Marta is widely recognized as one of the foremost harpers in Irish traditional music. Acclaimed for a distinctive solo style that explores the full rhythmic and expressive range of the instrument, heer singular approach to the Irish harp has brought her music to audiences throughout Europe and North America. Highlights include the World Harp Congress (Vancouver,) the North Atlantic Fiddle Conference (Limerick,) Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston), Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park (Chicago), Stony Island Arts Bank (Chicago), Espace Culturel Bertin Poirée (Paris), The Irish Centre (Leeds), and New York Live Arts (Manhattan.) In 2020, Marta was the harper chosen to represent Ireland’s national instrument among forty outstanding artists commissioned by The Embassy of Ireland to produce work for Shades of Green - A Celebration of Irish Arts in America. 

With family roots in East Clare and Cork/Limerick, Marta’s earliest inspiration came from her mother’s songs and stories. Influenced early on by the pioneering work and generous mentorship of Gradam Ceoil 2001 recipient Máire Ní Chathasaigh, the “doyenne of Irish harp players," Marta’s approach to the harp reflects a deep commitment to the creative possibilities within the tradition, as shaped by Chicago’s transnational Irish music community. She has continued to develop techniques to advance the stylistic development of the Irish harp as a solo instrument in traditional music. In 2021, Máire cited Marta’s “deep knowledge and love of the tradition” and “distinctive style,” naming her as one of the most significant harpers playing today.

An exceptional teacher of all ages and abilities, Marta works with musicians across the US, Canada and Ireland. In addition to numerous regional and national awards, Marta’s Irish harp students have been recognized with numerous medals at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, the international competition for Irish traditional music. These awards include five world championships, including 2024 All-Ireland champion Faolán Rogers.

Complementing her lifelong work as a traditional musician, Marta began playing the classical pedal harp as a teenager. She holds an honours degree in harp performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, where she studied with the legendary orchestral harpist Sarah Bullen. She additionally studied musicology at the University of Chicago.

As well as traditional music, Marta has contributed to a variety of projects in experimental dance and contemporary music as a composer and improvisor, including an original score for Elena Demyanenko’s Raw Nerves at New York Live Arts. She also served as harp coach to Grammy-nominated electric harpist Deborah Henson-Conant for DHC’s collaboration with the legendary guitarist Steve Vai’s Story of Light tour. As a studio musician, Marta’s discography spans collaborations from the psychedelic rock band of Montreal to a Grammy-winning release by Yo-Yo Ma. She is also a sought-after accompanist in Irish traditional music on both harp and piano, and a community-based writer, researcher, and organizer, drawing on archives, lived experience, and shared practice to sustain the work traditional musicians have always done.

Selected Clips

Jenny Picking Cockles (Reel)

A tune learned from the playing of Néillidh Boyle, as recorded in 1953 by Peter Kennedy - with a few ideas from John Kelly Sr., Willie Clancy, and of course my own. Presented at the North Atlantic Fiddle Conference, University of Limerick, 2021, and the Ward Irish Music Archives Conference, Archiving Irish America: Music, Dance, and Culture, April 2024.

Having arrived at those conclusions, it was only natural to dedicate it to Marta who had, over the past couple of years, helped me with a couple of musical videos and was also my "fellow detective" in getting to the bottom of a mystery that prevailed on one of the more important "harping" paintings in the canon of Irish art, James Christopher Timbrell's, Carolan, The Irish Bard, c 1843-1844. Thank you, Marty!

A Tribute to Patrick J. Touhey

This set plays on the idea of creating a homemade “digital wax cylinder,” inspired by the music and the recording technology used by the great Irish-American piper and comedian Patrick J. Touhey (1865 –1923). The first tune is my own arrangement of a harp air called Molly Nic hAlpín, collected in the late 18th century by Edward Bunting (1773-1843.) The second is the same tune as a hornpipe, learnt from Touhey’s playing. The last is influenced by Touhey's version of The Duke of Leinster.

The Merry Sisters of Fate (Reel)

Inspired particularly by the piping of Séamus Ennis, this is a special performance commissioned by the Embassy and Consulates of Ireland in 2020. The tune was recorded by a Meath fiddler with Donegal roots, Frank O’Higgins, in 1937, as well as by Donegal fiddle legend John Doherty.

For this video, I collaborated with Dublin visual designer Deirdre Molloy (THISISPOPBABY) to create a visual setting. The Sisters of the title are likely to be the Fates of Greek myth, but we chose to reference to the ancient tripartite goddess of war, fate, and prophecy, the Mórrigan. Our design is inspired by the three poems she speaks at the end of the Cath Maige Tuired, depicting a battle and two wildly divergent prophecies that I take as a reference to a multiverse of outcomes.

Kean Ó Hara/The Heather Breeze

This set of tunes featuring Ireland's two national instruments, the harp and uilleann pipes, was recorded for Tune Supply's online St. Patrick's Day concert in 2021. I got this version of Kean Ó Hara from Máire Ní Chathasaigh. Myself and Seán would also be greatly influenced by the legacy of Irish music in Chicago, particularly as exemplified by the Sligo flute player and piper Kevin Henry (1929-2020.)

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