Hire Sam MacAdam | Harpist in Glasgow

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From£350

1 hour

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Watch & Listen

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How Long Will I Love You - Ellie Goulding - Harp Cover - Sam MacAdam

Take On Me - Multi track harp cover - #shorts

Godspeed - Frank Ocean/James Blake - Harp Cover

About Sam

'Sam's performance was stunning. We could not have dreamt of a better way to have our wedding ceremony started.' Award winning harpist!

3 of 12 photos

Harpist

Glasgow

Public liability insurance of £10 million

Hello! I'm absolutely in love with the harp, and there's nothing more I enjoy than performing for people, and helping to make people's events perfect. Confetti Ceremony Performer Highly Commended 2023 Confetti Ceremony Performer Award Winner 2022 Scottish Wedding Award Finalist 2019 Featured in Tie The Knot Scotland in issues from 2019-2022 Compositions and pieces played on BBC Radio Scotland Graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018 with a First Class (honours) degree in both classical pedal harp and the Scottish clarsach, I'm a versatile player across multiple genres and pride myself on being able to match the mood and atmosphere of your event. My repertoire is extensive, stretching from Debussy to The Beatles, and I offer a completely bespoke and custom service for weddings where I will arrange/transcribe and learn all of your music for the ceremony itself. I've been playing weddings professionally for over ten years and I'm familiar with most of the venues in Scotland and Northern England. My experience means that I'm able to react to anything that happens on the day (as we all know weddings can be a touch unpredictable) so that your guests remain calm and the service moves smoothly. I'm also familiar with religious wedding ceremonies, can accompany hymns, and am always happy to offer advice on whether a particular musical idea you have will work well on the harp, or might need a wee bit of tweaking! I play solo, with orchestras across Scotland, as a core member of Women in Chamber Music and with a clarsach trio 'The Willow Trio'. Within the trio we explore contemporary folk music, original compositions, and arrange classical music for the trio. Most notably, our 2019 tour was our arrangement of 'The Nutcracker' with an award winning ballet dancer. We are currently working on a folk-ballet retelling the story of Swan Lake based on the parallel Gaelic legend of The Swan of Salen.

Sam

5 out of 5

24 verified reviews

Satisfaction

5.0

Professionalism

5.0

Communication

5.0

Punctuality

5.0

Sam's Reviews

5 out of 5

Sam agreed to play at our wedding at relatively short notice after my initial booking with another harpist fell through. I am so relieved that it did, because not only did Sam provide a first-class performance on the day (we never doubted that part for a second!) but she was regularly in touch with me prior to the ceremony so she could understand our wishes exactly. I was immediately impressed by Sam's catholic repertoire, from classical music to video game soundtracks. So excellent a harpist is Sam that my wife and I deliberately took our time signing the register, so we could appreciate the back-up song we'd asked Sam to play too! If you are in any doubt about who to choose for your special day, look no further than Sam. Sam, thank you so much for everything, and apologies for taking so long to get round to this review - long honeymoon! All the best, Sean & Laura

5 out of 5

An absolutely perfect experience! Sam made my wedding dreams come true, and even agreeing to do a combination of songs for me walking down the aisle! Everyone loved listening to the music Sam played and it just made the day so dreamy! She has such a huge list of pieces she can play and even when I requested some off the list, Sam was happy to play them too! I would highly recommend, you will not be disappointed with her work!

Reply from Sam

2 months ago

Thanks so much Kat, it was such a beautiful day! Thank you for having me and congratulations again!

5 out of 5

Sam was fantastic and set precisely the right mood for our cocktail hour. She was very professional and easy to work with and I highly recommend hiring her.

5 out of 5

Sam was amazing!! She played my entrance song perfectly and was great entertainment for our guests. Would highly recommend Sam for anyone's wedding 😊

Read all 13 reviews

5 out of 5

We always knew we wanted a harpist as part of our big day and were over the moon that Sam was available on our special date. We really can not recommend Sam highly enough. From the outset she was so friendly, welcoming and reassuring especially in the circumstances we found ourselves in. Having never planned a wedding before we were unsure of which songs would best suit our ceremony and style. Sam’s evident passion, knowledge and love for music is clear and she was fantastic at recommending songs for our ceremony. Being a bride who loves Disney, it was amazing to see what a wide selections of songs she had to choose from. She really does have a song for everyone! All of our guests commented on what a lovely touch having a harpist was and the beautiful playing created a lovely atmosphere and brought a tear to many guests eyes. For those of you in the midst of planning your big day, ask Sam to be a part of it. You won’t regret it! We really can’t thank Sam enough for helping to make our day so memorable.

