Tara Viscardi
Harpist ~ Composer ~ Teacher
Traditional Irish Harp ~ Concert Harp ~ Italian Baroque Triple Harp
About
Hailing from the Beara Peninsula in the South-West of Ireland, Tara Viscardi performs on Irish traditional, classical and baroque harps. Praised for her music being ''exquisitely performed'' (The Times) and for her ''innate musicality'' (UK Harp Association Chair), Tara was first prize winner of the 2021 London Camac Harp Competition and is a 2024 UK Harp Association Emerging Artist. A graduate of the Royal College of Music, Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado Milan and TU Dublin Conservatoire, solo and chamber performances have taken her across Ireland and the UK, to venues including the Wigmore Hall, St John’s Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, the Irish Embassy, Irish Cultural Centre, London Irish Centre, Canterbury Cathedral,
Shakespeare’s Globe and the National Concert Hall Dublin.
She has been featured playing her own arrangements and compositions on BBC Radio 3, RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Lyric FM, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Radio Kerry and Bloomsbury Radio. Further highlights include performing at the 13th World Harp Congress Hong Kong, for Irish President Michael D. Higgins
and Mrs Sabina Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin, for An Taoiseach and An Tánaiste upon their visits to London and for HM King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Hillsborough Castle
Tara is a past recipient of an Arts Council of Ireland Agility Award, which enabled her to commence studies in the Italian baroque triple harp, and was featured at the 14th World Harp Congress, Cardiff performing her original compositions for traditional harp and flute paired with chamber music by 19th and 20th century female composers, generously supported by Culture Ireland. She launched her debut album 'Beara' in April 2024, where she is joined by flautist Robert Harvey for her own compositions paired with music written and collected on the Beara Peninsula since the 18th century. She released a debut EP, 'Uncovered Roots' in 2023 with saxophonist Robert Finegan, which explores folk music from Ireland and the UK in different contexts and is currently part of early music ensemble Nobody's Jig and folk group MNÁ as well as collaborating with countertenor Hugh Cutting.
She is quickly gaining a reputation as an exciting and versatile musician and composer, combining performing with roles as Artistic Administrator for Irish Heritage, Harp Teacher at the Junior King's School, Canterbury and Harp Tutor at the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith.
Read full biography here
