The EIHF 2025 online box office will open on Tuesday 4th February at 10am.

Yes: the account is the same for both.

Go to the login page and click on I forgot my password. You will receive a password reset email with instructions.

If this doesn’t work for you, please get in touch.

If you are trying to check out and experiencing problems with your payment method, please contact us. It will be possible, in these exceptional circumstances, to use alternative payment methods (PayPal, international transfer)

Tickets will be on sale up to, and during, the Festival for all in-person events.

Sales for zoom courses will close at midnight on Tuesday 8th April.

In your booking confirmation email, you will see a button saying ‘Log in to My Wallet’.

This is a new feature which allows you to access all your e-tickets – all in one place.

You need to be signed in to your account to access your Wallet.

Courses are in-depth study sessions taking place over 4 days with one of our highly experienced tutors, who are all renowned harpers and harpists in their own rights.  They are capped at 15 students, so that the tutor can give each student the attention they deserve, and to make interaction meaningful and possible. 

There are two kinds of course: the 4-day course, which comprises 4 x 90 minute sessions over 4 days in the same time slot each day – either in the morning (09:00-10:30), early afternoon (13:00-14:30) or late afternoon (16:30-18:00).  There are also weekend courses – Saturday and Sunday – with two sessions each per day

Workshops are one-off sessions, with our tutor-performer giving us the benefit of their specialist knowledge on a particular area or aspect of harping. Some are interactive learning (marked ‘bring your harp!’) and others are more of a sit-back-and-relax lecture-recital style.

For your own satisfaction and the sanity of our excellent teachers, it is essential that you choose the correct level. If in any doubt please check with your teacher or email us for advice about levels .

• POST BEGINNER: You may have already taken a Beginners course, have had relatively few lessons or require help with basic technique.
• ELEMENTARY: You can already perform simple tunes, require further help in developing technique and wish to work slowly and carefully.
• ELEMENTARY/INTERMEDIATE: As Elementary, but you feel ready to stretch boundaries and work a little faster.
• INTERMEDIATE: Your technique is established and you are happy to work at a moderate speed.
• INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED: As Intermediate, but you are ready and willing to work faster, stretch yourself and be a bit adventurous.
• MIXED ABILITIES: Catering for all levels except complete Beginners.

We are running one Adult Beginner class this year, with Heather Yule and one child beginner course, with Elinor Wvans. Harps will be provided free of charge for these courses.

You might also be interested in the tutors page on The Clarsach Society website.  The Society also runs a competitively-priced harp hire scheme for its members. 

Under 18s are welcome at all courses. If you are booking a course for someone who is under 18 please indicate this by choosing the “Under18” course ticket option.

We also have 2 courses specifically for under 18s: Child Beginners (with Elinor Evans) and Primary Age Harp (with Eleanor Hetherington).

We also have our Youth Outreach EIHF Junior Ensemble FREE to attend pre-festival event. Places on this are limited. Find out more on the Youth Outreach page.

In the past, numbers taking these courses were very low so instead we are offering a wide range of subjects at INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED level and for MIXED ABILITIES. 

We have chosen to keep our course size capped at 15 to allow for quality learning time and the chance to interact and ask questions to your tutor.

For in-person courses and workshops music / handouts will be given out by tutors at the course / workshop.

For online courses we will be emailing course packs (with music and zoom codes) on the 10th and 11th of April.

We’ve prepared a set of Zoom guidelines, available to download as a PDF below.

Our system will automatically email you your course pack (with sheet music and zoom codes) 24 hours before your course begins. If you experience problems with this please email office@harpfestival.co.uk. Please remember that Edinburgh is currently on British Summer Time/BST (1 hour behind central Europe and 5 hours ahead of Eastern Time).

Zoom courses will not be recorded.

Zoom courses are live in real time. Unfortunately, this means that the morning courses beginning at 09.00am BST/UK time will not suit, for example, those in the US. We’re very sorry about this: we’ve considered our scheduling very carefully and tried to make our courses as accessible as possible – but there was no other way to squeeze everything in!

We hope those in this situation will be able to take advantage of the Zoom courses starting at 13:00 and 16:30 instead.

The EIHF couldn’t happen without volunteers. Volunteering is a great way to get involved, meet new people and learn new skills.  To learn more visit the volunteer page.

Thank you: you can donate to the Festival here.