Stratos Duo, Louise Thomson and Anne-Marie O’Farrell first came together as part of the inaugural Manchester Harp Festival, the brainchild of Louise who is its artistic director. At this festival, they performed the world premiere of Anne-Marie’s arrangement for two pedal harps of Schubert’s iconic Fantasie in F minor, originally for piano duet. Their shared curiosity and passion for the expansion of pedal harp repertoire has led to their highly innovative and attractive programming, featuring works by Damase, Debussy, Philip Hammond and Caroline Lizotte.
Louise Thomson is a versatile and accomplished harpist, with an innovative and virtuosic approach that enables her to explore the instrument’s capabilities to the full. She performs on a Salvi Diva, a one-of-a-kind, personalised pedal harp that gives voice to both her technical brilliance and artistic expression.
Her exceptional talent has taken her to prestigious concert venues across the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall, Cardiff’s St David’s Hall, and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. She has performed with leading ensembles such as the Hallé, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra and Manchester Concert Orchestra. Louise has appeared live on BBC Radio 3 and made her television debut on BBC 1’s ‘Heaven and Earth’ show, performing alongside soprano Katherine Jenkins.
Recent highlights of Louise’s career include performances at the Buxton, Ryedale and Ripon Festivals, as well as a residency at the 2023 Whiddon Autumn Festival. In addition to her solo work Louise regularly collaborates with the Corvus Consort, and their recording ‘Welcome Joy’, a celebration of women’s voices, was released by Chandos Records in 2024 to critical acclaim.
Beyond her performing career, Louise is a dedicated and passionate teacher, holding positions at Chetham’s School of Music, Withington Girls’ School and The Manchester Grammar School. She also serves as a visiting tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music and as the harp tutor at Huddersfield University. In 2022, Louise was selected to perform at the World Harp Congress in collaboration with presenter Polly Ives. Together, they frequently present in schools and theatres as part of ‘Concerteenies’, an award-winning producer of musical events for young children and their families. In 2024, Louise curated and served as the musical director of the inaugural Manchester Harp Festival.
Leading lever harpist of her generation, Dr Anne-Marie O’Farrell from Dublin has performed all over the world as a solo artist, accompanist and in ensembles, and is regularly featured in broadcasts. On lever harp, she is particularly recognized for her expansion of repertoire and levering techniques, as a result of which the world’s leading harpmakers Salvi Harps redesigned their lever harps to become concert instruments. Her development of harp repertoire has led to the inclusion of her harp compositions and arrangements in exam syllabuses used around the world. She has given multiple premieres of many works for Irish harp, some commissioned especially for her. She has performed with numerous orchestras and ensembles, including the Irish Baroque Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Crash Ensemble, the Irish Memory Orchestra, and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra with whom she premiered Ryan Molloy’s Concerto for lever harp, ‘Gealán’.
A prolific recording artist, she has released several CDs, including ‘Just So Bach’, ‘Harping Bach to Carolan’, ‘The Jig’s Up’ and’ My Lagan Love’; ‘Double Strung’ and ‘Duopoly’ with Cormac De Barra; and ‘Harp to Harp’ with harmonica player Brendan Power. As a musician experienced in performing at state events, she was called upon to play during the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland, and has performed for President Robinson, President MacAleese, President Michael D. Higgins and President Bill Clinton. She has also recorded with The Chieftains in Abbey Road Studios, London and has performed internationally with Moya Brennan of Clannad.
Equally at home on pedal harp, she is frequently invited to give recitals, workshops and masterclasses at international conferences and festivals around the world, in addition to performance at several World Harp Congresses. She has recently composed several large-scale commissions featuring the harp, including a lever harp concerto commissioned by RTÉ Lyric FM, and a five-movement work for large harp ensemble commissioned by Harp Ireland.