5 out of 5

Straight from the start, Sam was fantastic and explained the whole schedule, different types of music and was even willing to learn any song we wished to have. Any questions we had were well answered and allowed us to make the best decision for our day. On the day Sam arrived promptly and was extremely flexible to move the playing to outside the venue (we decided to switch to an outside wedding about 30 minutes before the scheduled start time as it was such a beautiful day) and every piece of music was absolutely stunning! Thankfully Sam was able to stay for our reception - due to the COVID restrictions, we could only have music for the ceremony unless it was outside - and was more than willing to extend her time with us. Although in the midst of the pandemic it may not have been the wedding we initially planned, everything came together perfectly, including Sams music. I couldn't recommend Sam enough, brilliant and stunning music!

Read all 11 reviews

Encore badges

3rd most booked musician of 2021!

10 gigs

Experienced: 10 bookings through Encore

Saved the day!

Booked for an Encore gig with less than 24 hours’ notice

7th Anniversary

This act has been working with Encore for over 7 years

Member of the Encore community forum

Sam's Song list

Modern

500 Miles – The Proclaimers

A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles

A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton

Africa - Toto

Aint No Sunshine – Bill Withers

Always Remember Us This Way – Lady Gaga

All Of Me – John Legend

All My Loving – The Beatles

All You Need is Love – The Beatles

As Long As You Love Me – The Backstreet Boys

Avril 14th – Aphex Twin

Be Alright – Lucy Rose

Better Off Alone – Alice Deejay

Better Together – Jack Johnson

Billie Jean – Michael Jackson

Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve

Blackbird- The Beatles

Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan

Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel

Bring Me Sunshine

Brown Eyed Girl

Budapest – George Ezra

Caledonia – Dougie McClean

Can’t Help Falling in Love – Elvis

C’est La Vie – B*witched

Chasing Cars – Snow Patrol

Chasing Pavements – Adele

Children – Robert Miles

Clocks – Coldplay

Come Away with Me – Norah Jones

Cosmic Love - Florence and the Machine

Descpacito

Don’t Stop Believing - Journey

Don’t You Worry Child – Swedish House Mafia

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

Everything – Michael Buble

Everything I do (I Do if For You) – Bryan Adams

Everlong – The Foo Fighters

Feeling Good – Muse

Fields of Gold - Sting

Fireflies – Owl City

Firestone - Kygo

Forget You

Gimme, Gimme, Gimmee (A Man After Midnight) – Abba

Grace – Donna Taggart

Greatest Day – Take That!

Hallelujah – Leonard Cohen

Halo - Beyonce

Here Comes The Sun – The Beatles

Ho Hey – The Lumineers

Hold My Girl – George Ezra

Home – Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Hoppippola – Sigur Ros

