This air was written for a good friend, author of Our Ancient National Airs, and as the music librarian at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, very much a person ‘of the books’.
Composer website: https://www.karenmarshalsay.com/
Link to audio of music: https://karenmarshalsay.bandcamp.com/track/dr-karen-mcaulay-of-the-books
Karen Marshalsay's music draws on a wealth of differing experiences, developed through the traditional music world, including studies with leading harper Alison Kinnaird, and multi-cultural projects and studies with Paraguayan harp master Rito Pederson. Specialising on all three Scottish harps – both gut- and wire-strung and the buzzing sitar-like bray harp – Karen has appeared throughout the UK, Europe, America and Australia. Career highlights include the Edinburgh International Festival, Celtic Connections, the Australian National Folk Festival, and the Scottish, Indian and Japanese spectacular, Yatra, for the Edinburgh Mela. Deeply influenced by the piping tradition and particularly pibroch, Karen has honed her style through playing with piper Allan MacDonald and in Boys of the Lough founder Cathal McConnell’s trio. As a composer, Karen had several works performed in 2018 and 2019 by the acclaimed Russian String Orchestra conducted by Misha Rachlevsky with Karen as guest soloist. Karen was Composer in Residence with Harps North West in 2016, and has been commissioned by Celtic Connections’ New Voices series and the Distil showcase concerts. Her solo CD, The Road to Kennacraig was released in 2019.
If you would like to contact the composer – you can email them here.