Influential Musicians: Sue Richards

Official Press : Sue Richards is an internationally known performer, teacher, composer and author. Sue has recorded dozens of CDs, and has entertained audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe.

After first studying the concert harp in Ohio with Lucy Lewis and Jean Harriman, Sue turned to the Celtic harp and the Irish and Scottish traditional music of her heritage. Since then, Sue has performed numerous times for the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, DC, has twice played for President Bill Clinton, and recently added Queen Elizabeth II and President and Mrs. Bush to her list.

Sue has sat in with The Chieftains and has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion. She has performed in Scotland at Celtic Connections in Glasgow and at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, and she recently toured Norway and Sweden with the Harpa ensemble.

Sue can be heard on dozens of recordings, both solo, with Ceoltoiri, and with Grammy-nominated Ensemble Galilei, a group of five women performing Celtic,
Early, and Original music. As a member of EG, she has written music and performed in two multi-media shows, A Universe of Dreams and First Person: Letters from the Edge of the World, the latter sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

In addition to multiple Wammie awards, Sue has won the American National Scottish Harp Championship four times, and is now a Scottish Harp Society of America (SHSA) Distinguished Judge. She has also served as president of SHSA, as well as of the Washington, DC, Folk Harp Society.

Sue has taught at the Alaska Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and at the Summerkeys Music School in Maine. She currently offers private lessons in the Washington, DC, area, and directs and teaches in the harp program at the summer Ohio Scottish Arts School in Oberlin, Ohio.

Follow her activities on her official website
or through Facebook