The "celebrated virtuoso partnership" (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH) of Máire Ní Chathasaigh, “the doyenne of Irish harpers” (SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY) and 2001 recipient of Irish traditional music's most prestigious award, Musician of the Year - Gradam Ceoil TG4 - and Chris Newman,  a “brilliant English master of the acoustic guitar” (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH), has brought its unique musical vision to venues large and small - from the tiniest of historic churches in England, Germany and Italy to palaces in Kyoto and Istanbul,London’s Barbican, Cologne's Philharmonie, and Town Halls from Sydney to Seattle – in twenty-four countries on five continents. 

Their performances are rooted but eclectic, emotional but adventurous: a breathtaking blend of traditional Irish music, hot jazz, bluegrass and baroque, coupled with striking new compositions, pieces from Chris’ groundbreaking newest solo album 'Breaking Bach’ - and what THE WEST AUSTRALIAN calls his "delightfully subversive wit”!

As the first harp / guitar duo, Máire and Chris were greeted by a mixture of bemusement, suspicion, astonishment - and finally, enthusiasm! They made their début as a duo on the main stage at the 1987 Cambridge Folk Festival. Highlights from their career since then include a 1988 tour of Australia as special guests of Siamsa Tíre - the Irish National Folk Theatre - in celebration of Australia's Bicentennial, at the invitation of Bob Hawke, then Prime Minister of Australia; a concert in the Ottoman Çırağan Palace as part of the Istanbul Harp Encounter in 2010; a concert with revered Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamashta and Ensemble Kabul in Nijo Castle (the Shogun's Palace), Kyoto, Japan; a 2023 concert at the legendary Muthaiga Club in Nairobi, Kenya: many wonderful trips to Italy; a magical concert at the castle in Malcesine, Italy, overlooking a moonlit Lake Garda; four Irish Folk Festival tours of Germany in the late 80s and early 90s; four major tours of Australasia as part of the Guinness Celebration of Irish Music - Guinness Australia issued a special edition of their can for the Guinness Celebration of Irish Music tour of Australasia 1990, showing Máire and Chris’s names and listing all the very prestigious tour venues; and countless tours in the UK and Ireland,  North America, Europe and Australasia. They married in 2005.

A TV documentary programme about Máire and her sister Nollaig (also featuring their sister Mairéad, Nollaig's late husband Arty McGlynn, and Chris)  was broadcast in late 2020 as part of TG4's Sé mo Laoch series, was recently re-broadcast, and is still available to view on the TG4 Player - the link is on our homepage. (TG4 is Ireland's national Irish-language TV station.)

Chris and Máire are featured on the major BBC 2 TV series on Irish music, ‘Bringing it All Back Home’ - the associated BBC book features a large photograph of Máire on the front cover (see picture above)– and on Polygram USA’s major 1998 Celtic harp album and associated PBS TV special, ‘Celtic Harpestry’. They’re also featured on Irish rock legend Rory Gallagher’s posthumous 2003 album on BMG, ‘Wheels within Wheels’. Máire is harp and voice soloist with the New English Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of New College Oxford on John Cameron's major work Missa Celtica, released by Erato Disques, Paris. (Further information at www.johncameronmusic.com) The Goldcrest film, ‘Driftwood’, features her singing, and her harping and compositions feature with Dónal Lunny, Sharon Shannon, Máire's sister Nollaig Casey and other luminaries of the Celtic music world on Dan ar Braz's Gold Disc-awarded album for Sony France, ‘Finisterres’. (Listen to Finisterres on Spotify here.) Broadcasts include televised concerts on TG4 and Rai Uno; TV appearances on RTÉ, BBC, S4C, HTV, WDR, ABC, France 3, PBS (the associated TV special of the Polygram USA CD release ‘Celtic Harpestry’) and countless radio performances world-wide.

The April / May 2021 issue of The Living Tradition magazine featured Chris and Máire on the cover and the accompanying interview is here.

They have made seven duo albums, five solo albums and two quartet albums, and Máire has additionally made a trio album with her sisters, The Casey Sisters.

