My story

I come from a Lancashire mill town and have played the medieval harp for over 20 years. The first medieval music I loved was on old David Munrow LPs that I bought for £1 from the local library. After studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, I have worked with many major names including Jordi Savall and Ensemble Unicorn. I am incredibly grateful that my career has taken me all around the world, from Mexico to Russia.

Harpist Leah Stuttard with bray gothic harp made by Eric Kleinmann
in concert with Micrologus, February 2020

I first started working with the Italian ensemble Micrologus in 2002 and continue to add a certain Anglo-Saxon je-ne-sais-quoi to their performances. As a soloist, I perform English medieval music and am very happy to have created three solo programmes including one about the fifteenth-century mystic and pilgrim from King’s (then Bishop’s) Lynn, Margery Kempe. With Vivien Ellis (Sinfonye, Dufay Collective), I play English ballads and sing Gregorian chant, and with Danish/Swedish singer and kantele player, Agnethe Christensen (Sequentia), I explore more Northern repertoires like Scandinavian folk hymns. With the tenor John Potter, I have performed sacred French songs from the thirteenth century. In 2023, I finished my doctoral thesis in which I investigated the creativity of musicians working with medieval music today.

I have completed six different pilgrimages to Canterbury, Norwich and Walsingham via Bury St Edmunds, twice to Monte Sant’Angelo and twice to Santiago de Compostela. I am always on the look out for my next one!