How Long Will I Love You – Ellie Goulding

Human – The Killers

Hymn for the Weekend - Coldplay

I-J

I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith

I’m Yours – Jason Mraz

If I aint Got You – Alicia Keys

Intro – The XX

Isn’t She Lovely – Stevie Wonder

I Only Want to Be With You – Dusty Springfield

I Walk the Line – Johnny Cash

Jesus Christ – Brand New

Knowing Me, Knowing You – Abba

Lady - Modjo

Let It Be – The Beatles

Let Her Go – Passenger

Let’s Get Married – The Proclaimers

Living on a Prayer – Bon Jovi

Make You Feel My Love - Adele

Marry You – Bruno Mars

Nothing Else Matters - Metallica

New Born – Muse

One Day Like This - Elbow

One More Time – Daft Punk

One Thousand Years – Christina Perri

Only You - Yazoo

Perfect – Ed Sheeran

Photograph – Ed Sheeran

Proud Mary – Tina Turner

Riders on The Storm – The Doors

Rolling in the Deep - Adele

Sandstorm - Darude

September – Earth, Wind, and Fire

Shape of You – Ed Sheeran

Silly Love Songs – Paul McCartney

Signed Sealed Delivered – Stevie Wonder

Sky Full of Stars – Coldplay

Slow Dancing in the Dark – Joji

Somewhere Only We Know – Lily Allen

Songbird – Christine McVie

Stand By Me

Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

Sweet Home Alabama

T-V

Tears in Heaven – Eric Clapton

The Dog Days Are Over – Florence and the Machine

The Greatest Day – Take That

Thinking Out Loud – Ed Sheeran

Time, As a Symptom of Love – Joanna Newsome

Titanium – David Guetta

Three Little Birds – Bob Marley

Toxic – Britney Spears

Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Viva Forever – The Spice Girls

Walking on Sunshine – Catriona and the Waves

Wake me Up – Aviici

Walls – Kings of Leon

We Found Love – Rhianna

Where is My Mind – the Pixies

Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd

Wonderful Tonight – Eric Clapton

Wonderwall – Oasis

World of Our Own - Westlife

Wouldn’t It Be Nice – The Beach Boys

Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush

You Do Something To Me – Paul Weller

Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey

Your Song – Elton John

Yours – Ella Henderson

You’re Still the One – Shania Twain

Classics and Jazz

(Is this the way to) Amarillo

Always on My Mind – Elvis Presley

At Last – Etta James*

Autumn Leaves

Black Coffee

Bring me Sunshine – Arthur Kent

D-E

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – Jule Styne

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend – Jule Styne

Dream a Little Dream of Me

Everything – Michael Bublé

F-H

Fly Me to the Moon – Bart Howard

Golden Slumbers – The Beatles

Guilty

Have You Met Miss Jones?

How High The Moon

I’d like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)

I’m Beginning to See The Light

Isn’t She Lovely

It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Aint Got That Swing)

I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor

La Vie En Rose – Edith Piaf

Leaving on a Jet Plane – John Denver

Lovin’ You – Minnie Ripperton

Lullaby of Birdland – George Shearing

M-P

Mack the knife

Moon River

Morning has Broken – Cat Stevens

My Way – Sinatra

Non, Je ne regrette rien – Charles Dumont

Over The Rainbow

Please Mr Postman – B. Holland

Senorita – Shaun Mendez

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Smile – Charles Chaplin

Spanish Eyes – Kaempfert

Spanish Flea – Julius Wechter

Stella By Starlight

Summetime

That’s Amore – Dean Martin

The Air that I breathe – Albert Hammond

The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face

The Windmills of Your Mind – Michel Legrand

They long to be close to you – Burt Bacharach

Tijuana Taxi – Bud Coleman

Top of the World – Richard Carpenter

Unforgettable

Up, Up and Away – Jim Webb

Walk on By – Burt Bacharach

What A Difference A Day Made – Jamie Cullum

What A Wonderful World

What the World Needs Now is Love – Burt Bacharach

Yellow Submarine – Lennon & McCartney

Yesterday – Lennon & McCartney

You’ll Never Walk Alone – From Carousel

Young at Heart

Disney

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

A Whole New World

Bella Notte

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Everybody Wants to Be a Cat

Feed The Birds

Hakuna Matata

He’s a tramp

I See The Light – Tangled

Let it Go

Let’s Go Fly a Kite

Married Life (Up)

