معرفی
Siobhán Armstrong is Historical Harp Professor at The Royal College of Music in London, appointed in 2024. She is a renowned performer, academic, artistic director, and educator specializing in historical repertory on medieval to baroque harps including the multi-row arpa doppia and arpa de dos órdenes, and the Gaelic cláirseach.
Her educational background includes a B.A. Mod. in Music from Trinity College Dublin (1987) and a PhD from Middlesex University (2022) for research into historical performance-practice evidence surviving in field transcriptions of harp repertory notated in the 1790s.
Armstrong's research focuses on historical harp performance practice, with particular expertise in Irish traditional harp (cláirseach) and early music traditions. She explores Renaissance and baroque sacred and chamber music, opera, and traditional Gaelic music through both performance and academic inquiry. Her work bridges historical performance practice with contemporary artistic expression, including collaborations with period-instrument ensembles and traditional music festivals.
Among her notable achievements are:
- Founding director (2003) of The Historical Harp Society of Ireland
- Locating a lost historic Irish harp (2015)
- Commissioning the first 3D-laser scan of a musical instrument at The National Museum of Ireland (2016)
- National and international prizes for modern-Irish-harp performance
Armstrong has received support for her work from Music Network and The Arts Council of Ireland. She previously served as an Occasional Lecturer at University College Dublin (2021) and established a harp class at the Schule für Musik, Theater und Tanz in Stuttgart-Sindelfingen, Germany. She divides her time between Kilkenny city and London.
As founding director of The Historical Harp Society of Ireland, she leads the international revival of the ancient harp of Ireland and Scotland, strung in brass wires. Her ensemble, The Irish Consort, released a debut CD titled "Music, Ireland and the Sixteenth Century," which was an Irish Times' top-five international Classical Music pick of 2021.
