About Margot
Margot’s music life began with singing harmony in her family and piano lessons throughout childhood. She sang in the Oberlin Chapel Choir and completed two years of piano study at the Oberlin Conservatory. In the 1970's she moved to Boston to join the early music group The Quadrivium. There she was asked to play a small harp and soon fell in love with Celtic harp, Celtic music, and other folk music traditions.
After many years of collecting favorite tunes and songs and writing her own compositions, in 2017 Margot released her first solo CD, Golden Threads, featuring music for harp and voice from “long ago time” to the present. As
a composer, she has written for harp, solo voice, and choir. Some of her arrangements and compositions can be purchased and downloaded here.
Margot has been blessed with many opportunities to play and sing in beautiful settings with wonderful artists. A founding member of the music groups LiveOak and Mistral, she has also performed with The Revels, theatre troupes, and mimes, at museums, libraries, hospices, and homeless shelters (with fellow harper Barbara Russell), and for weddings, memorial services, and other special events.
“Your playing was breathtakingly beautiful –
the highlight of that evening.” – John Langstaff, founder of Revels
Since St. Patrick’s Day 1990, Margot has accompanied master storyteller Diane Edgecomb in programs for the Summer and Winter Solstices, a Celtic Evening, the Language of Flowers, and other special events, for libraries, museums, schools, and celebrations. Two of their outdoor shows take audiences through the landscape—“In the Groves” at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum and “Flora’s Holiday” at Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, MA.
“Your music was so beautiful, so lovingly given
and soulfully delivered and executed.”
“Exquisite accompaniment…evocative music”
–Parent’s Choice Silver Award Review
“Margot Chamberlain’s use of voice and harp…adds an aura of magic
and wonder to each piece.” –School Library Journal Review
In spring 2011, Margot began playing harp for staff, patients, and their families and friends at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, following training in therapeutic music through the GentleMUSES program of The Boston Conservatory and Massachusetts General Hospital.
“You play from your soul”. . . “Absolutely beautiful!
It’s always such a joy to come on the unit and hear the harp”. . .
“You touched my soul. My husband wanted to jump up
and thank you but he has trouble walking”. . .
"After you came, I didn't need any more pain medication.". . .
“Will you come home with me and calm down me and my cat?”. . .
“I feel better since you came. You changed the mood.”
Margot’s teachers include harpists Lois Francello and Haley Hewitt, and she has taken workshops with many Irish and Scottish harpers, including Áine Minogue, Máire Ní Chathasaigh, Cheyenne Brown, and Grainne Hambly. She has studied singing with many, including Robert Fountain, Marleen Montgomery, Carl Stough, and Susan Robbins.