Of their sixth duo album, ‘FireWire’, the critics said: "An eclecticism and spirit of adventure that is quite thrilling... bewitching string fantasies and a wonderfully clear and expressive voice" * * * THE TIMES "Dazzling virtuosity... The speed and complexity

is to be marvelled at... exquisitely delivered songs... delightful" THE DAILY TELEGRAPH "In a class of their own" * * * THE GUARDIAN "Takes one of the most effete instruments in traditional music and breathes a fire into its belly" * * * * THE IRISH TIMES "Brilliant, innovative harping and guitar-playing of astonishing virtuosity and versatility" * * * * SONGLINES "50 minutes of sparkling, seemingly effortless music which is of course the product of decades of hard work... Sheer class

throughout" fROOTS “Allie virtuosité et fougue aventureuse… Eclectique et étonnant” KELTIA MAGAZINE (France) "Album of the Year" LIVE IRELAND "Best Celtic Instrumental Album" JUST PLAIN FOLKS AWARDS Nashville, Tennessee.

Their seasonal album, ‘Christmas Lights’, was "A delightful, satisfyingly original, often refreshingly unpredictable take on festive favourites... Gorgeous, enchanting, uplifting" THE LIVING TRADITION "Masterful playing... From the entrancing and delicate to wildly celebratory, they have an absolute ball!“ * * * * FOLK WALES “De délicates fantaisies de cordes ensorcelantes” LE PEUPLE BRETON - and their Celtic Christmas Strings tours regularly play to sell-out audiences: "(Their) mastery and magic... produced a rapt response" THE GUARDIAN

Of their other five albums together, The Living Wood (1988) was the Daily Telegraph’s Folk Album of the Year, Out of Court (1991) was "stunning... one of the most refreshingly innovative releases in recent years" - Folk Roots, The Carolan Albums (1994) was “a masterpiece of virtuosity” - The Daily Telegraph, Live in the Highlands (1995) was “One of the best live albums I’ve heard for a long time... captures the essence of these remarkable performers in a rare and priceless way. Absolutely essential.“ - Folk Roots and Dialogues:Agallaimh (2001) was “Terrific: brilliant, beautiful, rich, virtuosic, delightful, classic, perfect!” (The Sunday Tribune)

Chris and Máire’s quartet album ‘Heartstring Sessions’ with guitarist Arty McGlynn and Máire's sister, fiddler Nollaig Casey, is “Inspired - a contender for album of the year” fROOTS “Traditional music at its very best” * * * * THE IRISH TIMES "An amazingly eclectic mix... Astounding" THE ULSTER HERALD "Magnificent... Virtuosic… Outstanding" * * * * * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY “World-class” IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE “Two of the mightiest pairings in current folk combine to give a tour-de-force of breathtaking order. Classic.” THE LIVING TRADITION "Attention - chef d'œuvre! Bravo!!!” TRAD MAGAZINE (France) “A dream quartet - the sweetest and most exciting music to emerge for a long time. Amazing virtuosity matched with sheer good taste.” DIRTY LINEN (USA)

Chris Newman is one of the world's finest flat-picking guitarists and a gifted improviser. He began to play guitar at the age of four and at fourteen played his first paid gig in a folk club. As a guitarist, he has toured and recorded with luminaries of many musical worlds: folk (harper Máire Ní Chathasaigh, Boys of the Lough, Aly Bain, Kathryn Tickell, Danny Thompson), jazz (Stéphane Grappelli, Diz Disley and Danny Thompson again) and comedy (Fred Wedlock, the Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra). A prolific composer, arranger and record producer, he received a silver disc for producing Fred's international hit The Oldest Swinger in Town, to which he also composed the tune and which reached No 6 in the charts in the UK and No 1 in several other countries. As Fred’s Musical Director and bandleader, appearances on such iconic national TV programmes as BBC’s Top of the Pops followed. 

One day in 1985 he decided he'd really rather play interesting music than pursue interesting paychecks, so turned his back on the commercial world and returned to his folk and improvisational roots. He has since concentrated on composition, the traditional music of these islands and beyond, and bluegrass and its intersection with swing jazz - he is one of the most highly-regarded American-style flatpickers in the world who are not from the US, and he has shared the stage on a number of occasions with Beppe Gambetta, Dan Crary, Mark Cosgrove and many other such luminaries. He is a regular flatpick guitar instructor and performer at Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamp, held annually in Maryville, TN - there  are links to Chris performing there with Dan Crary and with Mark Cosgrove on the Audio and Video page of this website.

