Eleanor Hudson, harp

 

Eleanor Hudson was born in Buxton Derbyshire, and wanted to learn the harp from the age of six. She finally got her first harp at the age of thirteen, studying with Mair Jones from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, then going on to Chethams School of Music, Manchester under Jean Bell from the Halle Orchestra, with whom she continued her studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. During her time here Eleanor won the Guinness scholarship for harp and was awarded the highest mark ever for harp performance.

 She then went on to gain a distinction in harp performance from the Royal College of Music and started to work regularly for Scottish Chamber Orchestra including a number of concerto appearances, as well as guest principal harp for the Halle, Philharmonia Opera North, BBC Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras.

Eleanor has been lucky enough to work with Bill Bailey, Tony Bennett, Elvis Costello, the Moody Blues and the Ronnie Hazlehurst Orchestra. Eleanor then went to Spain to join the Malaga Symphony Orchestra for a year before returning to England to take up the post of Principal Harpist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. During her fifteen years here she performed numerous concertos, was part of the original 10/10 contemporary ensemble and also became very involved in the Phil’s education programme.

Eleanor has recently left the RLPO to return to freelancing and having retrained as an SEN music teacher runs music projects in schools as well as Harp Tutor at Chethams School of Music. She is currently a visiting musician working with the RLPO /Mersey Care NHS project participating in music workshops in settings such as Ashworth Hospital.