TEDx DunLaoghaire 2021 Performing Artists

Founded in 2016 by harpist Fiona Gryson (www.fionagryson.ie) and clarinettist Berginald Rash (www.berginaldrash.com), Dathanna Harp and Clarinet Duo is an ensemble forged in friendship, mutual respect and joyful musical collaborations that highlights the timbral beauty, emotive expressiveness, and unique pairing of the harp and clarinet. Both Fiona and Berginald are celebrated concert artists both nationally and internationally with a wide repertoire and long history of musical success. Together, the duo has performed at the Hugh Lane Sundays @ Noon online concert series, Kaleidoscope Night music series, the Boyne Music Festival as well as the Tara Summer Festival.

Recently Ms. Gryson completed postgraduate studies in Harp at the Civica Scuola di Musica Claudio Abbado, Milan with Irina Zingg and is currently pursuing her PhD in Harp Pedagogy in Ireland with Prof. Clíona Doris having been awarded a Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship funded by the Irish Research Council. She graduated with a Master Degree in Music Performance from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama with Denise Kelly-McDonnell having previously graduated with a First Class Honours BMus degree in Performance and Pedagogy from the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama. Fiona is an active orchestral and chamber musician and has performed as Principal harpist on an ongoing freelance basis since 2017 with all of Ireland’s major orchestras including the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, The Irish Chamber Orchestra, Lyric Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. Fiona has been a multiple prizewinner in National competitions and was awarded the John Vallery Memorial prize for ‘the best performance by a string player’ at the Irish Freemasons Young Musician of the Year competition as well as the RTE Lyric FM Instrumental Bursary at Sligo Feis Ceoil. She recently began work as a music educator with Music Generation Louth and also runs a private harp studio in Co. Meath that centres her students’ growth and self-discovery through music.

Hailed for his ‘especially stylish’ playing (The Guardian), Mr. Rash is a critically acclaimed Dublin-based American clarinetist, who’s received a Recital Artist Diploma from the Royal Irish Academy of Music, has performed with such orchestras as the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, and Orchestra of the Swan; has been heard on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune with Sean Rafferty, performed at the BBC Proms, Snape Maltings Proms, and Gent Music Festival. He has collaborated with members of such orchestras as London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Frankfurt hr-Sinfonieorchester, Atlanta Symphony and with the RTÉ ConTempo Quartet. He is a Devon & Burgani Artist on the Fluency series, has been featured on the cover of the International Clarinet Association’s September 2020 publication of The Clarinet, is a recent TEDx speaker, has been a reviewer for BBC Radio 3’s Record Review, has been heard on RTÉ Lyric FM’s Full Score with Liz Nolan, has been awarded the Arts Council of Ireland’s 2020 Music Bursary, and was recently featured on the European Association of Conservatoires’ (AEC) Strengthening Music in Society podcast series.