In addition to his work with Máire, Chris toured until 1997 as a member of Boys of the Lough in North America, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Denmark, China and Italy. 

He was principal guitar and mandolin tutor for Newcastle University’s Folk B.Mus degree course for twenty-one years, since its inception, and many of his alumni form the new wave of British acoustic guitarists and mandolinists currently gracing festival stages.

His book of guitar compositions and arrangements,’ Adventures with a Flatpick’, was published in 2001. 

‘Breaking Bach’, Chris' solo album of his arrangements for steel-strung flatpicked guitar of sonatas and partitas written by JS Bach for solo instruments was released in July 2021. "Audacious and eminently enjoyable" * * * * THE SCOTSMAN "A ground-breaking project... a magnificent tour-de-force... a toweringly-impressive achievement" THE LIVING TRADITION "Life-affirming... (Newman's) achievement is colossal... Elegant, stylish and unmistakeably from the heart." * * * * RnR MAGAZINE "Dazzling... utterly breathtaking... a triumph." * * * * * FOLK WALES

Chris’ previous solo album ‘Still Getting Away with It’ (2010), a celebration of his 40-year career, was “Astonishing - a joy-filled romp through blues, back-porch pickin', Quebec reels, Django swing jazz chordings, bluegrass, African high- life, ragtime, latin, Irish jigs and beyond, and a must-buy for any guitar player” * * * * SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY “Amazing... One of our greatest musicians” Mike Harding, BBC RADIO 2 "Beauty and virtuosity from a master craftsman at the peak of his abilities... I couldn’t recommend an album more highly" * * * * MAVERICK “A triumph... I'm fully conscious that I'm in the presence of greatness here... one of the top guitarists of his ilk anywhere” THE LIVING TRADITION “Precision-engineered, lovingly crafted tunes... Playful and incredibly dextrous” * * *THE IRISH TIMES “Dazzling... A genuinely uplifting album of some of the most remarkable - yet accessible - guitar playing you're going to hear all year” * * * * * ROCK N REEL “His playing boggles my mind” FLATPICKING GUITAR MAGAZINE (USA)

His third solo album, ‘Fretwork’ (1998), a vehicle for his trademark eclecticism, was
"A stunning and stylistically-varied album, heaving with good tunes, from one of the UK’s most staggering and influential acoustic guitarists” FOLK ROOTS "Dazzling" ACOUSTIC GUITAR (USA)  "Nothing short of brilliant” DIRTY LINEN (USA)
"The John Williams of folk guitar…takes the breath away. Newman wears his virtuosity lightly and his music has immense vitality and charm” THE INVERNESS COURIER (Scotland) “A veritable feast of immaculate guitar playing - a marvellous achievement… A testament to Newman’s ability to make the guitar grab your attention and never let you go. A great album from a respected and revered folk guitarist” TAPLAS “Dazzling” ACOUSTIC GUITAR (USA) “Revered” TAPLAS (Wales) “Spectacular” TIME OUT. “Guitar players don’t come any better than Chris Newman.. I’d blithely cross snow-capped mountains and ford raging rivers to see him play” THE LIVING TRADITION (Scotland)

