Cromarty Harp Village - 15th Anniversary

The famous Cromarty Harp Village will be celebrating it's 15th Anniversary in 2025.  Your expert tutors this year are Corrina Hewat, Fiana Ní Chanoill and Gwen Màiri, dates are Friday 19 - Sunday 21 September 2025.

The long-running Cromarty Harp Village is a weekend full of harp and clarsach music in the vibrant, coastal Highland town of Cromarty. You can stay with us or if you are local, come along to the individual workshops, meals and mass harp playing session. 

A weekend packed with workshops with great accommodation and meals,  suitable from three levels: lower elementary, upper elementary, intermediate/advanced. Everything takes place in The Old Brewery, a beautiful, historical building, overlooking the Cromarty Firth. The Old Brewery, Burnside Place, Cromarty, IV11 8XQ

Here is the 2025 booking form. Email [email protected]  or 01381 600354 if you have any questions or problems with the form.

Friday 19 September

Welcome Drinks & dinner followed by an informal concert from your tutors Corrina Hewat, Fiana Ní Chanoill and Gwen Màiri.                                 

Saturday 20 September

Workshop 1 (includes 15 mins stretching warm up movement) Workshop 2, Lunch, Workshop 3, Slow recap session all together, Dinner, Massed harp playing. 

Sunday 21 September

Workshop 4, (includes 15 mins stretching warm up movement) Workshop 6, Lunch, Workshop 6, final playing get together. 

Here is the detailed programme of events with timings.

Some notes on the weekend:

Corrina, Fiana and Gwen will prepare notes and music, with marked fingering, and will be able to help, at the time, on note names should you need.  Our aim is to teach by ear, and in doing so, we absorb the music, the story behind it, the feel of it, as well as get it under our fingers.  

We understand some learners would prefer to have something to look at and we are happy to accommodate this on an individual basis.  It must be said that the tuition will continue by ear, as there are others who thrive on the aural method, and others who do not read music, and the aural way is part of the reason they come to the Harp Village.  The pieces learned will be uploaded into a Google folder for access after the event. Recordings of the pieces taught will be done during the weekend and will be shared online also.  

There will be an opportunity to sign up for a wee spot on the Saturday evening mass harp session, should you desire.  Is there something you are working towards? Are you a secret music hall fanatic?  Have you a poem, a song, a story to share?  Are you a mime artist extraordinaire?  No pressure to share anything, but if the mood takes you, the invitation is open. 

Read on for information on your three great tutors. 

Fiana Ní Chonaill 

Fiana Ní Chonaill is a performer, teacher and composer from Castleconnell, Co Limerick, coming from three generations of Irish musicians. She holds degrees from the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance (UL) and Newcastle University, earning her PhD in 2023 specializing in traditional Irish music festivals and cultural tourism.

Her debut CD 'Dathanna an Cheoil' (The Colours of Music) was released in 2016, showcasing the Irish harp's repertoire. Fiana focuses on developing her musical creativity through composition, drawing inspiration from local history, culture, and life experiences.

Recent projects include research on Limerick's historical connection to the harp (funded by the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Ashling Murphy Scholarship), resulting in the composition 'Charles Massy, Dean of Limerick' for her upcoming second album.

Current work includes creating new music for the Belltable Theatre in Limerick, bringing together professional and amateur harp players across Ireland, supported by Limerick City and County Council's Dolores O'Riordan Music Bursary (2025). She is also compiling a tune book of original harp music.

Gwen Màiri

Gwen Màiri is a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, studying pedal harp with Karen Vaughan and clàrsach with Karen Marshalsay. She has performed with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera, Northern Ballet, and Disney's UK tours, and is part of the harp and saxophone duo BabaYaga.

Grounding her style in Scottish and Welsh roots, Gwen has performed at major festivals including Celtic Connections, Festival Interceltique de Lorient, Edinburgh International Harp Festival, and the National Eisteddfod. She's one third of the Gwilym Bowen Rhys Trio, recording three albums (O Groth y Ddaear, Arenig, Aden) and has released two solo albums (Mentro, Douze Noëls). Her track "Teifi" was shortlisted for Best Instrumental Track in the Wales Folk Awards 2023.

An active educator, Gwen teaches at RCS, Glasgow City Council, and various universities and festivals. She has published three books of traditional music through Alaw Publishing, with arrangements included in Trinity College London and RCS syllabuses. Recent high-profile performances include the Dior Cruise 2025 launch and the 2027 Tour de France launch at Edinburgh Castle.

Corrina Hewat

Corrina Hewat is a harper, singer, composer and maker with 30 years of professional experience, rooted in traditional Scottish tunes and songs. Born in Edinburgh and raised in the Black Isle's expansive Highland landscape, she was surrounded by music, art and stories that shaped her musical character - introvert, dark and slightly adrift.

Starting to write music young as expression when words failed her - "I suppose I do that still" - Corrina has a gentle, rare ability to coax the best from musicians. She believes, as Martin Hayes told her, "The best of the tradition is yet to come."

Her diverse career includes co-writing and co-directing children's theatre company DragonSong Productions; co-founding The Unusual Suspects Big Band and duo Bachue; forming vocal trios Grace, Hewat, Polwart; Shine; and Chantan. Since 2011 she's participated in Harp Village, Cromarty's annual clàrsach celebration, and compiled Faber Music's 'Folk Tunes from the Women', plus has three harp publications with Taigh Na Teud: 'Scottish Harp', 'Slow Airs' and 'New Harp Music'.

Now in a small Midlothian village with family and cats, Corrina directs Scots Folk choir Sangstream and studies Energy Medicine to integrate into her practice.