Mary O'Hara - Travels With My Harp

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Welcome to Mary O'Hara's "Travels with my Harp" website

This official Mary O'Hara website accompanies maryohara.co.uk

Explore and discover a selection of Mary's travels with her harp, a constant companion during her international singing and harp-playing career

Mary O'Hara travelled the world entertaining audiences with her concerts, TV and radio shows and recordings. She performed in concert at all the major concert venues around the world, recorded twenty albums and wrote three bestsellling books. Her UK TV series for the BBC included 'The Starlight Series' in 1956 and 'Minstrel of the Dawn' in 1985. Her two TV series for ITV entitled 'Mary O'Hara and Friends' were broadcast in 1984 and 1985 in the UK. She also had her own TV specials and guested on all the major TV shows of the day

Mary retired from performing and recording in 1994 and in 1996 moved to Kenya (and then Tanzania) with her husband for six years of African adventure

Since returning home to England in 2002 she has found herself in demand this time as a speaker, with requests to give her 'Travels With My Harp' talk and multi-media presentations in Ireland, England, Wales, Australia, USA and Canada. During this period she also published her harp accompaniments in five volumes and in May 2012 her new autobiography was published, her fourth book

Mary and her husband Padraig later lived on the Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland. Padraig sadly died in 2015

LATEST BOOK FROM MARY:

Mary O'Hara's new autobiography was published May 2012 by Shepheard-Wallwyn

LATEST CD RELEASE:

MARY O'HARA 40 Traditional Songs is Mary's latest CD release. Mary chose the tracks herself for this 2CD career retrospective

For the latest Mary O'Hara news and events click here

Mary O'Hara photographed in 2009 after one of her 'Travels With My Harp' presentations

"Mary O'Hara is mesmerising"
New York Times, USA.

"Mary O'Hara is simply without peer"
Folk Review, UK.

"She raised to a new high level the art of folk-singing" Washington Post, USA.

"Mary O'Hara's voice has a first day freshness in her singing" Observer Review, UK.

''Many a performer has tried and failed to hold an audience enraptured for more than two hours. O'Hara does it with consummate ease''
The Australian.

''Every opera singer, every lieder singer, every pop star could have learned something vital from Mary O'Hara last night''
Seattle Times, USA.

''Seeing her in concert is to realise why writer's wallow in excess over her''
The Globe & Mail, Canada.

''There is magic and balm for the spirit in her serene art''
The Southland Times, New Zealand.

''Her voice is stunningly lucid, focused, well-projected and delicate''
Daily Telegraph, UK.

''O'Hara has a voice that is both soft and clear; beautifully controlled yet warm and feeling; a sheer delight to hear''
The Herald, Australia.

Above: Mary performing 'Lord of the Dance' in 1978. This was the song that had moved her to sing again after 12 years of monastic silence