Biography
Hailing from the Beara Peninsula in the South-West of Ireland, Tara Viscardi performs on Irish traditional, classical and baroque harps. Tara graduated from the Royal College of Music in 2021 with a Master of Music in Performance (Distinction) and also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Harp Performance from the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, Milan as well as a Bachelor of Music (Honours) from TU Dublin Conservatoire. In 2021, her early music/folk group Nobody's Jig held the Wigmore Learning/Royal Academy of Music Fellowship. Praised for her music being 'exquisitely performed' (The Times), following a live BBC Radio 3 broadcast from Wigmore Hall, Tara has also had her compositions and arrangements featured on RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ Lyric FM, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, BBC Radio Ulster, Radio Kerry and Bloomsbury Radio. Tara is Associate Artist with the Irish Baroque Orchestra for 2025, having been a 2024 UK Harp Association Emerging Artist.
Tara has been featured at the An Chúirt Chruitireachta International Festival for Irish Harp, World Harp Congresses in Hong Kong and Cardiff (supported by Culture Ireland), Harp on Wight International Festival, Bloomsbury Festival London, the Embassy of Ireland London, the London Irish Centre, the Mansion House, the West Wicklow Festival and the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith. Further highlights include performing 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, at No. 10 Downing Street for the first St Patrick's Day Reception to be held there, for King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Hillsborough Castle, at the National Concert Hall, Dublin and Dublin Castle. Tara has performed in many leading UK venues including the Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, Cadogan Hall, St George's Hanover Square, the Royal Over-Seas League's Princess Alexandra Hall, Canterbury Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe, Nevill Holt Opera and given many performances at Goodenough College where she was the 2018/19 Music Scholar.
A multiple prize winner, Tara was awarded first prize at the 2021 London Camac Harp Competition, the Irish Heritage Alen Buckley Music Bursary 2019 following her debut performances at the Wigmore Hall and Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, the John Vallery Memorial Prize for the ‘best performance by a string player’ at the 2016 Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year as well as first prize for senior solo harp at the Irish national ESB Feis Ceoil and Sligo Feis Ceoil competitions. She was awarded first prize in the senior recital and concerto competitions while an undergraduate at TU Dublin Conservatoire. Tara represented Ireland at the 2022 Dutch Harp Festival World Harp Competition where she presented her original programme Improvisation: Past to Present, Across Genres for solo concert and traditional Irish harp and was a prize winner at the 2023 Wales International Harp Festival.
Twice selected for the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Mentoring Scheme, Tara was the harpist for the 2021 English National Opera Evolve Scheme, and has previously been principal harpist with the European Doctors Orchestra, Ulster Youth Orchestra and Irish Symphonic Wind Orchestra, as well as a past scholarship recipient of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland. She studied with Dr Irina Zingg, Ieuan Jones, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Prof. Cliona Doris, Denise Kelly-McDonnell and Marina Cassidy, and has performed in masterclasses for Milda Agazarian, Elinor Bennet, Gabriella Dall’ Olio, Catrin Finch, Mara Galassi, Anneleen Lenaerts, Judy Loman, Gwyneth Wentink, Sioned Williams and Laura Sofia Caramellino. She was invited to participate at the Harp Masters Academy in Bern, Switzerland from 2016-2018 and previously attended the Catrin Finch Academy, Wales and the International Harp Workshop, Italy.
A passionate traditional Irish and folk musician, Tara regularly collaborates with artists across many different genres. Current collaborations include releasing an album of music from the Beara Peninsula with traditional flautist Robert Harvey, an EP with saxophonist Robert Finegan which explores the folk music of the UK and Ireland in different contexts, forming part of folk/traditional group MNÁ and collaborating with countertenor Hugh Cutting. She has played in recording projects with indie pop artists Jonathan Bree and Princess Chelsea at Abbey Road Studios and in 2022, commenced studies in the Italian Baroque Harp with Dr Siobhan Armstrong as a recipient of an Agility Award from the Arts Council of Ireland.
She has premiered works by Piers Connor Kennedy (co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and BBC Radio 3) with countertenor Hugh Cutting and violist Leo Appel, by Clare Elton (co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall and the Royal Philharmonic Society) with her folk/early music group Nobody's Jig and by Anne-Marie O' Farrell (funded by the Royal College of Music Accelerate Scheme) with saxophonist Robert Finegan. Tara plays a beautiful Killarney Harp hand-crafted for her by Tim O’ Carroll in her native Co. Kerry, a Nuovolone Italian baroque triple harp handmade by Claus Hüttel in Germany and a Salvi Diana concert harp.
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Passionate about education and outreach, Tara is Artistic Administrator for Irish Heritage, Festival Manager (Education and Communications) for West Wicklow Festival, the harp teacher at Junior King’s School, Canterbury and the harp tutor at the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith. She is the minutes secretary for Cairde na Cruite (Irish Harp Association). Tara also writes historical fiction and is a member of the London Library. She currently divides her time between London, Kerry and Basel, where she is undertaking part-time postgraduate studies in baroque harp at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Flora Papadopoulos.
Tara is extremely grateful for the generous support of the Arts Council of Ireland, Culture Ireland, Kerry Country Council Arts, Music Network, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Royal College of Music, Irish Heritage, Michael and Gianni Allen-Buckley, Carolyn Galloway, Goodenough College, Martin Clarke of Small Investments Ltd., Beara Distillery and her family towards her studies, projects and the purchase of instruments.
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For an alternative length bio, please see 'Home' section or you can contact Tara here.