Introduction
Welcome to the website of Luisa-Maria Cordell. Please use the links at the left to find out more about Luisa's repetoire for weddings and partnerships, her recordings and also you can download a sample of her music to hear for yourself.
Detailed Biography
Popular award winning harpist Luisa-Maria Cordell has travelled the world performing and teaching the harp. She received her training from tutors at The Royal College, Royal Academy and The Guildhall and graduated with a music degree from the University of Surrey specialising in harp performance. Luisa-Maria is now considered to be one of the fore most harpists of her generation.
During her university and former years she won a variety of performance awards as well as scholarships to attend European summer schools. She was awarded the prestigious University Crosier-Hughes performance award two years in succession.
Luisa enjoys a varied free-lance career playing for weddings, civil partnerships corporate events, recitals and orchestral work. Luisa prides herself in delivering a high standard of performance, with impeccable presentation, whilst maintaining a reliable and friendly approach. She proudly plays a Salvi Arianna concert harp which is considered to be a distinguished harp of exotic beauty, visually and audibly, skilfully crafted from a collection of rare woods from around the world.
Luisa-Maria is regularly invited to perform for dignitaries including HM The Queen, HRH Duke of Edinburgh, The Lord Chancellor and various Heads of State including playing for private functions held at The Savoy, Claridges, Victoria and Albert museum and many other hotels/venues in London and the South East. She was also the resident harpist at Warwick castle for three years and PennyHill park country club.
Luisa is frequently the featured classical artiste on the International Majerstic Page and Moy cruise ships travelling all over the world. Luisa has performed with some of UK’s leading orchestras including the London Sinfonietta, London Academic orchestra, Central Festival orchestra, East of England orchestra (Sinfonia Viva), Opera North and Bournemouth Symphony orchestra players.
An experienced recitalist and orchestral player she regularly performs for music societies, music festivals and at many of the UK’s principal concert halls, including St Johns Smith square, The Barbican, Banqueting House in Whitehall, The Queen Elizabeth hall and the Edinburgh festival as a solo recitalist and as part of a duo with Soprano Sarah-Jane Dale and Flautist Nicholas Cartlidge . Her concert work has taken her to the USA, Portugal, France, Russia, Poland, Scandinavia and Belgium. This has also included many television and radio interviews and broadcasts. These broadcasts have included features on BBC radio stations , ITV 1, Florida and Southern French radio stations, ‘Look East’ news when attempting a world record to perform a hundred concerts in a week with soprano Sarah-Jane Dale to raise money for the Tadworth children’s trust, Children’s BBC with two talented pupils and NBC TV in America.
She has recently been featured in ‘The Classical Music Magazine’ regarding her harp and soprano work. Luisa has released two harp and Soprano CD’s : ‘A Million Pearls’ and ‘The Nightingale’. Also a solo CD called ‘The Swan’. Her latest solo album is to be released shortly called ‘The Circle of Light’, recorded for holistic and relaxation purposes.
As well as performing Luisa-Maria is a popular tutor who enjoys working with children and adults passing on her love of the harp. She is a popular adjudicator for festival because of her natural rapport with people and her positive approach. She is the founder and director of the International harp ensemble which currently has thirty members. They have recently performed at the Barbican, The Royal Albert Hall and venues throughout the South East and the Midlands. She has also led them on many successful concert tours to Belgium, South of France and Portugal and Wales They are to be featured on ‘The songs of Praise’ in February 2007. She also has many private pupils and is now harp tutor at The Royal Holloway University, St George’s chapel - Windsor castle school, St Georges Ascot, and Wellington College.
Future projects include a debut recording of Einaudi’s piano works arranged for harp, recitals at the London Banqueting house-Whitehall Palace.