Sue Harris | |
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![]() Harris on stage at Greenwich, London, 1982 | |
Background information | |
Instrument(s) | Oboe, hammered dulcimer, vocals |
Website | Facebook page |
Sue Harris is an English musician classically trained as an oboeist, but best known for her folk music performances with the hammered dulcimer. [1] [2]
Harris is fluent in reading and writing music and switched from her original instrument, the oboe, to the hammered dulcimer in the mid-1970s. In making that switch, she became one of the foremost performers on that folk instrument, though at the time it seemed just a matter of expediency. She was married to John Kirkpatrick, a prominent melodeon virtuoso in England. On getting pregnant with their first son, she found herself unable to maintain the breath control needed to play the oboe.[ citation needed ]
She performed on both instruments with the Albion Country Band on their debut album Battle of the Field (1976), and also recorded and performed as one half of a duet with Kirkpatrick. Harris has also performed with Richard and Linda Thompson, and has been a composer for the BBC on various broadcast plays, as well as for live theatre. She is also a singer and has written music for choral groups.[ citation needed ]
More recently, in 2008 she was leader of the "Wild Angels Community Choir" in Welshpool, Powys, Wales. [3]
Following the World Dulcimer Congress held in Malvern, Worcestershire in 2015, Harris formed the English Dulcimer Duo with Lisa Warburton. The duo has toured extensively, performing a repertoire of English and Welsh tunes. [4]
In 2009 Topic Records included in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten The Rose Of Britain’s Isle / Glorishears from The Rose Of Britain’s Isle as track thirteen on the second CD.