Wakeford, Lucy (1972

Harpist from Surrey, England, who started playing when she was five years old and joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain when she was ten.

She attended the Royal College of Music and studied under Daphne Boden, Gerard Devos, Skaila Kanga, and Marisa Robles.

At the BBC Young Musicians Competition, she was named “outstanding young player of great promise” in 1986 and “BBC Young Musician of the Year” in 1988.

In 1989, she and fellow harpist Alison Nicholls helped co-found the National Youth Chamber Orchestra. They appear together on the CD, Harp Duo.

Other groups with whom she has worked include the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Belcea Quartet, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Britten Sinfonia, CHROMA, the City of London Sinfonia, the English Sinfonia, the Erard Trio, the Gould Piano Trio, the Guildhall String Ensemble, the Haffner Wind Ensemble, the Israel Philharmonic, the Jesus College Choirs, the London Chamber Orchestra, the London Festival Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Nash Ensemble, Okeanos, the Philharmonia, the Royal Philharmonic, the Ulster Orchestra, her own Wakeford Trio, the Wokingham Choral Society, and the Zenith Ensemble.

She won first place at the World Harp Festival in Cardiff, Wales, in 1991.

In 1994, she helped deliver the London premiere of Julie Cooper’s “Seasons” (an arrangement of “The Four Seasons” by Antonio Vivaldi) at Royal Albert Hall.

She appeared on the CD, Georg Friedrich Handel: Oboe Concertos Nos. 1-3; Harp Concerto Op. 4 No. 6/Flute Concerto in D major/Concerto for Two Cellos in 1997.

Other recordings on which she is credited include: Chess in Concert; Christmas Adagios; Generation Sex by The Divine Comedy; Great Operatic Arias by Elizabeth Futral; Fabulous by Sheena Easton; Jazz Club: Acid Jazz; On an Island by David Gilmour, Russian Arias, Vol. 1; and, Turnage: This Silence by the Nash Ensemble;

On 22^nd November 1998, she performed Cooper’s music for The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare starring Tom Courtenay on BBC Radio.

She became the principal harpist for the Philharmonia in 2002.

On 19^th June 2004, the Wokingham Choral Society offered up “Chichester Psalms” by Leonard Bernstein, “Jubilate” by Bob Chilcott and “Te Deum for Empress Marie Theresa” by Franz Joseph Haydn at All Saints Church.

Okeanos appeared at the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building on 18^th November 2006 in a program that comprised Paul Archbold’s “Song Swarm”, Dai Fujikura’s “Cutting Sky”, “Okeanos Breeze” and “Touch of Breeze”, new works by Dan Goren and Sadie Harrison, Toshi Ichiyanagi’s “Transfiguration of Flowers II”, Phillip Neil Martin’s “Shattered Spectra”, Akiko Ogawa’s “Fantasia”, Howard Skempton’s “Fragments” and the traditional “Kumoijishi”.

In March 2008, the Nash Ensemble gave the world premiere of “The Island” by Colin Matthews at Wigmore Hall. The recital was rounded out by “Returning” by Mark-Anthony Turnage, “Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet” by Alexander Goehr, and “26 Orpheus Elegies” by Harrison Birtwistle.

Lucy participated in the Tenth World Harp Congress in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 18^th July 2008, when she interpreted Elliott Carter’s “Mosaic for Harp and Ensemble”.

On 21^st March 2009, the Wakeford Trio had the honour of concertizing for the Rochdale Music Society in its new confines, St. Andrew’s Church Hall, where they played works by William Alwyn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude Debussy, and Maurice Ravel.

Lucy was one of a handful of musicians to perform the NMC Songbook Live at King’s Place on 2^nd April 2009. The songs, for countertenor and mezzo-soprano, included “Causes for wonder”, “Fin Like a Flower” and “A swallow, a rose, and admonition”. The NMC Songbook was released as a boxed set before the end of the year.

On 9^th December 2009, the Jesus College Choirs presented an all-Benjamin Britten affair that consisted of his “Ceremony of Carols”, “Choral Dances” from Gloriana and “St. Nicolas” at Jesus College in Cambridge.

More Britten was on the menu at the 63^rd Aldeburgh Festival at Aldeburgh Church in Suffolk on 24^th June 2010, when Lucy, guitarist James Boyd and tenors Robin Tritschler and Lawrence Wiliford performed “A Birthday Hansel”.

On 6^th August 2010, Lucy and Philippa Davies and Martin Outram gave a flute, harp and viola recital at the International Harp Summer School in Hitchin, Herts.

The Nash Ensemble haunted Wigmore Hall again on 23^rd March 2011, when they gave the world premieres of “A Constant Obsession” by Mark-Anthony Turnage, “Horn Quintet” by David Matthews, and “The Torturer’s House” by Simon Holt. The evening also included the world premiere of a new work by Michael Berkeley, “Syrinx” by Claude Debussy and “Sonata after Syrinx” by Richard Rodney Bennett.

Lucy and flautist Kathryn Thomas shared the stage at Toll Gavel United Church on 15^th April 2011.

On 5^th August 2011, the Gould Piano Trio took part in the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival at St. Andrew’s Church where they gave a recital of Debussy’s “Danses sacree et profane” and “Syrinx”, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Flute Quartet in D major, K. 285”, and Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 50”.

Lucy and Kathryn reunited at the Ripon International Festival on 8^th September 2011, when they gave a Concert by Candlelight at St. Mary’s Church in Nun Monkton. Their recital included music of Bach, Arnold Bax, Georges Bizet, Jean Francaix, Andre Jolivet, Ravel, and Camille Saint-Saens.

On 17^th September 2011, Lucy appeared at the Leicester International Music Festival, where she featured on “Introduction and Allegro” by Maurice Ravel, “Spanish Dance No. 3” and “Spanish Dance No. 5” by Enrique Granados, and “Trois Gymnopedies” by Erik Satie.

Sources:

Wakeford, Lucy (1972 – Present)

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