Lunchtime Concert
TRINITY LABAN HARP DEPARTMENT
WED 9 MAR / 13.00
Trinity Laban harpists present a concert of solo and chamber music for harp, in the magnificent setting of the Queen's House.
MARIA MCNAMEE & ENSEMBLE
McKay
Swan LK243
Maria McNamee - Lever Harp
Greg Scotland - Violin
Davey
Flying to the Fleadh
Traditional Song
Moms Jig/The Musical Priest
Maria McNamee - Lever Harp
Greg Scotland - Violin
Gregor Black - Bohdran
MARIA MCNAMEE & ANTONIA THWAITES
Bellini
I Capuleti e i Montecchi
Eccomi in lieta vesta... O quante volte
CLARA GATTI COMINI
Marescotti
Mouvement pour harpe
LUCIA FOTI
Glière
Impromptu
ABIGAIL MILLAR TODD
Duke Ellington
Single Petal of a Rose
Traditional Ukrainian Lemky Melody arr. by Alina Bzhezhinska Lazorkina
Plywe Kacza (Duck Floats)
Clara Gatti Comini is an Italian harpist studying as a Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance scholar under the guidance of Gabriella Dall’Olio and Frances Kelly for the triple harp. She recently completed her Bachelor’s degree with a First Class Honours. In 2016 she obtained a Harp Diploma at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Paris, prior to this, she studied at the Conservatori Municipal de Música de Barcelona. She has attended masterclasses with internationally renowned harpists including Fabrice Pierre, Marie-Pierre Langlamet. Clara is a winner of the John Marson Harp Prize for Outstanding Musicianship 2020, the Cherubim Music Trust Harp Prize 2020, and holds third prize at the London Camac Harp Competition 2020. In 2020 she performed Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto at Wigmore Hall as part of Trinity Laban’s Strings’ program. Since 2019, Clara is Co-Principal harpist of theYoung Musicians Symphony Orchestra, performing at St. John’s Smith Square. She is a 2022 Reserve member of the European Union Youth Orchestra.
Maria McNamee is an Irish harpist from Newry who began playing the harp at the age of 9, embracing both traditional Irish and classical music. She recently graduated with a first-class honours degree and the TCL silver medal from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she continues to study for her master’s degree with Gabriella Dall’Olio and Frances Kelly. In 2011, Maria joined Chetham’s School of Music where she spent 6 years studying with Marie Leenhardt, Gabriella Dall’Olio and En Hudson.
Recent awards include the 2020 John Marson prize, 2nd place at the 2021 Camac harp competition in London, Irish heritage award runner up in 2017 and 1st place in the Fiona Ord chamber music competition in 2017. Maria is a current member of the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra and was the principal harpist of the Ulster Youth Orchestra and a member of the City of Birmingham youth orchestra for two years. Performing with many orchestras has brought Maria to venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Symphony Hall, Slovak radio Hall, the Ulster hall and the Bridgewater hall.
Maria is delighted to be generously supported by the Ann Driver Scholarship and the Helen Roll Charity/The Joyce Tudge Bursary Scholarship, Help Musicians UK, the Countess of Munster trust, the Craxton memorial trust and the Boise scholarship foundation.
Antonia Thwaites is from the Isle of Wight where she started her musical studies at the age of nine. At sixteen she successfully auditioned for Chetham's School of Music in Manchester where she studied voice and piano for two years. In 2018 she was accepted as a Trinity College London Scholar at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where she studies under the tutelage of Sophie Grimmer. Most recently she was a finalist in Trinity Laban's English Song Competition, as well as the British Art Song Competition which earned her a place in a masterclass with Dame Sarah Connolly as part of the London Song Festival. In 2021 she spent six months studying abroad, firstly at the Conservatorio di Musica G.B. Martini in Bologna, Italy, learning the 'Bel Canto' method of singing. She then spent the summer in Switzerland performing in Puccini’s Suor Angelica with the Berlin Opera Academy. This coming May she will debut the role of Susanna in an abridged adaptation of the Marriage of Figaro. Tickets will soon be available for this performance at The National Liberal Club, central London.
Lucia Foti (1998) studied with Maria Ester Gattoni at Conservatorio di Como, Italy, where she graduated in Harp Performance with first class honours (2019). Supported by a Trinity Laban Scholarship, she is currently attending a Master of Music at Trinity Laban, under the tutelage of Gabriella Dall’Olio and Frances Kelly. She has experience with recitals, orchestra (including soloist roles) and chamber music - she regularly plays in both a flute and harp and a guitar and harp duo. In 2021, she gave a chamber performance with guitarist Stefano Fiacco at Wigmore Hall, as part of a Trinity Laban project. Lucia won several competitions - notably, she was awarded a first prize scholarship at the 2015 Soroptimist Italia Competition for Young Talents.
She has attended masterclasses with renowned harpists such as Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, Anna Loro, Judith Liber, Park Stickney, Gwyneth Wentynk and Heidi Krutzen.
She is a current Young Musicians’ Symphony Orchestra reserve.
Abigail Millar Todd is a 22 year old musician from Shetland. After moving to the Scottish Highlands she began playing the clarsàch through the Fèisean nan Gàidheal. In 2012 she began attending Aberdeen City Music School, whereupon she transitioned to the classical harp, and studied under Alina Bzhezhinska Lazorkina. Abigail became a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland when she was 13. She also studied at the Music School of Douglas Academy (Glasgow) and Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) before beginning her studies at Norges Musikkhøgskole (Oslo) under Isabelle Perrin in 2017. She has participated in masterclasses with Urszula Mazurek, Henning Kraggerud, Virginie Gout-Zschäbitz, Maho Yamamoto, and more. Abigail has worked with various orchestras including the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Highland Chamber Orchestra and Oslo Kammerorkester amongst others. She works in a variety of jazz and popular music settings, which includes composition and lyric writing. She will be releasing an album with her band in 2022. She received funding in 2019 to provide subsidised harp teaching to children from less privileged backgrounds, a project she organised up until the pandemic. Abigail has been studying with Gabriella Dall’Olio since September 2020.
Queen's House, Royal Museums Greenwich
Admission free, no ticket required
