Personnel

Siobhán Armstrong is a coach, mentor, academic and Ireland’s most versatile performer of medieval to 18th-century church and chamber music, and opera. She performs and records with many of Europe's prestigious historical and traditional musicians, directors, orchestras and baroque opera companies. Siobhán is unusual in placing herself at the confluence where ‘historical’ meets ‘traditional’ performance practice. For more than 25 years, she has been exploring the lost repertory, playing techniques and idiom of the early Irish harp. This is also the subject of her PhD (Middlesex University, London). In 2015, Siobhán located a lost historic Irish harp, and in 2016 she commissioned the first ever 3D laser scan of a musical instrument at The National Museum. Sharing her discoveries is now at the heart of her artistic and educational work. Siobhán is an Occasional Lecturer at the School of Music, University College Dublin. With her ensemble, The Irish Consort, she has released Music, Ireland and the Sixteenth Century on Destino Classics, UK, shedding light on a neglected century in Irish music. This was one of The Irish Times’ top five international Classical Music picks of 2021. Building community, supporting artists, and encouraging research is at the core of the HHSI’s work under her direction.

Karen conducts construction and craftsmanship analysis of early Irish harps, uncovering the wealth of information these instruments hold in order to help musical instrument makers, musicians, and museums. She has led groundbreaking work studying the harps of Ireland and Scotland, and recently led a project funded by the Arts Council of Ireland to undertake analysis of the 18th-century Hollybrook harp at the National Museum of Ireland, for the Historical Harp Society of Ireland. Karen’s expertise is in non-invasive techniques, utilizing extensive experience in scientific imaging, and an interdisciplinary background in STEM and music. She studied at the University of Edinburgh, earning a MMus in musical instrument research and a PhD in music (organology). Karen also has a BS in physics from the University of Connecticut, and an MA in astronomy from Wesleyan University.

HHSI PR volunteer, Maura Walsh, has over twenty years’ experience in festival directorship (Galway Early Music Festival), event marketing and graphic design specific to music events. She has designed the HHSI’s hard-copy posters and information materials for many years.

Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Seán Donnelly has written widely on the history of piping and harping in Ireland, and on the history of Irish music in general, including Irish dancing, subjects on which he has also lectured. Early connections between Irish and Scottish piping remain a particular interest, as does the history of the Irish harp in England and in Europe during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Having first learnt the Highland pipes, he later took up the uilleann pipes, joining Na Píobairí Uilleann, where his growing interest in research was encouraged by Breandán Breathnach, the founder and chairman, a major collector of Irish music and an outstanding authority on the subject. As well as publications devoted to music, Seán's articles have appeared in academic, local history, and military history journals, and occasionally online.

Ashling Slater has nineteen years of senior company-administration expertise. Passionate about the revival of the early Irish harp, she began her involvement with the HHSI in 2013, first as a student-player and, in 2017, was the administrator for Scoil na gCláirseach–Festival of Early Irish Harp. Ashling is also the HHSI’s volunteer social-media co-ordinator, driving engagement for HHSI events and activities. Her background includes qualifications as an acupuncturist, somatic educator, and complementary therapist.