GRÁINNE
YEATS (d. April 18, 2013) was born in Dublin, Ireland,
and raised bilingually in Irish and English. She always combined a
deep interest in traditional music and songs with a corresponding
interest in classical music. At the same time as she was studying
piano, voice and harp at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin,
she was learning traditional songs from the Irish-speaking (Gaeltacht)
areas, and acquired what became a very large repertoire of
traditional songs and music.
She had a
particular interest in the wire-strung harp, and wrote extensively
about its history and music. She was the first professional musician
to revive and record this ancient traditional instrument. She did
extensive research on the Irish harpers, and recorded some 40 of
their songs and harp solos on a double CD (Gael Linn, CEF CD 156),
using both wire and gut harps. Among her other publications she
wrote entries on Carolan and other Irish harpers in the New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and her book The Harp of
Ireland contains much material about them. Gráinne Yeats retired
from her international concert career, but still taught in
workshops, master classes, courses and festivals. She was married to
Michael Yeats and they lived mainly in Dublin.
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