Part of Your World

Someday my prince will come

Something There

Tale as old as time

The Bare Necessities

Under The Sea

When Somebody Loved Me

When You Wish Upon a Star

You’ve Got a Friend in Me

You’ll Be in My Heart (Tarzan)*

Classical

Adagio, Sonata Op.5, No. 10 – Corelli

Air from Water Music – Handel

Allegro A minor – Giulani

Aria from Sonata for Flute – Vinci

Au Matin – Tournier*

Ave Maria – Schubert

Caro Mio Ben – Giordano

Concerto Eb – O’ Carolan

D - F

Debussy – Premier Arabesque *

Finlandia (Theme) – Sibelius

G-J

Gymnopedies – Satie

Harpicide at Midnight – Chertok*

Hornpipe from Water Music – Handel

I Giorni – Einaudi

Jesu, joy of Man’s Desiring – Bach

Larghetto – Handel

Largo – Handel

Laudate Dominum

Le Printemps – Einaudi

O-M

O Mio Babbini Caro - Puccini

Menuet – Buttstedt

Minuetto E minor – Scarlatti

Pachabel’s Canon – Pachabel

Panis Angelicus

Pie Jesu

Prelude 2 – Tournier*

Prelude in C – Bach

Primavera - Einaudi

R-T

River Flows in You - Yiruma

Sheep May Safely Graze – Bach

Spring from the four seasons – Vivaldi

The Swan – Saint Saens

Traumerei – Schumann

Trumpet Tune – Jeremiah Clarke

Wedding March – Mendelssohn

Wedding March - Wagner

Folk – Scottish and Irish

Auld Lang Syne,

Caledonia,

Complainte de la blanche biche – Anonymous, 16th Century

Flow Gently Sweet Afton

Go lassie, Go

Greensleeves

Highland Cathederal

Leezie Lindsey

Loch Lomond

Marry Me Now

Molly Malone

My love is like a Red, Red Rose (Burns)

O’Carolan’s welcome

Sands of Hosta

Scotland the Brave

She Moved through the fair

The Fields of Atherny

The Old Reel/G minor Reel

Town I Loved So Well

Whiskey In the Jar

Will Ye No Come Back Again? (Burns)

Women of Ireland

Hymns

Abide With Me

All Things Bright and Beautiful

Amazing Grace

At The Name of Jesus

Dear Lord and Father of Manking

Give Me Joy In My Heart

Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken

Guide me O, Thou Great Redeemer

How Great Though Art

I, The Lord of Sea and Sky

Lord of All Hopefulness

Lord of the Dance

Love Diving, All Loves Excelling

Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

Morning Has Broken

One Small Step Along the World

Praise My Soul, The King of Heaven

Shine, Jesus Shine

Thine Be the Glory

Film / TV Music

Après le autre ete (Amelie)

Always With Me (Spirited Away)

A Million Dreams (The Greatest Showman)

Ashitaka and San (Princess Mononoke)

Babe (Saint-Saens Organ Concerto, theme from 3rd movement)

Bella’s Lullaby (Twilight)

City of Stars (La La Land)

Concerning Hobbits (LOTR)

For The Love of A Princess (Theme From Braveheart)

The Godfather (Love Theme)

Island Song (Adventure Time)

Love Actually (The Glasgow Love Theme)

Moon River (Breakfast At Tiffany’s)

One Summer’s Day (Spirited Away)

Rose Theme (Titanic)

River Flows In You (Twilight)

Up (Married Life)

Waltz of Chihiro (Spirited Away)

You’ve Got a Friend in Me (Toy Story)

Game Music

Final Fantasy

FFIV – Theme of Love

FFVI – Aria Di Mezzo Carattere

FFVII – Aeris Theme

To Zanarkland

The Legend of Zelda

Great Fairy Fountain

Lost Woods

Sacred Grove

Sheik’s Theme

Zelda’s Lullaby

Gwyn lord of Cinder – Theme

Kingdom Hearts – Clearly Beloved

Seasonal

Christmas songs including:

A la Nanita Nana

All I want for Christmas is You

Angels from the Realms of Glory

Angels We have heard on high

Away in a Manger

Baby it’s cold outside

Blue Christmas

Carol of the Bells (Home Alone Song)

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire (The Chistmas Song)

Christ Child’s Lullaby

Christmas Lights -Coldplay

Come, All Ye Shepherds

Coventry Carol

Fairytale of New York

The First Nowell

Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy*

Ding Dong! Merrily on High

Divinum Mysterium

Do They Know It’s Christmas?

Do You hear What I Hear?

Feliz Navidad

The First Noel

Frosty The Snowman

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Good King Wenceslas

Hallelujah Chorus

Hark The Herald Angels Sing

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The Holly and the Ivy

I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

I Wonder as I Wander

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring

Jingle Bell Rock

June in January

Last Christmas

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Mele Kalikimaka

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Xmas Everybody

The Most Wonderful Time of the year

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer

Santa Baby

Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town

Silent Night

Silver Bells

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

White Christmas

Sam's Prices

Note: prices may vary based on travel distance. For an exact quote, click “Check availability”.

