Harp Duo : Alison Nicholls & Lucy Wakeford

"'Magical' is the word that springs to mind and the warmth of the music was matched only by the charisma ..."

Catherine Greenwood
Leicestershire Museum and Art Gallery, 1995

It is a rare to come across one truly virtuosic harpist, let alone two sharing the same platform. This wonderful collaboration brings together two of the World’s finest harpists in a very special duo.

Lucy and Alison first played together in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in 1986 and were founding members of the National Youth Chamber Orchestra in 1989. Both are first prizewinners of the World Harp Festival in Cardiff: Lucy in 1991 and Alison in 1994.

It is technically exacting to perform two-harp duos; intonation and ensemble require great precision and discipline. But when you bring together two harpists of this calibre you can take all that for granted and simply enjoy listening to artists who know each other’s playing inside out and are able to challenge each other to their full potential.

Lucy Wakeford began playing the harp at the age of five. She studied with Daphne Boden for nine years at the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music and then continued her studies with Marisa Robles at the Royal College of Music, London. Many prizes and outstanding achievements later, she is now co-principal harp in London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and also holds positions with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, Britten Sinfonia and the Nash Ensemble.

Like Alison, Lucy plays a harp made in Germany by Joseph Obermayer.