Máire Ní Chathasaigh is a recipient of Irish traditional music’s most prestigious award, Musician of the Year (Gradam Ceoil TG4 - Ceoltóir na Bliana) - "for the excellence and pioneering force of her music, the remarkable growth she has brought to the music of the harp and for the positive influence she has had on the young generation of harpers".  She grew up in a well-known West Cork musical family, steeped in the oral Irish tradition. Her mother Úna, a native of Allihies, Beara, Co Cork (now 102), was a fine singer and harmonica-player who grew up playing for sets (and dancing in them!); there were lots of musicians on both the O'Sullivan and Dwyer sides of her family, her aunt played the concertina, her older brothers played the accordeon and the flute, and her mother Margaret Dwyer (originally from Urhan and another fine singer and set-dancer) used to host music sessions in the family home on Sunday afternoons. Una taught Máire her first songs as a toddler, taught her to play her first dance tunes (slides and polkas) and her first Irish dances. Máire was already proficient in a variety of other instruments by the time that she began to play the harp at the age of eleven. As there was no prior tradition in Ireland of playing Irish dance music on a harp, she used her existing knowledge of the idiom of the oral Irish tradition to develop a variety of new techniques - particularly in relation to ornamentation - that made it possible for the first time to play this music on the harp in a stylistically accurate way - “a single-handed reinvention of the harp”. Her approach sharply diverged from the established norms of 20th century Irish harping up to that point - the instrument had been associated in the public mind almost exclusively with song accompaniment; performance of the music of the old Irish harpers had been confined to a select few; and the playing of Irish dance music on the harp in an authentically ornamented style had been unheard-of. Máire's originality was quickly recognised and she made a number of TV and radio broadcasts as a teenager, going on to win the All-Ireland and Pan-Celtic Harp Competitions on several occasions. (She won the Senior Competition at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil three times in succession, in 1975, 1976 and 1977.) Her approach has been profoundly influential wherever lever harps are played - “a single-handed reinvention of the harp”.  "Her work restores the harp to its true voice" THE IRISH TIMES “She is the great innovator of modern Irish harping, a player of outstanding technique and imagination” THE ROUGH GUIDE TO IRISH MUSIC

In 1985 she recorded ‘The New-Strung Harp’ - "an intensely passionate and intelligent record and a milestone in Irish harp music" (THE IRISH EXAMINER) - which was re-mastered and reissued in 2023.  It was the first harp album ever to concentrate on traditional Irish dance music,  but also features traditional songs in English and Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and pieces from the 17th- and 18th-century Irish harp tradition. Of it, the critics said: “An intensely passionate and intelligent record... a masterpiece of virtuosity... a milestone in Irish harp music" CORK EVENING ECHO (Ireland) "A classic exercise in music-making" THE SCOTSMAN "Exquisite... exhilarating harp virtuosity... an undoubted classic" THE IRISH PRESS “Extraordinary: a labour of love and a joy to the listener" IN DUBLIN "One of the loveliest albums for many a year...if you have tears to shed, prepare to shed them...The Celtic harp is not generally associated with the dancing rhythms of the reel and the hornpipe...but in Ms Ní Chathasaigh’s nimble fingers the already rapid fountain of notes is further embellished by an astonishing display of decorative ‘grace notes’ - the sort of thing you hear in the ornate singing of the best of West of Ireland voices. The whole album is practically faultless... a glorious record.” FOLK ON TAP “So intricate are her techniques, so subtle her use of tonal lights and shades, so inventive her arrangements, that your attention is not so much caught as captivated. She has a style all of her own but which is ideally suited to the Irish harp. Her method of ornamentation by the nimble repetition of notes

adds an exhilarating skip and vigour to the dance music... Her control and timing (on slow tunes) is spellbinding... A truly beautiful album.” FOLK ROOTS "True artistry" THE SCOTSMAN “I must congratulate everyone connected with the making of this marvellous album... a work of art. This is the harp album I’ve been waiting for: it has everything, from lively jigs and reels to slow airs and some of the best Gaelic singing you are ever likely to hear... I really can’t write any more about this lovely album. In the words of a friend of mine, ‘What can you say about it? It’s perfect!’” TAPLAS
"The New Strung Harp was a game-changer in the world of harp-music... truly ground-breaking... Máire is an absolute legend. The music here is as sublime now as it was when it was released... Essential listening." THE IRISH ECHO (USA) 