Performance duration	Price
Short performance (up to 15 min)	£100
Up to 1 hour	£350
Up to 2 hours	£400
Up to 3 hours	£450

Full length drinks reception

Two performances of up to 45 mins each during your drinks reception. Personalised song choice from my song list.

£440

Wedding ceremony

This includes music before the service begins, music during the signing of the register, and music as guests leave. Entirely bespoke music choices, as long as I have one month's notice.

£440

Wedding ceremony + Short Drinks reception

- Music before the service begins, music during the signing of the register, and music as guests leave with bespoke song choices - 1 hour long performance during the drinks reception

£495

Wedding ceremony + Long Drinks reception

- Music before the service begins, music during the signing of the register, and music as guests leave. Totally bespoke song choices for the wedding ceremony - 2 x 45 min performances at the drinks reception. Choices chosen from my song list.

£550

Customer questions

What do your clients love most about your performances?

My ability to perform their chosen repertoire. I take pride in my range of music - from traditional to 90s dance classics. My repertoire has been built up over the years, and my arrangements are true to the originals. My professionalism and interacting with their guests. I love playing your niece's favourite Disney song, or Elvis for your grandma.

Which venues have you performed at in the past?

I've played at most of the wedding venues in Scotland, having played at over 200 weddings. I know the set up procedures, are comfortable with how the harp works best in the venue, and can advise you on which harp would be perfect for your venue.

Which artists have you been most influenced by?

A mixture of Grieg, Debussy, Radiohead, Belle and Sebastian, The Beatles, Frank Ocean. A pretty eclectic mix!

What is the most high profile gig you've performed?

I performed at Edinburgh's Hogmanay Street party with my ceilidh band! I still can't believe it!

What if my timings change after I've booked you?

If timings change slightly then just let me know! I try to be as flexible as possible. All timing changes need to be agreed in writing at least one week before the event.

How much time do you need to set up?

I take thirty minutes to set up, tune, and tidy my space away so it looks perfect! I arrive about one hour before the start of an event so that I'm all set up and ready to go in advance. If you'd like me to set up and arrive sooner than that then let me know. It incurs a slight fee, but I'm more than happy to help!

Is the transport of your harp included in your quote?

Absolutely! There will be no hidden costs in my quote, my final quote will contain performance, travel, amplification, and transport!

Do you need any equipment provided to play outdoors?

None at all - I use my own amp when playing outdoors as otherwise the sound of the harp might not reach all of your guests. My amp is battery powered and totally self contained. If it is raining then I will need full cover or to perform indoors as my instrument is valuable and could be damaged. Full cover includes ground cover.

Can I pick the pieces you play from the set list?

The ceremony is entirely bespoke - you can choose anything (even from outwith my list!) - I just ask for at least one month's notice for any song choices. For the drinks reception I'm happy for you to pick pieces from my set list, and I'll form it into a set for the day. If there's something you don't see then definitely ask - I may already know it!

Can you learn specific pieces before the event?

The ceremony is entirely specific pieces that you choose, and this is included in the original quote. For any other events, if a song isn't included in our song list there may still be a chance I already know it. If you have a few requests then I'll do my best, although I can't guarantee learning or knowing your requests. Send me a message!

Musicianship

Genres:

Covers, Christmas, Traditional church music, Classical, Baroque, Classical crossover, Contemporary classical, Film / TV music, Medieval music, Renaissance, Musical theatre, Opera, Early music, 1990s era music, 1980s era music, 1970s era music, 1960s era music, 1950s era music, Folk, Traditional Scottish folk, Traditional Irish folk, Traditional English folk, Welsh folk, Country, Jazz, Easy listening, Light music, Pop, Disco, Bollywood, Scottish music

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Instruments:

Harp, Celtic harp, Bollywood harpist

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Event types:

Wedding, Wedding proposal, Funeral / Memorial service, Church service, Hotel / Restaurant event, Recording session, Concert, Private event, Corporate event, Burns night, Birthday party, Christmas party, Theatre / Show, Bar / Club / Venue event

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Other skills:

Arranger, Transcription, Fluent sight-reader, Instrumental teaching, Theory teaching

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