Biography:

(under 100 words)

Utilising the harp, voice, electronics and percussion, Méabh McKenna is a multi-instrumental sound artist currently based in Dublin. Drawing on years of experimentation and collaboration, her live performances have evolved from traversing the eclectic worlds of traditional, classical, and early music, intuitively weaving them with contemporary and electronic elements. 

The Full Story:

(c.500 words)

Méabh McKenna is a harpist, vocalist, and multidisciplinary artist from the village of Moynalty in Co.Meath. She graduated in 2018 from DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama with a Bachelor in Music Performance specialising in Pedagogy where she studied with mentor Denise Kelly MacDonald. Following that time she has enjoyed a varied and active solo career and expanded her practice through the completion of an MFA in Art in the Contemporary World in the National College of Art and Design in 2024. Méabh regularly performs and teaches on both Irish and pedal harp, and is developing a practice on the historic early Irish wire strung harp with the support of the Arts Council.  Méabh is an active board member of Cairde na Cruite, has represented Ireland for cultural events in Mexico and Costa Rica, performed for the President Michael D. Higgins in Áras an Uacthtaráin, at the World Harp Congress, for multiple British royal visits to Ireland, for the announcement of the harp as a UNESCO heritage symbol on RTÉ News, opened the RTÉ Folk Awards and performed as a solo artist in the National Concert Hall.

Méabh was awarded a scholarship in 2018 to attend the International Harp Foundation Jazz Immersion Programme in Brazil. She has collaborated with RTÉ Choice Prize nominated artists Maija Sofia and Aoife Nessa Frances: recording on albums such as Bathtime (2019) and Protector (2022). In 2022 she was a featured artist on the French youtube channel ‘Le blogotheque’ live video sessions in collaboration with Aoife Nessa Frances. She has opened the RTÉ Folk Music Awards, and performed as a band member at the RTÉ Choice Awards in 2020 and 2023. In 2023 following a support tour of Ireland, Méabh joined American songwriter Julie Byrne for a televised Other Voices music festival performance live from The Church in Dingle. Alongside Julie Byrne, Méabh has supported artists such as Villagers, Sharon Van Etten, the Charlatans, John Francis Flynn, Iarla Ó Lionáird, and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh. She has performed alongside Irish artists John Sheahan of the Dubliners, Colm Mac Ionmaire, Lisa Hannigan, Katie Kim and Radie Peat. 

In 2019 Méabh worked with performance artist Maïa Nunes on Incantation, which was awarded the Judge’s Choice prize at the Dublin Fringe Festival. She began developing works with performance artist Isadora Epstein in 2023, resulting in multiple original shows in the role of a live soundtracking/improvising collaborator in venues such as Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Hugh Lane Gallery, The Museum of Literature Ireland, The James Joyce Centre, and the Dublin Literature Festival. 

Méabh is an active session musician recording and performing with a broad range of projects such as future-cowboy/rock group Carlsbad, contemporary classical ensemble Yurodny, dream-pop band Baby Witch, and contemporary chamber-pop ensemble sfiiinx. Méabh has performed at major Irish festivals such as Electric Picnic, Body and Soul, All Together Now, Dun Laoghaire Folk Festival, Beyond the Pale, and Another Love Story. They have taught workshops on Irish music at international harp festivals, and toured in Ireland, the UK, and Europe. As an orchestral harpist she has performed with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the NYOI, the Hybernian Orchestra, the Dublin Symphony Orchestra, the Trinity Orchestra, the DIT Symphony Orchestra, and the Co-Orch.

Méabh first began developing a contemporary solo performance project including wire strung harp, pedal harp, voice, and electronics in 2022 incorporating styles and studies of multi-genre fusion, her postgraduate research, traditional song and early Irish harp practices.