With a passion for evolving new styles of harp-playing, Lucy Nolan graduated from Oxford University and the Royal Northern College of Music with Distinctions in postgraduate degrees, receiving several prizes during her studies. She appeared as a guest artist on BBC Radio 3 and at the Hong Kong World Harp Congress, and her compositions have been shortlisted by Cheltenham Jazz Festival and awarded first prize in Poppy Harp International Festival’s experimental class. She has premiered works at New Music North West Festival, Bury Light Festival and Hull City of Culture, and composed music for a short film for Channel 4.
As part of the hcmf// shorts programme in 2023, Lucy performed Calico: a 20-minute piece for harp and electronics exploring the artistic exchange between India and the UK inspired by the cotton industry, particularly the calico trade. She is based in Derwent Valley, an area heavily shaped by these old industries, providing an inspirational basis for her collaborations with Carnatic musicians and experimentations with the pedal harp as a vehicle for South Indian ragas. The performance incorporated electronics and extended techniques on the harp, using pegs, clips, chopsticks and bows, generating a sonic landscape of thickening swirling textures and fragments of melodies from Derwent Valley and southern India, complementing and conflicting with each other all at once.
Photo: Lucy Nolan © Jack Watkins