About

Official biography

Award-winning professional harpist Lucy Nolan began studying the harp at the age of seven with Eira Lynn Jones after being inspired when it was featured in an episode of the children’s television show, Teletubbies! Lucy is a champion of the harp’s versatility and the eclecticism of her work reflects this, ranging from performing as a soloist at the Hong Kong World Harp Congress to playing with Katie Melua for BBC Radio 2’s Piano Room, from premiering her composition at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, to performing her arrangements of Abba on Hollyoaks. She has featured in performances for BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4, and performed in renowned music venues including The Royal Albert Hall, The Royal Opera House, The Glasshouse, Jaipur Literature Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival and Thessaloniki Concert Hall.

After graduating from Oxford University with a BA in Music, Lucy continued to study for a Masters in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction. During her time at Oxford she was awarded the Margaret Irene Seymour Award, the Archibald Jackson Prize for outstanding postgraduate results, an Alice Horsman Scholarship and the Oxford Philomusica Young Artists’ platform. She was subsequently offered an entrance scholarship from the Royal Northern College of Music for an Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance in which she achieved a Distinction. Whilst at the RNCM Lucy was selected to perform as a finalist in the Gold Medal weekend, the highest accolade the RNCM awards for performance.

Lucy is passionate about helping to develop new music for the harp and collaborating with musicians from different genres and backgrounds. She regularly appears as a soloist for festivals and music societies throughout the UK and is part of a number of successful chamber groups including Sonic Threads, her groundbreaking collaboration with Carnatic singer, Supriya Nagarajan, Hathor Flute and Harp Duo and Chroma Harp Duo with whom she regularly commissions and records new works and was a first prize winner at the London Camac Harp Ensemble Competition as well as being awarded the UK Harp Association’s prize. She is also a keen orchestral player and frequently works with professional orchestras including the Hallé, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sinfonia Viva and Manchester Concert Orchestra.

Lucy is enthusiastic about bringing classical music to a wider audience and is an artist on Yehudi Menuhin’s prestigious ‘Live Music Now!’ Scheme. She spent two years working at a school in North London as part of the Teach First Leadership Development Programme where she helped to establish an orchestra and secured positions and funding for pupils in the National Orchestra for All, rehearsing with them in preparation for performances at Alexandra Palace and Leeds Arena. She is a dedicated teacher and has been awarded a Leverhulme Scholarship for her work as a harp tutor for the Junior RNCM department and RNCM Young Harps’ Scheme. She currently holds teaching posts at the RNCM, Huddersfield University, Repton School and for the Transpennine Branch of the National Clarsach Society.