Lá na Cruite | Harp Day 2026 | Saturday 17 October
Join us, in person and online, to celebrate our 1000-year-old Irish harping tradition. ‘Sult‘, meaning ‘fun’, is our theme for 2026.
Lá na Cruite|Harp Day holds something for everyone. Harpers will light up cities and counties across Ireland and the world with 100s of events in arts centres, concert halls, shopping centres, libraries, hilltops and on city streets. Share your harping day with us whether it is concerts, chatting to our harpmakers, workshops, ‘try your hand’ on harps or pop-up performances to celebrate Ireland’s national instrument.
See all scheduled events for Harp Day | Lá na Cruite 2026 here.
A Tribute to Sheila Larchet Cuthbert, 1923 – 2026
This week we lost one of our most eminent pedal harpists at the age of 104, the last of her generation of harp crusaders in Ireland, a renowned performer and the first pedal harpist in the National Symphony Orchestra, who in 2005 brought the World Harp Congress to Ireland. A founder member of Cairde na Cruite, the initiator and editor of the Irish Harp Book, where she commissioned Irish contemporary composers to write for the harp – a trailblazing collection of unique commissions.
A wonderful teacher and mentor to many young harpists. But most of all, a woman of utter resilience, integrity, and kindness felt by everyone who encountered her. She will be sadly missed.
We could not celebrate our tenth Lá na Cruite | Harp Day without paying tribute to her immense legacy. This is an archival recording of Sheila Larchet Cutbert, made in the1950s, which we issued online during the pandemic – with special thanks to her daughter Mary and former student Andreja Malir. Go raibh suaimhneas síoraí di i measc na naomh.
Harpers’ Call
Across the weekend of Lá na Cruite|Harp Day, we look forward to streaming continuous videos of harpers from all four corners of the globe as part of The Harpers’ Call. Your videos will stream on our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/c/harpireland) on Harp Day and all the individual videos will be on our online interactive world map at https://www.harpireland.ie/interactive-map-2026/.
See harpireland.ie/harpers-call-2026/ for our Harpers’ Call programme schedule.
Schools’ Resource Pack / Áis Scoile
To celebrate Lá na Cruite|Harp Day, we continue our resource pack series where students of all ages can learn more about their national instrument. The resource pack includes the story of Brian Boru’s Harp, a short history of the harp and a related worksheet, 2 crosswords, a quiz, the life of Turlough Carolan, the story of The Dagda and his Magical Harp, 3 colouring pages and an audio file of the story.
All are available to download in both English and Irish language versions here.
Our thanks to our funders for their support – The Arts Council, The Heritage Council, Local Authority Arts Offices and Libraries countrywide, RTÉ Supporting the Arts and RTÉ lyric fm. Without your help this would not happen.
Bígí linn ar Lá mhór na Cruite 17 Deireadh Fomhair. Fáilte roimh Chách.
