Chris Knowles plays a variety of instruments; his
principal instrument is the Celtic harp, and his other
main instruments
for traditional Celtic music are Irish bouzouki, whistle & low
D whistle.
He also often plays other styles of music, usually
on alto and soprano saxophones and electric
'mandocaster', a customised electric mandolin.
Based in Wales in the UK, Chris is
an established solo Celtic harpist, has
recorded 22 albums and has been a professional
musician for 32 years with Celtic harp as his main instrument,
specialising particularly in traditional Celtic music including much
Irish, Welsh, and Scottish material, plus some Breton, Manx and
Cornish music. In addition he has a repertoire of
early/medieval/renaissance music, and also plays
some original material and live improvised
music.
For weddings & corporate bookings, he also
offers a large selection of popular music on the
harp.
Chris regularly performs all over the UK and
has played in widely varied venues including
arts centres, concert halls, theatres, arts festivals, folk festivals,
castles, hotels, museums, folk clubs, restaurants, on numerous TV and
radio programmes, at open air concerts, green fairs, and 2 Glastonbury
festivals. He has also played at a very large number of private events
such as
weddings, garden parties and corporate events.
He was the official harpist at Caernarfon Castle in North Wales for 9
years, performing there several times per week throughout the summer
months, and during those years he also played many live events at other
castles througout Wales for CADW.
As well as his solo performances, Chris has worked in a number of duos and bands, including numerous performances and recordings with renowned Welsh singer Heather Jones, fiddler Mike Lease, acoustic guitarist Anthony Griffiths, singer/songwriter Catrin O'Neill, and in particular with multi-instrumentalist & singer/songwriter Ben Walker .
Chris currently works solo (mainly Celtic harp), and
also in a duo with Ben Walker, and occasionally in a duo with Catrin
O'Neill or trio with Catrin plus Mike Lease.
He also frequently plays fiddle, whistles and sax
with local
North Wales-based ceilidh band
Mooncoin, and occasional session work on saxophones and the mandocaster.
His main harp is a 34-string Camac Ulysse, and he also has an antique 30-string Morley clarsach from c. 1880's.
CONTACT: For more info or bookings, please email chris@chrisknowles.org
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Albums available on CD or DIGITAL MP3 DOWNLOAD- see recordings page-
Available on iTunes, Amazon, Groove, Spotify...
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Top Image courtesy of Chris Hanley