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The harp: who plays it?

For a long time it seemed as though the harp was played exclusively by women. This image is no longer true as Lucy Wakeford explains...

Lucy Wakeford playing harp

Renaissance harp

The harp is one of the oldest musical instruments known to mankind. There are many very old pictures featuring someone playing the harp and in the Bible the most famous harpist was King David, although some might claim that his playing was not true.

Harps have also been associated in the Christian religion with angels, and in the Middle Ages minstrels telling stories were said to accompany themselves on the harp.

Coloured strings of a harp

For a long time it seemed that the harp was exclusively played by women, such as Sidonie Goossens in the BBC Symphony Orchestra. But this is less and less the case.

The harp has a particular image today that doesn’t truly show its historical range and what composers can do with it today. Lucy Wakeford of Britten Sinfonia talks about this image.

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Ancient and modern

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