Category Archives: Harp

Camilla Pay

Camilla Pay, played the harp for the Cantate Choir’s Ceremony of Carols concert in December 2010.

Camilla Pay, Harp

Camilla Pay leads an unusually diverse musical life. She appears regularly alongside a wide variety of artists on television, but she is equally at home in the studio or on the concert platform.

Music Scholar at both King’s School Canterbury and The Royal Academy of Music, Camilla studied with acclaimed professors Skaila Kanga and Daphne Boden. Since graduating in 2001, she has performed as soloist from Prague to Amsterdam and throughout the U.K., notably in St. David’s Hall and Canterbury Cathedral (for the Canterbury Festival). She has performed Mozart’s Flute and Harp concerto with many orchestras in venues including St Martin-in-the-Field and also Canterbury Cathedral.

Camilla’s home county is Kent, where she has a particularly strong following – whether as soloist, with Willow (flute & harp) or with her trio The Korros Ensemble (flute, clarinet & harp) – at numerous music festivals. Indeed, in recognition of her fundraising concerts in Kent, she received an invitation to the Queen’s Garden Party!

Her chamber work includes guest appearances with the Locrian Ensemble and Southbank Sinfonia (Wigmore Hall). She has also played with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra.

Camilla is one of the UK’s leading session harpists. She is in high demand for recordings, TV, and for live shows at venues which include Blenheim Palace, Abbey Road Studios and Birmingham Symphony Hall. She has supported an unending list of well-known artists such as Barry Manilow, Kanye West, McFly, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, and on TV with Michael Bublé, Bryn Terfel, Katherine Jenkins, Aled Jones and Enya. TV shows include Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, GMTV, Parkinson and Strictly Come Dancing, as well as being in the Dave Arch Orchestra for the new ITV programme Popstar to Operastar and in the house band for BBC’s search for a new Dorothy in Over the Rainbow.

Albums on which she has played include those by Morrissey, Sinead O’Connor, Incognito and Tony Christie. Her most recent recording available is Britten’s Ceremony of Carols for Harp and High Voices, recorded in Canterbury Cathedral with the Cathedral Choristers and Choirboy of the Year. A personal highlight was her duet with Sir James Galway in The Royal Albert Hall for The Classical Brit Awards, accompanied by The English Chamber Orchestra.