Chris Knowles plays a variety of instruments. His principal instrument is the Celtic harp, and his other
main instruments for traditional folk music are fiddle, Irish bouzouki, whistle & low D whistle.
He also plays various other genres of contemporary & popular music; mainly on alto & 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 37 years. On harp he specialises particularly in traditional Celtic music including much
Irish, Welsh, and Scottish material, plus some Breton, Manx and Cornish music. He also has a considerable repertoire of
early/medieval/renaissance music, and plays some original material and live improvised music.
In addition, for weddings & corporate bookings, he offers a large selection of popular music on the harp.
Chris 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 a number of 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 during the summer
months, and also played many live events at other castles throughout Wales, for CADW.
As well as his solo performances, Chris has collaborated with other musicians, including 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 is still a regular member of North Wales-based local ceilidh band
Mooncoin, in which he plays mainly fiddle, whistle and sax.
Chris also does occasional live session work with pop/rock/blues/jazz musicians, on saxophone 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, email chris
chrisknowlesmusic.co.uk
Albums available on CD or DIGITAL MP3 DOWNLOAD-see recordings page-
Available on iTunes, Amazon, Groove, Spotify...