Ellen Gibling

Musician

Ellen Gibling is a harpist based in K'jipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, who plays classical, Irish traditional, and improvised music on lever and pedal harps. Her classical training was with Jennifer Swartz at McGill University, with additional instruction from Heidi Krutzen in the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Recently, she spent a year obtaining a masters degree in Irish traditional music performance at the University of Limerick in Ireland. Over the past decade, Ellen has enjoyed bringing the harp to a wide variety of contexts, performing with pop artists, traditional bands, chamber groups, orchestras, film projects, circus artists, dancers, and theatre productions. She is a member of the free improvisation quartet New Hermitage, traditional music ensembles Ragged Robin, Harpaflöjt, and Síle, and the classical flute and harp duo Conundrum. Ellen teaches at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, and has also taught at Acadia University, the University of Limerick, and the Canadian International Summer Harp Institute. She is looking forward to releasing a solo harp album in March 2022, as well as embarking on new collaborations with choreographer Rebecca Lazier, the Bombadils, and playwright Mary Fay Coady.