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About Sylvia | Musical Background | Performances | Books and Recordings

PERFORMANCES

From 1976 through 1979 I toured the U.S., Europe, Great Britain, and Canada with Robin Williamson and His Merry Band and was featured on the group's three albums. It was during this time that I wrote "Teach Yourself to Play the Folk Harp" and began selling harps.

In 1980, I traveled to Ireland and won the prestigious All-Ireland Harp Championship in Buncrana, County Donegal. I was the second American ever to have won this honor. I was invited back to Buncrana the next two summers to teach a week-long course on the harp to about 20 local children. We borrowed harps from all over Ireland to allow these kids to play the instrument that is the symbol of their country.

Sylvia's harp students in Buncrana, Ireland, 1981

Since 1980, I have toured as a solo performer giving concerts throughout North America and Europe, as well as the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. I have given many special performances for the American Harp Society and the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen. I have taught harp workshops and master classes throughout the U.S. and the Republic of Ireland, and have judged numerous harp competitions, including the Guinness World Trophy for the Celtic Harp Competition in Lorient, France. To further promote the folk harp and my own music, I have appeared on many television and radio shows, including three appearances on the ever-popular National Public Radio broadcast A Prairie Home Companion, starring Garrison Keillor. (See photo on left) My compositions have been used as the soundtrack for several PBS shows including Chicago's Secret Wilderness, produced by WTTW in Chicago. One fun bit of trivia is that a March 1981 Los Angeles episode of Romper Room that featured my harp and myself was nominated for an Emmy Award! Unfortunately, we didn't win. . . but as they always say . . . It was an honor just to be nominated!
I have performed on the soundtracks of several major motion pictures, including Dead Poets Society and Prancer under the direction of Academy Award winning composer Maurice Jarre. I've also done episodes of Murder She Wrote, a Rockford Files Movie of the Week, and a Coca Cola commercial that was shown extensively on TV during the 1982 Winter Olympics. The Christmas 1998 episode of Homicide included a minute-and-a-half of Hark the Herald Angels Sing from my Three Harps for Christmas, Volume 1 recording.
The Sylvia Woods Harp Center store has been featured on KNBC, Los Angeles in a TV spot which was later aired on NBC affiliates all over the U.S. The Harp Center was also featured on a USA-TV small business show, "First Business". We were also featured on the Southern California PBS Show Visiting, with Huell Howser, during the summer of 2000. This 30 minute show is re-run frequently in the Los Angeles area. In the November/December 1999 issue of The Harp Column magazine, I was named one of the 45 "Most Influential Harp Forces of the 20th Century" along with people such as Harpo Marx! In January 2003 I was honored to be asked to perform with the legendary Irish band, The Chieftains, for their 5 California concerts. That was truly an experience of a lifetime!