Congratulations to Ciorstaidh Beaton who has been nominated in Musician of the Year sponsored by University of the Highlands and Islands in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards 2024. Vote for Ciorstaidh Beaton now!. It’s going to be another great night at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards on Saturday 30th November in Inverness Leisure. Why not join us for a brilliant night of music and awards. Buy a ticket here.
We asked Ciorstaidh of Ciorstaidh Beaton the following questions.
Tell us about yourself
I am a clàrsach player, concert harpist, piano player and aspiring composer/arranger and educator from Kilmuir, in the north end of the Isle of Skye! I grew up as a native Gàidhlig speaker immersed in traditional music and song. I am currently Glasgow based, and work across the UK and further afield, mostly as a freelance harpist/clàrsach player in and amongst an array of artists, bands, ensembles spanning across all genres of music and art form! I play in a lot of concerts, record other people’s music, teach, adjudicate and mentor school and university students, write and arrange an array of music, perform at public and private events in beautiful and quirky venues across the country. I currently teach clàrsach and traditional music at the Juniors department of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and also at the Music School of Douglas Academy. I studied classical pedal harp at the Royal Northern College of Music and post-graduate pedal harp and clàrsach performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
Why are you involved in Scottish music?
It’s never not been an integral part of my life!! I consider myself a traditional musician at heart. It is my heritage. I grew up with Gàidhlig being my first language in a particularly remote community life on Skye in the early 90s. Traditional music and Gàidhlig song was at the heart of our lives as children in school, thanks to instructors like Christine Martin, and within the local community. As I got older, traditional and classical music took me to compete and perform across the UK and abroad before leaving home to study in Manchester. I have developed my own unique sound and style of playing along the way, and I secretly wish I was a guitarist!! I love accompanying other musicians and singers. Even when I lived in Manchester as a student, I naturally gravitated towards the Traditional Irish music sessions and comhaltas community within the city with some of my fellow Scottish students. We hosted traditional sessions in the pubs, I taught a lot of clàrsach and arranged traditional Scottish/folk music for pedal harpists to get involved in too. I have done the same here in Glasgow over the last 10 years!
Any particular career highlights?
I play in a lot of cross-genre concerts and projects, and also find myself playing a lot of brand new music! Many musical highlights have happened in the last 12 months which includes having a track of my own music called (“Ciùin”) played on NASA’s new podcast season episode “Hum of the Sun”. I collaborated with space scientists from the UCLA and NASA on their brand new audio space program last year called the “H.A.R.P Project” which you can read more about, and listen to the episode, online! Recording and filming BAFTA-nominated Scottish composer Fraser Purdie’s solo clàrsach part in his piece “Adhartas a Bhrosnachadh” for the re-brand of the National Grid launched last month with the brilliant Heritage Orchestra. That was a huge UK-wide project, launching the government’s plans to promote the use of cleaner ‘greener’ energy. Spot me in the film playing amongst the incredible scenery at the Cruachan Dam power station! I also performed a solo clàrsach programme at the 2024 Arctic Summit held in Edinburgh this summer, which again as a creative musician was a chance to present and explore music of indigenous Arctic culture and wildlife impacted by factors such as global warming. I performed a UK premiere with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra last year live on BBC Radio 3, a real career highlight as an orchestral harpist. Recording highlights include recording Donald Shaw’s harp parts for BBC Alba’s very special Gàidhlig feature film “Dùthchas”, recording and performing Joe Duddell’s harp parts live with a lot of indie and rock artists such as JAMES, ShadowParty (New Order/Devo members on Mute Records), Mercury Prize nominees Gaz Coombs and Nadine Shah, and new music projects and collaborations with composers Lisa Robertson, Maya Youssef, Pàdruig Morrison, Gareth Williams and many more! Traditional music competition highlights include being a BBC Radio 2 ‘young folk award’ finalist as a duo with fiddler Graham Mackenzie, reaching the quarter finals as a soloist in the Dutch International Festival’s “World Harp Competition” and last year being awarded the “audience prize” in the Camac Harp competition at the Lorient international Festival in France.
What are your plans for the future?
I have many ambitions, to continue to build on my skill set and experiences, to help the clàrsach be seen, used and heard in different settings, and I would love to see more of the world! I am setting plans in motion to perform and teach abroad as much as possible. I am delighted to have my Celtic Connections ‘New Voices’ concert on the 26th January 1pm, which is an hour-long commission of my own brand new music! I have a stellar band, many of whom are up for nominations here themselves!
I am aiming to release my debut album next year which is hugely exciting!! I’m also working on an album of brand new music on Solar Sounds with space scientists from the NASA project…more to come on that in the near future! Scottish composer Lisa Robertson and I are working on releasing our ‘passion project’ for solo harp, and my own new band will be launching our music into the world very soon! Myself and Lana Pheutan are embarking on a 7-day song writing residency in a bothy on the Isle of Eigg…..in February!! We’re currently accepting donations in the form of thermals, firewood and whisky to get us through!
Ciorstaidh Beaton Social Media
Website: https://linktr.ee/Ciorstaidh_harp
Facebook: @Ciorstaidh Beaton Harpist
Twitter: @Ciorstaidh_Harp
Instagram: @Ciorstaidh_Harpist
YouTube: @Ciorstakk
TikTok: @ciorstaidh_beaton
The 2024 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards are on the 30th November 2024 in Inverness Leisure Centre! You will be able to watch it live in person (buy a ticket here). Watch it live in the UK at 9pm (GMT) on BBC ALBA and and around the world here. Bands performing on Saturday 30th November include Julie Fowlis, Skipinnish, Laura Wilkie and Ian Carr, Highland Young Musicians and Arc Fiddlers, An Dannsa Dub, BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award winner 2024 Calum McIlroy and more!
If you would like to support Hands Up for Trad in their work with Scottish trad music and musicians why not become a friend of Hands Up for Trad. In addition to our high profile events like the Scots Trad Music Awards, we also deliver a less well known, education programme for young people from 8yrs right through to young adults at the start of their careers. Read more here.