As a solo artist, she performed throughout Europe and the United States in the late 1970s and early 1980s and made many TV and radio broadcasts in Ireland. Her live performances had been attracting attention internationally since 1978, when she first took part in the hugely-influential and commercially-successful Irish Folk Festival tour of Germany. Her very first recording was made for the live compilation album released to commemorate that tour (and featured the first commercial recording of a reel played on the harp in a traditional style); other artists featured were Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, Dolores Keane and John Faulkner, Mick Hanly and Máirtin O'Connor. Also in 1978, she took part in Turas na bhFilí go h-Albain (an Irish-Scottish cultural exchange programme jointly-run from 1970 until 2013 by Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge and the Scottish Arts Council) in 1978 with poets Michael Hartnett and Cyril Ó Ceirín, sean-nós singer Josie Sheáin Jeaic Mac Donncha and organiser Colonel Eoghan Ó Néill. On Monday 1 October, 1979, she performed with her sisters Nollaig Casey and Mairéad Ní Chathasaigh to 400,000 people at Pope John Paul II's Mass in Greenpark Racecourse in Limerick. She, together with Liam O'Flynn, Paddy Glackin, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill and Michael Tubridy, represented Ireland in the inaugural EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Folk Festival held in Skagen, Denmark, in June 1980, performing a forty minute radio programme before a live audience, later broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1's 'The Long Note' on 17 November 1980. In 1981 and 1982 she took part in Comhaltas tours in the USA - the latter tour featured the then-unknown dancer Michael Flatley, later to go on to worldwide fame as the star and choreographer of hit shows Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. In the early 1980s she toured regularly in Ireland, the UK and the USA with Irish music legend Joe Burke and in 1983 recorded an album called The Tailor's Choice with him. At that time she also represented Ireland at a number of events in France and Spain, including a Celtic Festival in La Coruña, Galicia, in 1984, and a touring festival organised by the Maison des Cultures du Monde to celebrate the European Year of Music 1985 where she collaborated with artists from Mali, Sénégal, Congo, Haiti, Mexico, Vietnam, Morocco, Algeria, France and Italy. She first performed at the Edinburgh Harp Festival in 1984 and went on to perform there many times since then. In June 1986 she gave a private concert in Dromoland Castle, Co Clare, for then-President of Ireland Patrick Hillery and his wife Maeve, and King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain on the occasion of the latter's state visit to Ireland. She performed in Australia with Aly Bain and Alistair Anderson at the prestigious Perth Festival (Perth Concert Hall) and Melbourne Festival (Melbourne Arts Centre) in January 1987 (a press review of the performance is here).

Two volumes of her arrangements have been published: The Irish Harper Vols. I and II. She contributed two articles about the Irish harp and modes in Irish music to the ‘Companion to Irish Traditional Music’ (Cork University Press) and is profiled there, in Celtic Women in Music (Quarry Books, Canada) and in ‘The Rough Guide to Irish Music’. 

Harp festival performances world-wide have included solo concerts at the 11th World Harp Congress, Vancouver; 21st Swiss Harp Festival, 7th European Harp Symposium (Cardiff, Wales),  XIIes Journées de la Harpe, (Arles, France), International Harp School, Wells, B.C., Canada; Harfen in Schwaben, Germany; Southeastern Harp Weekend, North Carolina; VII Rio Harp Festival, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the 9th World Harp Congress, Dublin, 2005 (opening concert in St Patrick's Cathedral and solo concert as part of Celtic Highlights series); the 5th World Harp Congress, Copenhagen 1993 (concert shared with Gráinne Yeats and Isobel Mieras - the first ever Congress event to feature the Irish harp), the Welsh Harp School; and duo concerts at Somerset Folk Harp Festival, New Jersey; Istanbul Harp Encounter, Turkey; Harpe en Avesnois - Festival International de Harpe, France; Rencontres Internationales de Harpes Celtiques, France; Edinburgh Harp Festival, Scotland; An Chúirt Chruitireachta International Festival for Irish Harp, Ireland; the O'Carolan Harp Festival, Nobber, Co. Meath, Ireland; the World Harp Festival (Cardiff); HarpCon Bloomington, Indiana; the Highland Harp Festival, Inverness, Scotland; Cromarty Harp Village, Scotland; and Festivals held in Belfast, Dublin and Boston to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival. 

Other solo performances by Máire have taken place at the Samhain Festival, Stockholm; the Mission Folk Festival, B.C., Canada; the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland; the London Irish Centre; the University of Leeds; and the Birmingham Early Music Festival. She gave a 16-date nationwide lecture tour of the USA in March/April 2006 at the invitation of the Irish American Cultural Institute. 

Her trio album with her sisters The Casey Sisters, ‘Sibling Revelry’, was "First-class... wonderfully atmospheric" * * * * THE DAILY TELEGRAPH "Stunning" THE LIVING TRADITION “Très romantique... magnifique sonorité!" LE CANARD FOLK "Radiant... a treat" * * * * THE IRISH TIMES "Superbe" * * * * TRAD MAGAZINE (France) "Blissfully beautiful... channelling mythology, nostalgia and geography to bewitching effect in heartfelt music” * * * * SONGLINES “Virtuosic, rich, flowing, soulful... (with) sheer depth of feeling for the Irish tradition" THE HERALD (Scotland).

