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For Melinda Gardiner the harp is more than a musical instrument, it is also a partner in healing. Executive Director of the Music for Healing and Transition Program, she is trained as a holistic nurse as well as being a CMP (Certified Music Practitioner). Melinda uses harp music to diminish pain, aid sleep, restore balance, harmony and peacefulness for patients in a variety of stressful situations: pre and post-surgery, birthing, drug-infusion, ICU/CCU, Alzheimer's and dementia and for hospice and palliative care. For each patient’s needs and situation she can choose just the right harp, from the wire-strung harp of Scotland and Ireland, to a small Gothic harp or a large, resonant lever harp. In her home area of the Albany/Hudson/Berkshire area, Melinda provides vocal and harp music for special ceremonies and celebrations and she is also a cantor and liturgical musician. With Bruce Gardiner she has created of retreats featuring Centering Prayer and Taize sung-prayer. In a joint collaboration with Mona Peck, CMP, Melinda has published Shadow's of the Living Light: Songs of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, six songs, with Gregorian and modern musical notation for ease of comparison and study.

While many musicians flourish best within the boundaries of a definite tradition, others, like Maeve Gilchrist thrive on innovation and improvisation and creating, what she fondly calls "my musical patchwork quilt." Steeped from an early age in both classical and traditional music, Edinburgh-born Maeve Gilchrist discovered jazz in her late teens which she pursued at Berklee School of Music in Boston where she also studied voice, percussion and Latin American music and felt completely at home in the eclectic but rigorous environment. In particular Maeve is interested in stretching the traditional boundaries of the harp. “I’m always trying to find new sounds for the harp, trying to get away from the kind of lilting, transparent music that many people associate with it. … while also admitting, “This sound isn’t going to please everybody." Maeve is gutsy too. At the 2006 commencement concert, she sang -- accompanying herself on harp--a jazzy, Celtic arrangement of honorary degree candidate Melissa Etheridge’s ‘Baby, you can sleep while I drive’ with Etheridge in attendance! Now living in New York, Maeve recently won the 2007 L&H Jazz and Pop Harpfest Lever competition. She has released one CD, Reaching Me.

In Zen Guitar, the author talks about finding the silence between the notes. Even when playing a reel full stop, Gráinne Hambly, exhibits such poise, authority and skill that every note has its moment giving her music a depth that is hard to describe. Velvet wrapped around steel, might get close! Her style of playing and her accompaniments while firmly traditional, incorporate and celebrate contemporary rhythms with amazing dexterity and flawless taste. Her accomplishments are many. She is popular in many countries and she tours around the world, has three solo CDs, two music books and two CDs with William Jackson. With a master's degree from Queens University in Belfast and years of workshop experience, her teaching skills match her playing; she is patient, clear, and sharp-eyed. She teaches at most of the major summer schools in Ireland and is in much demand here when she's on tour. She is also on staff at You Gotta Have Harp's Harpers' Escape Weekend. For the advancing student, eager to take on challenges, (warning: she makes it look easy!) Gráinne is a great choice.

Although Nancy Hurrell is proficient in a wide variety of musical genres from classical and popular, to Celtic and early music, it is her expertise and devotion to preserving older harps that is a distinguishing feature of her impressive career. Whether as the harp consultant for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, writing articles for the Bulletin of the Historical Harp Society or as the chairperson of the Histoical Harp Society’s Survey Project (which has the goal of surveying all existing harps built before 1945) Nancy is focused on her avocation of educating and entertaining a wider audience for the harp. Her CD Baletto, early music, has been well received.

Once Sharon discovered the harp in her twenties she immediately plunged into acquiring the necessary skills to play, teach and perform music. From studying with harpers such as Mary MacMaster and Judith Peacock, to playing in ‘innumerable’ sessions, to taking three years of college courses in music theory, singing, chorus, music history and piano as well as many workshops, Sharon devoted herself to becoming a serious musician. With her customary thoroughness, she took the time to acquaint herself with the pedal harp, to better enable her help students making the transition from pedal to lever harp. Sharon, who is most comfortable playing by ear, is a masterful accompanist and performs in Hen with Sue Richards and Fynesound, a larger group which also includes a dancer. She teaches at harp retreats such as the Harpers' Escape and Common Ground on the Hill. Her CDs are Ferry Cottage (Hen), Almost Home and Christmas Joy (Fynesound). She is currently working on a solo CD, The Raven’s Wing which will have a companion book.

Performer website: Fynesound

The musical journey of Joanna Mell extends from early training in classical harp, to celtic harp, to singing in the Irish sean nos style (where she was a finalist in the All Ireland competition), to story-telling and harp therapy. Her dedication to the harp as a therapeutic instrument has led her to found the Heart of God Foundation whose mission is to bring music to those need, both physically and spiritually. She has appeared widely in the northeast of the US and has six CDs of harp music and songs, and as many books of arrangements (one, Still Waters is a book/CD pair) and also including Peaceful Piece and Peaceful Christmas.

Joanna will be playing the dinner music this year for our banquet.