Maeve Gilchrist
Maeve Gilchrist
Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival
On Sunday 27 July Maeve Gilchrist performs at the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, which received an Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund award for 2008.
Maeve Gilchrist grew up surrounded by Scottish traditional music, song and dance. This is the background for her approach to jazz and improvisation, and it has also instilled in her a strong sense of the joy in making music and the social activities that surround it.
Maeve began playing piano when she was seven, and took up the clarsach a few years later. She went on to study classical piano at the City of Edinburgh Music School from the age of ten, whilst continuing to nurture her traditional roots. Towards the end of her school years, Maeve was in demand in the traditional music scene, balancing schoolwork with rehearsals and gigs around the country. It was around this time that she developed an interest in jazz and world music which soon became obvious in her playing, and she started studying jazz vocals.
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With the help of a Dewar Arts Award and the Berklee world scholarship tour, Maeve enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, whilst still in her teens. During her time there she performed regularly and won the 'Outstanding Performer of the Year' award and a Norm Nate Scholarship. |
Now based in New York City, Maeve performs internationally either as part of a trio with Argentinian musician Andres Rotmistrovsky (bass) and Nick Falk (drums/percussion) or in a quartet format adding John De Lucia (woodwinds). She is also doing a lot of solo work, and recently returned from Amsterdam where the World Harp Congress was held. Her debut album, Reaching Me, was released in 2006, and Maeve is hoping to record again in the coming year.
Maeve is a strong and imaginitive performer on the harp, as well as a fine singer, and at the tender age of 22 possesses an original musical voice that suggests there is much still to come. On Sunday 27 July she teams up in an exploratory duo with another Scottish New York resident, bassist Aidan O’Donnell, as part of the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival 2008.
The annual Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival takes place in various venues around the city from 25 July - 3 August 2008. The 2008 programme features some of the best talent in jazz and blues music.
This year the festival received funding from the Edinburgh Festival Expo Fund, which supports new productions, events or exhibitions involving Scottish-based participants that premiere at any of the Edinburgh festivals. The fund also supports touring of events or performances after their festival premiere, to allow these to reach new audiences. Maeve Gilchrist's performance will form part of this expo, the single largest showcase of Scottish work and artists ever mounted.
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