Máire now concentrates primarily on performance. However, she’s always placed a high priority on passing on her knowledge and techniques to the next generation, with the aim – now largely achieved - of re-integrating the Irish harp into the mainstream of the living oral Irish tradition. She has been giving masterclasses in Ireland, the UK, Europe and the USA since the mid-1970s with the result that her ideas and techniques are now very widely disseminated. When harp was included in the list of instruments taught at the Scoil Éigse before Fleadh Cheoil na h-Éireann for the very first time in 1976, it was Máire who was invited to teach the class. 2025 will be her thirty-ninth year as the senior tutor at An Chúirt Chruitireachta International Festival for Irish Harp organised by Cairde na Cruite (The Irish Harp Society) in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, the pre-eminent such festival, attracting harpers from all over the world. (See www.cairdenacruite.com for further details.) She has taught in the past at the Cork Municipal School of Music (where she developed the first ever examination syllabus for non-pedal harp) and at the Leeds College of Music. Her arrangements have been featured on the Syllabus of the Royal Irish Academy of Music for a number of years and also feature on the the new (as of January 2025) ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) pedal and lever harp examination syllabus. She has been a visiting harp tutor at Newcastle University, Limerick University, the University of Ulster and the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana.  She has given workshops and masterclasses at the Istanbul Harp Encounter, Rencontres Internationales de la Harpe Celtique (Dinan, France), the International Festival for Irish Harp, Termonfechin, Co Louth, Ireland (every year since 1985); the Willie Clancy Summer School (every year since 2013), the Edinburgh Harp Festival; the O'Carolan Harp Festival, Nobber, Co. Meath, Ireland, Harp Weekend at Bandon Walled Town Festival, National Folk Festival, Australia, Perth International Festival, Australia, the Southeastern Harp Weekend, Asheville, N.C., Music Generation Laois Summer Camp, Ireland, HarpCon, Bloomington, Indiana, the Highland Harp Festival, the Welsh Harp School, Cromarty Harp Village, Scotland, the 21st Swiss Harp Festival, the International Harp School, Wells, B.C., Canada, the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland, Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School, Festivals held in Belfast, Dublin and Boston to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival, and given countless workshops for harp societies in Europe, Australasia and North America.

“So moving... Technical brilliance and beauty that brings tears to the eyes” IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE (Ireland) “An eclecticism and spirit of adventure that is quite thrilling” THE TIMES (UK) “Dazzling virtuosity” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH (UK) "Sublime" SYDNEY MORNING HERALD (Australia) “Chris is amazing... one of our greatest musicians” BBC RADIO 2 (UK) “In a class of their own” THE GUARDIAN (UK) “Music of fire and brilliance from the high-wire act in traditional music” THE IRISH TIMES (Ireland) “Remarquables de virtuosité et de grâce” TRAD Magazine (France) "Astonishing" GENERAL-ANZEIGER (Germany) "String magic of a special kind... a perfect duet... extraordinary.” PFORZHEIMER ZEITUNG" (Germany) "Simply magnificent" RHEINPFALZ (Germany) "Blazing guitar and dancing harp” DIRTY LINEN (USA) "The mood is ever changing - sometimes haunting, sometimes boisterous but always magical. The pair's imaginations know no bounds" THE BRISBANE COURIER-MAIL (Australia) “So moving... Technical brilliance and beauty that brings tears to the eyes” IRISH MUSIC MAGAZINE (Ireland)  “Their stagecraft was masterly and their introductions informative and funny” THE CHRISTCHURCH PRESS (New Zealand) “This celebrated duo took the place by storm. Stately Carolan tunes, jazzy Django-ish numbers, dazzling Doc Watson style flat picking fliers, driving Irish dance tunes - this pair can nonchalantly do the lot. Guitar players applauded and went sadly home to burn their instruments!” THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH (Ireland) “Did things I have never heard a harp do before... Astonishing... An extraordinary event” CLASSICAL GUITAR MAGAZINE (UK) “Their blinding technique, sizzling Irish reels and hot jazz improvisation brought an extended standing ovation... Newman has the great gift of being informative and hilarious simultaneously” THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

A short biography is available here.