Silkroad Ensemble, Arooj Aftab’s Grammy winning Vulture Prince Ensemble, and the multi-disciplinary quartet Edges of Light.

Gilchrist has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma, Frankie Gavin, Esperanza Spalding, Bruce Molsky, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Solas. As a composer, she straddles the worlds of folk and classical music with pieces including her original concerto for symphony orchestra and harp (a co-commission with Luke Benton); a three-movement Samuel Beckett inspired piece for harp; a string quartet with sound samples, which was premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh International Harp Festival; and other pieces for harp ensemble and strings. She is a regular visiting artist at the Berklee College of Music and has had several instructional books published by Hal Leonard and 80 Days Publishing. Gilchrist has released a number of albums under her name on the Adventure Music Record Label as well as being a featured soloist on the Dreamworks soundtrack for How to Tame Your Dragon: The Hidden World. Her most recent album, The Harpweaver, has won international acclaim including a five-star review from the Irish Times, which described it as “buoyant, sprightly and utterly beguiling a snapshot of a musician at the top of her game.”

Gilchrist is the co-music director of the WGBH holiday show A Christmas Celtic Sojourn and the co-artistic director of the new Rockport Celtic Music Festival, an innovative new venture focused on cross-curation and the outer-fringes of Celtic music.