• Brought to you by The CLARSACH SOCIETY

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  • The Iain MacLeòid Young Composer Award 2022 – The Winner!

    The Clarsach Society and the Edinburgh International Harp Festival are proud to announce that the 2022 winner of the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award is Anna Eggersberger.

    We are thrilled that Anna will be with us in Edinburgh to perform her winning composition at our festival in April.

    About Anna:

    Originally from south Bavaria in Germany. Anna Eggersberger moved in 2018 to Ireland to study lever harp at the Irish World Academy in Limerick. She graduated with a Bachelors in Performing Arts last year (2022) and has returned to the Irish World Academy where she is currently studying a Masters in Irish Traditional Music.

    EIHF 2023 artwork

    We are proud to present our artwork for the Edinburgh International Harp Festival 2023. This year marks the 10 years of EIHF designs by local Edinburgh illustrator Jenny Proudfoot and the artwork reveal is now a much looked forward to annual event.

    This year Jenny’s piece celebrates the return of our International artists alongside our own Scottish talent. Can you work out the connection between the carvings and the countries represented by those performing this year?

    EIHF 2023 Artist / Tutor announcements

    The 42nd Edinburgh International Harp Festival will take place from the 7th -11th April, in George Watson’s College, Edinburgh. We can’t wait to welcome you back to our wonderfully friendly in-person festival. We will also be hosting a small number of courses on zoom.

     We’ll be updating this post daily from Saturday the 10th December with who you can expect to see performing and tutoring at the festival!

    • Our box office will open in January.
    • Full information on all concerts/courses/workshops will be available in January.

    2023 PERFORMERS:

    • KIM ROBERTSON (USA)
    • MICHAEL ROONEY (IRELAND)
    • GILLIAN FLEETWOOD (SCOTLAND
    • AILIE ROBERTSON (SCOTLAND)
    • DRÅM: Erik Ask-Upmark & Anna Rynefors (SWEDEN)
    • EVA CURTH (GERMANY)
    • GWEN MÀIRI (WALES/SCOTLAND)
    • NA CLÀRSIREAN (SCOTLAND)
    • HARPA (USA)
    • MUSIC GENERATION HARP COLLECTIVE (IRELAND)
    • NEIL WOOD (SCOTLAND)
    • RUTH KEGGIN & RACHEL HAIR (ISLE OF MAN & SCOTLAND)
    • HEAL & HARROW: Rachel Newton & Lauren MacColl (SCOTLAND)
    • LUNE BLEUE, featuring Clotilde Trouillaud (BRITTANY)
    • GRACE STEWART-SKINNER (SCOTLAND)

    2023 COURSE TUTORS

    *Course titles, content, level and schedule will be released in 2023

    4 DAY COURSES

    (90mins per day, Sat/Sun/Mon/Tue)

    • AILIE ROBERTSON
    • CLOTILDE TROUILLAUD
    • CORRINA HEWAT
    • ELEANOR HETHERINGTON
    • ELINOR EVANS
    • ERIK ASK-UPMARK
    • EVA CURTH
    • FIONA RUTHERFORD
    • GWEN MAIRI
    • HEATHER YULE
    • KIM ROBERTSON
    • NEIL WOOD
    • PATSY SEDDON
    • RACHEL HAIR
    • RACHEL NEWTON
    • WENDY STEWART

    WEEKEND COURSES

    (2x 90mins per day, Sat/Sun)

    • CHARLOTTE PETERSEN
    • MICHAEL ROONEY

    ZOOM COURSES

    (90mins per day, Sat/Sun/Mon/Tue)

    • CHEYENNE BROWN
    • FIONA RUTHERFORD
    • GILLIAN FLEETWOOD
    • GWEN MAIRI
    • NEIL WOOD


    The Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award –

    The Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award is an annual competition named in memory of John Macleod.

    Composers aged between 16 & 25 years of age are invited to submit an original piece of music (single movement or suite), 8-10 minutes in length, for either solo clarsach or clarsach and up to 3 other instruments and/or voices.

    The award is £500 plus a premiere performance at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival.

    The deadline for entries is 5pm on Friday 28th October 2022

    For more information on how to apply and the competition rules please visit The Clarsach Society website

    EIHF 2023

    We have some news for you … our 2023 Edinburgh International Harp Festival dates are now CONFIRMED, and we will be celebrating 4 days and 5 nights of all things harp from:

    ⭐️FRIDAY 7 – TUESDAY 11 APRIL

    So put them in your diary and as we can’t wait to see you again for our next festival at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh!

    EIHF On-Demand viewing extended

    IMPORTANT NEWS –

    We’re extending viewing access to allow you more time to enjoy (again and again!) our wonderful concerts and workshops that we filmed for you at the 2022 Edinburgh International Harp Festival.
    You’ll now be able to watch them until midnight on the 14th of May.

    f you’ve yet to purchase access to view our films you can continue to do so at our Box Office until midnight on the 30th of April.

    🤔 Have you been having trouble accessing the films? Remember to check out our Attending Online Help page.

    Let us know your thoughts…

    It’s now over a week since we said our farewells at the 41st EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL HARP FESTIVAL. It was so wonderful to be reunited with you all and celebrate all things harp.

    We hosted our first ever “hybrid” festival with online courses, concerts and workshops as well as our in-person festival at our new venue George Watson’s College.

    With so many “firsts” we’d love to know your thoughts on this year’s festival. We read every piece of feedback and your thoughts will help shape our plans for future festivals.

    We’ve put together a very short survey of 6 questions that we’d love you to take a few minutes to fill in.

    To access the feedback survey click HERE

    Did you attend in person? You can now rewatch!

    If you attended the EIHF in person for a concert or workshop you may have spotted an email from us like this in your inbox over the last few days … that’s because we’ve been busy processing your details to allow you online access to rewatch the concerts and workshops that you attended HOORAY!

    You can rewatch them again and again until midnight on the 30th of April.


    To access these films you need to click the Login to my wallet button in the email you received, login to your harp festival account (with the email you purchased your ticket with) and click “online events”. More info and HELP on how to do this is on the Attending Online page of this website.

    Remember if you didn’t attend but would still like to view some of the amazing concerts and workshops you can still purchase access to these via the what’s on page (Due to the admin involved, there will be a wait of of up to 24hrs in accessing these films)

    Zoom Course sales close 10am Wed 6th April

    Due to the administration that’s involved in our online zoom courses: SALES FOR ONLINE COURSES WILL CLOSE AT 10:00am (BST/UK time), on Wednesday 6th April.

    Sales of all in-person courses AND all workshops/concerts (both in person and online/on-demand) will still continue.

    Message of support from The Lord Provost 

    We were delighted to receive this message of support from The Lord Provost.

    “Now in its 41st year, the Edinburgh International Harp Festival has truly become one of the most important events in the harping world. This year’s programme promises to be better than ever.

    “This annual celebration and gathering of international musical talent continues to grow and with this year’s packed programme of concerts, courses and workshops there is something for all harp enthusiasts.

    “I want to take this opportunity to both congratulate and thank the Clarsach Society, as well as the sponsors, supporters and donors for their continued dedication to the EIHF and its continued success.

    “On behalf of the City of Edinburgh, I hope you enjoy your time here, and I hope that the festival once again delivers an unforgettable experience for all involved.”

    – Frank Ross
    The Rt Hon Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh

    Have you got your tickets for the festival? There is a wonderful array of in-person, online and on demand events for you to attend.

    Click here to see what’s on