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, mainly on alto and soprano saxophones,
and a self-customised 'mandocaster' 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 34 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, cruise ships, restaurants, on numerous TV and
radio programmes, at open air concerts, green fairs, and 2 Glastonbury
festivals. He has also played at an enormous number of private events
such as weddings, garden parties, banquets 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 collaborations with other musicians, including numerous performances
and recordings with renowned Welsh singer Heather Jones, fiddler Mike Lease, uilleann piper Allan Moller, acoustic guitarist
Anthony Griffiths, singer/songwriter Catrin
O'Neill, and in particular a long-running duo with multi-instrumentalist
& singer/songwriter Ben Walker. He has been a member of the bands Gwerinos, Hafren, Howling at Ravens, Roam, and North Wales-based local ceilidh band
Mooncoin.
Chris also does occasional live session work on saxophones and the mandocaster.
His main harp is the 34-string Ulysse by Camac, and he also has an antique 30-string Morley clarsach from c. 1880's.
CONTACT:
For more info or bookings, email chris
chrisknowlesmusic.co.uk
NEW SONG by Catrin O'Neill -see Videos/Links page
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