For centuries, the sound of Ireland’s original brass-wire-strung harp was lost to history. This July, audiences in Kilkenny will have a rare opportunity to hear the instrument that shaped Ireland’s musical identity and inspired the national emblem brought back to life by pioneering musicians and researchers.

When most people think of the Irish harp, they picture the modern concert instrument found in orchestras and traditional music sessions. Few realise the harp depicted on Ireland’s coat of arms, government seals, passports and official documents was an entirely different instrument.

The early Irish harp, strung with brass wire and played for kings, chieftains and noble households, once stood at the heart of Irish cultural life.

It once echoed through the halls of kings, chieftains and noble households across Ireland. Renowned throughout Europe for its distinctive, resonant sound, it occupied a central place in Irish cultural life for centuries.

Then it disappeared.

By the nineteenth century, the instrument behind Ireland’s national emblem had effectively fallen silent. Its music survived only in manuscripts, paintings, fragments of oral history and the memories of a fading tradition.

Today, a remarkable revival is underway. Now, more than two centuries later, a growing movement is bringing that lost sound back.

For more than two decades, The Historical Harp Society of Ireland has been leading an international effort to recover the sound, repertoire and performance practices of Ireland’s ancient harp tradition. Through meticulous historical research, instrument reconstruction and performance, the organisation has helped reintroduce audiences to one of the country’s most significant yet least understood cultural treasures.

This July, that work takes centre stage in Kilkenny as the Society presents Discovery Days, a three-day celebration of Ireland’s ancient harp heritage featuring concerts, talks, workshops and rare performances on reconstructed historical instruments.

Among the highlights is The King’s Irish Harper, a special performance directed by Dr Siobhán Armstrong, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the early Irish harp. The concert will feature a remarkable world premiere performance on a reconstructed Irish harp with two rows of brass-wire strings, believed to be the only playable instrument of its kind in existence today.

For audiences, it offers a rare opportunity to hear a sound that has been absent from Irish cultural life for centuries. More than a reconstruction, it is a living connection to a musical tradition that once resonated through the courts and great houses of Ireland.

The programme also includes Grá agus Caoine: Loves and Laments, featuring internationally acclaimed vocalist Iarla Ó Lionáird alongside some of Ireland’s leading performers of historical and traditional music, exploring themes of love, loss and memory through Ireland’s rich musical heritage.

Siobhán Armstrong commented:
We are thrilled to have the Grammy Award nominee, Iarla Ó Lionáird, with us for this evening of evocative music from Ireland’s rich past. Iarla’s soaring voice – in the 1000-year- old Parade Tower of Kilkenny Castle – complements the warm sound of ‘the queen of pipers herself’ Sorcha Ní Scólaí’s pipes and the ancient brass-wire-strung Irish harps played by myself and Eibhlís Ní Ríordáin, who will accompany her own renditions of long-forgotten harpers’ love songs. An evening to remember…

Founded in 2002, The Historical Harp Society of Ireland has become a driving force in the revival of Ireland’s early harp tradition. Through pioneering research, instrument reconstruction, education and performance, the organisation has helped restore a lost chapter of Ireland’s musical history to contemporary audiences.

In a country where the harp remains one of the most recognisable national symbols in the world, Discovery Days offers something increasingly rare: the chance not simply to see that symbol, but to hear it.

Discovery Days takes place in Kilkenny from 8-10 July 2026. We highly recommend it.

For most people, the harp is a symbol. In Kilkenny this July, it becomes a sound once again.

For all information and to book tickets, see the following: https://irishharp.org/discovery-days