Harp

Although she studied classical harp throughout school, Catriona is most excited by the opportunities to improvise and compose for the harp, having honed her improvisation skills during postgraduate study at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and with Tomorrow’s Warriors Jazz Strings programme. She has always had an interest in folk, and combines this with her love of jazz through her original compositions. In 2024 she released her debut album, Triquetra, in a quartet featuring Francis Tulip, Joe Bainbridge and James Owston. The album is an impulsive dive into experimental jazz-infused folk that draws off Catriona’s Scottish heritage, exploring nostalgia for a lost past, and is available through streaming and can be bought on CD and Bandcamp. It has been acclaimed by critics, described as ‘haunting Gaelic-blues’ (Morning Star) taking ‘a genuinely sublime and wholly unique perspective’ (Blue-in-Green: Radio). Triquetra has been played on national radio, including Alyn Shipton’s Radio 3 show ‘Jazz Record Requests’ and three times on Radio 3 show ‘Round Midnight’ by Soweto Kinch, Rebecca Vasmant and Kevin Le Gendre, as well as local radio including Lynette Fay’s ‘Folk Club’ on BBC Radio Ulster. Nominated for Indie Boulevard Magazine's 2024 Album of the Year, it was also named on jazz blog Bebop Spoken Here both in Lance Liddle’s Top 10 Instrumental Albums of 2024, and Colin Muirhead’s 8 Top Albums of 2024 by Live Act. The album was backed by Youth Music’s NextGen Fund, made possible thanks to principal partner the Players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and support from Dr Martens Foundation. Catriona also single-handedly organised two UK tours to promote the album, supported financially by the UK Harp Association.

As a harpist, Catriona has worked with a number of artists including world-jazz singer Lea Mondo and singer-songwriter Grace Angelica, performing at venues including Ninety One Living Room and Crazy Coqs. She regularly performs with the Fulltone Symphony Orchestra, including their recent ‘Golden Age of Hollywood’ tour around English cathedrals, as well as premiering a new children’s opera by Georgia Barnes with Opera Prelude in the 2024 Isle of Wight Story Festival. Catriona particularly loves playing harp for musical theatre, with recent projects including Centre Stage’s The Proms Remixed and a jazz-influenced Christmas concert with the Northern Musical Theatre Orchestra. She has previously enjoyed a project featuring John Coltrane’s music with the Ali Barut quintet, as well as performing her own original music in a trio at the 2023 EFG London Jazz Festival. Catriona has been invited to perform solo harp and electronics sets at locations ranging from Japanese gardens in Wooburn Green to a small Welsh permaculture farm for Sumor Festival.