Chris Knowles plays a variety of instruments; his two main instruments are celtic harp and Irish bouzouki.
An established solo celtic harpist, with several recorded albums, Chris has worked as a freelance professional musician for over 21 years with celtic harp as his main instrument, specialising particularly in traditional celtic folk music including much Irish, Welsh, and Scottish material and also some Breton , Manx and Cornish tunes.
As well as his many solo performances, Chris has worked in a number of duos and bands in collaboration with some fine musicians, including uilleann piper Allan Moller, Welsh singer Heather Jones, fiddler Mike Lease, acoustic guitarist Anthony Griffiths, and multi-instrumentalist Ben Walker.
Both solo and in various combos, Chris has performed in widely varied venues
including arts centres, concert halls, theatres, arts festivals, folk festivals,
castles, hotels, museums, folk clubs, restaurants, on TV and radio programmes,
at a huge number of ceilidhs and weddings, and at open air concerts, green fairs,
and 2 Glastonbury festivals.
He was the official harpist at Caernarfon Castle in North Wales for 9 years,
for CADW.
Chris lives in North Wales. He presently plays mainly in a duo with Ben
Walker.
He also plays solo harp bookings, and with local North Wales-based ceilidh band
Mooncoin.
New collaborations include performances with singer/songwriter Catrin O'Neill , and with fiddler Gary Matthewson.
CONTACT: For more info or bookings, please email
chris
chrisknowles.org
- see Gigs page for info. on dates available.
(The terms "harper" & "harpist" have the same meaning, broadly speaking- though 'harper', being the older word, is often used to distinguish a player of the styles and techniques of traditional music, as opposed to a player of classical style; rather like "fiddler" may be used to distinguish a player specialised in traditional styles of music from a classical violinist.)e
Top Image courtesy of Chris Hanley