Becki McIlroy

Becki is a professional harpist, graduating in 2018 with a Masters degree from The Royal Northern College of Music, under the tuition of Eira Lynn Jones. A passionate performer, Becki has performed in venues such as the Hong Kong Cultural Centre as a 2017 World Harp Congress soloist, The Wigmore Hall (London), The Bridgewater Hall (Manchester) and The Sage, Gateshead. After discovering a love of chamber music in her undergraduate degree, Becki continued to develop this during her Masters, founding Duo Azure (Harp and Violin) and the award winning Chroma Harp duo. Chroma harp are currently performing as part of the prestigious Live Music Now Scheme, founded by Yehudi Menuhin to bring the highest standards of musicianship to those in the community who have least opportunity to experience the joy and benefits of being involved in live performance. Whilst studying for her Masters Becki has been exploring the use of the harp within experimental electronic projects. Becki loves to discover and perform new contemporary music, and regularly works alongside composers to develop and expand the harp repertoire. In 2017 she performed in the Wigmore Hall as part of their Tansy Davies composer series, and performs regularly with contemporary orchestras. As part of the Chroma Harp Duo Becki gave the European premiere of Paul Patterson’s harp duet, 'Scorpions', a piece for which the duo was awarded first prize in the ensemble class at the Camac Harp Competition in London and the UKHA prize for the best performance of a work by a British composer. Becki went on to work alongside Paul, and showcased his harp solo ‘Lizards’ as part of the 13th World Harp Congress in Hong Kong (2017). Most recently, she has worked alongside composer John Kefala Kerr to create a performance space within Newcastle's Grainger markets. The project, 'Acadia' celebrated the history and contemporary life of the markets, culminating in several performances of the work, written for harp, soprano and electronics.