Bio
Eleanor Dunsdon and Gregor Black are a Glasgow-based harp and percussion duo, who met during their postgraduate studies in Traditional Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2022. Blending traditional with contemporary, vocals and electronics, they draw on jazz, folk and classical genres to create a sound that challenges perceptions of the harp and pushes the boundaries of the traditional music scene.
Danny Kyle Open Stage winners at Glasgow's Celtic Connections and Purbeck Rising winners, the duo have been invited to perform at both festivals in 2025. The duo have featured as ‘Rising Stars’ at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, played as FATEA’s featured artists at Southport’s Love Folk Festival, and have toured in Ireland and the UK. Selected as the United Kingdom Harp Association's Emerging Artists for 2024, they will give collaborative concerts with musicians from other disciplines in London and Glasgow in Autumn 2024. The duo's debut EP, 'Let No Man', was released on 26th April 2024 and has featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Scotland, RTÉ Radio 1, FATEA’s Showcase Sessions and Celtic Music Radio.
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Elly Lucas Photography
“A fantastic sound … smashing every stereotype there is”
(Lynette Fay, Folk Club BBC Radio Ulster)
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“Stunning” (BBC Radio Scotland)
“Eleanor Dunsdon & Gregor Black were something special ... a different feel and depth to the music” (FATEA)
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“The sound they created was amazing” (Jen Taylor, At The Barrier)​
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Alongside their duo project, Eleanor performs with award-winning indie alt-folk band, Ranagri, who have performed at Cropredy Festival, Shrewsbury Folk Festival and Wickham Folk Festival this summer. They will showcase at Folk Alliance International in Montréal, Canada, in February 2025. In recent years she has performed at Manchester Folk Festival as part of the English Folk Expo, Costa Festival in Ibiza, and the World Harp Congress in Cardiff. Throughout 2023 Eleanor was involved in a collaboration project with singer and musician Tony Christie, touring the UK and recording a studio album to be released in 2025. In 2023, Eleanor spearheaded on a project with students of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to commission new works by Scottish composers for an ensemble of classical string quintet, clarsach and fiddle, to be programmed alongside Sally Beamish’s work Seavaigers for the same ensemble. This project aimed to further explore the interplay between classical and folk repertoire and their place within the concert hall.
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Gregor is a percussionist and bodhrán player, steeped in both classical percussion and the musical traditions of Scotland and Ireland. He has gained his BMus Hons in percussion from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance before relocating to Glasgow to receive an MA in traditional music from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has performed at the BBC Proms in London, the Edinburgh International Festival, and was recently invited to attend Silkroad’s Global Musician Workshop in Boston. Gregor recently toured France with Irish dance show, Celtic Legends, in the summer of 2024 as well as performing with BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Musician 2023, Amy Laurenson. Gregor has performed and recorded bodhrán and percussion for STARZ TV drama, ‘Outlander, Blood Of My Blood’ to be released in 2025.
Eleanor and Gregor have presented workshops at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, and for students at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In February 2024 they presented a workshop and concert at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland alongside Ukranian bandura player, Anastasiya Voytyuk, showcasing the fusion of their shared musical traditions and the relationship between the bandura and Scottish harp.
Elly Lucas Photography