Joy Smith Harps & Story Telling
About
JOY SMITH
HARPIST & STORYTELLER
“So improvisatory and spontaneous. Very very exciting.” BBC radio 3, Sean Rafferty
“Magical and virtuosic harps.” BBC radio 4, Jenni Murray (women’s hour)
“Wonderful, lush, alert performance.” The Guardian
Joy is one of the most versatile and innovative performers of the times. She has performed in venues from Glyndebourne to Glastonbury, and with orchestras such as the Royal Opera House, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, English Touring Opera, and regularly as a soloist at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
In high demand in the world of early music Joy is a core member of Ivor Bolton’s Monteverdi Continuo Ensemble, I Fagiolini and The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments.
She regularly performs with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort & Players, The Sixteen, the New London Consort, La Grande Chapelle, Ex Cathedra, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla and La Sfera Armoniosa, amongst others.
The harp has taken Joy all over the world, becoming an explorer of music and sound of all kinds bringing her to contemporary groups such as the Red Note Ensemble, the Radio Science Orchestra, Orbital, David Gray, The Joy Formidable and Sophie Ellis Bextor.
Born in Cornwall, Joy studied harp, flute, piano and harpsichord at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. A lover of language she went on to study English at Oxford University before returning to the music world and gaining the United Kingdom Harp Association Prize. Her teachers include Daphne Boden, Charlotte Seale, Imogen Barford and Sioned Williams.
Joy enjoys a busy international teaching career encompassing historical and modern harps. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses on improvisation and basso continuo and is professor of early harps at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
“Magical and virtuosic harps.” BBC radio 4, Jenni Murray (women’s hour)
“Wonderful, lush, alert performance.” The Guardian
Joy is one of the most versatile and innovative performers of the times. She has performed in venues from Glyndebourne to Glastonbury, and with orchestras such as the Royal Opera House, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Opera North, English Touring Opera, and regularly as a soloist at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich.
In high demand in the world of early music Joy is a core member of Ivor Bolton’s Monteverdi Continuo Ensemble, I Fagiolini and The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments.
She regularly performs with The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort & Players, The Sixteen, the New London Consort, La Grande Chapelle, Ex Cathedra, Orquesta Barroca de Sevilla and La Sfera Armoniosa, amongst others.
The harp has taken Joy all over the world, becoming an explorer of music and sound of all kinds bringing her to contemporary groups such as the Red Note Ensemble, the Radio Science Orchestra, Orbital, David Gray, The Joy Formidable and Sophie Ellis Bextor.
Born in Cornwall, Joy studied harp, flute, piano and harpsichord at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester. A lover of language she went on to study English at Oxford University before returning to the music world and gaining the United Kingdom Harp Association Prize. Her teachers include Daphne Boden, Charlotte Seale, Imogen Barford and Sioned Williams.
Joy enjoys a busy international teaching career encompassing historical and modern harps. She regularly gives workshops and masterclasses on improvisation and basso continuo and is professor of early harps at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
