Scottish Composer/Harpist Ailie Robertson
I first heard Ailie Robertson’s music this past summer when I was moderating workshops at the online Somerset Folk Harp Festival. Ailie is one of Scotland's leading composers and a sought after harpist.
Life has a way of sending you down paths that you might not have originally considered. In our chat Ailie talks about how she studied genetics at Cambridge University for four years then decided to take a gap year to pursue a masters degree in Irish Traditional Music at The University of LImerick’s Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, my alma mater. Working with Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and others at UL helped Ailie start down a path that has led her to be an in demand composer and performer. Her newest project is fittingly named “Adenine'' after one of the four nucleobases in the nucleic acid of DNA, a nice connection to Ailie’s years of studying genetics at Cambridge University. Here’s a description of the album taken from Adenine’s Kickstarter page:
“This solo project creates rich, multi-layered soundscapes with use of an electric harp, a myriad of pedals, field recordings and a modular synth.
Ailie is joined by an illustrious cast of musicians including a groundbreaking string quartet, and producer Jim Sutherland. This album is a homage to the harp and a celebration of it's multifaceted possibilities as both an ancient instrument and an undeniable force in contemporary music. “
Nial Keegan, Course Director for the MA in Irish Traditional Music Performance, is quoted as saying that Ailie’s, “synthesis of Irish, Scottish and contemporary harping technique into an individual style represents the realization of otherwise unimagined possibilities for the Celtic harp.”
Check out Ailie’s albums and sheet music available on her website: www.ailierobertson.com/shop-1
Ailie is also one of the founding members of The Outside Track who have just released a new Christmas album, “The Christmas Star”.
LINKS:
Adenine on FB: www.facebook.com/adenine
Adenine video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlxMu47cUM4&feature=emb_logo
Ailie’s Website: www.ailierobertson.com/
The Outside Track: www.theoutsidetrack.com/
Composer-in-Residence at: Sound Scotland and Glyndebourne Opera.
OTHER LINKS:
Irish World Academy of Music and Dance: www.irishworldacademy.ie/
The Somerset Folk Harp Festival: www.somersetharpfest.com/