'harpist extraordinaire'
Minerva Radio
as featured on the Spring Fatea Showcase Session
Available from:
Available from:
'a Scottish composer who breaths in her Highland landscape and exhales it in dances of rippling melody'
RnR Magazine
RnR Magazine
© Hilary de Vries 2026
'one of Scotland's finest harpists'
Alan Riach
The latest single from Hilary de Vries
as featured on the Spring Fatea Showcase Session
Available from:
'Minerva'
Hilary de Vries is a Scottish composer/musician and artist whose work is greatly influenced and inspired by the landscape of Scotland, its people and birdsong, especially that of the Highlands where she lives. Her main instrument is the wire-strung clarsach, and she has released two albums of her harp music, as well as a book of harp tunes.
She also composes for recorder and bagpipes. All her music is full of melody, with strong rhythmic patterns and uncommon time signatures adding extra depth. The tunes are quintessentially Scottish, but always with a twist; timeless and with a highly original voice.
Other publications of her music include ‘The Barley Skimmers’ for bagpipes, with foreword by renowned piper Allan MacDonald; ‘An Orkney Sampler’ filled with tunes inspired by her visits to it; and most recently ‘The Black Isle Collection’, a book of over 70 of her tunes inspired by this Highland achipelago.
Over the years Hilary has been involved in various projects with different poets and musicians, including Bill Taylor, Aonghas MacNeacail, Donald S. Murray and Kenneth Steven. She was invited to write music for a performance of ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’, a new sequence of poems by Kenneth Steven based on the Celtic legend.
Her music has been played on local and national radio, as well as being performed by others.The recent single 'Minerva' was selected for the Fatea Showcase Session Spring 2026.
She continues to write and record, and runs an online course for composing for the wire-strung harp.
Enquiries regarding her music and to commission music are always welcome.
She also composes for recorder and bagpipes. All her music is full of melody, with strong rhythmic patterns and uncommon time signatures adding extra depth. The tunes are quintessentially Scottish, but always with a twist; timeless and with a highly original voice.
Other publications of her music include ‘The Barley Skimmers’ for bagpipes, with foreword by renowned piper Allan MacDonald; ‘An Orkney Sampler’ filled with tunes inspired by her visits to it; and most recently ‘The Black Isle Collection’, a book of over 70 of her tunes inspired by this Highland achipelago.
Over the years Hilary has been involved in various projects with different poets and musicians, including Bill Taylor, Aonghas MacNeacail, Donald S. Murray and Kenneth Steven. She was invited to write music for a performance of ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’, a new sequence of poems by Kenneth Steven based on the Celtic legend.
Her music has been played on local and national radio, as well as being performed by others.The recent single 'Minerva' was selected for the Fatea Showcase Session Spring 2026.
She continues to write and record, and runs an online course for composing for the wire-strung harp.
Enquiries regarding her music and to commission music are always welcome.
Hilary de Vries is a Scottish composer/musician and artist whose work is greatly influenced and inspired by the landscape of Scotland, its people and birdsong, especially that of the Highlands where she lives. Her main instrument is the wire-strung clarsach, and she has released two albums of her harp music, as well as a book of harp tunes.
She also composes for recorder and bagpipes. All her music is full of melody, with strong rhythmic patterns and uncommon time signatures adding extra depth. The tunes are quintessentially Scottish, but always with a twist; timeless and with a highly original voice.
Other publications of her music include ‘The Barley Skimmers’ for bagpipes, with foreword by renowned piper Allan MacDonald; ‘An Orkney Sampler’ filled with tunes inspired by her visits to it; and most recently ‘The Black Isle Collection’, a book of over 70 of her tunes inspired by this Highland achipelago.
Over the years Hilary has been involved in various projects with different poets and musicians, including Bill Taylor, Aonghas MacNeacail, Donald S. Murray and Kenneth Steven. She was invited to write music for a performance of ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’, a new sequence of poems by Kenneth Steven based on the Celtic legend. Her music has been played on local and national radio, as well as being performed by others.
She continues to write and record, and runs an online course for composing for the wire-strung harp.
Enquiries regarding her music and to commission music are always welcome.
She also composes for recorder and bagpipes. All her music is full of melody, with strong rhythmic patterns and uncommon time signatures adding extra depth. The tunes are quintessentially Scottish, but always with a twist; timeless and with a highly original voice.
Other publications of her music include ‘The Barley Skimmers’ for bagpipes, with foreword by renowned piper Allan MacDonald; ‘An Orkney Sampler’ filled with tunes inspired by her visits to it; and most recently ‘The Black Isle Collection’, a book of over 70 of her tunes inspired by this Highland achipelago.
Over the years Hilary has been involved in various projects with different poets and musicians, including Bill Taylor, Aonghas MacNeacail, Donald S. Murray and Kenneth Steven. She was invited to write music for a performance of ‘Deirdre of the Sorrows’, a new sequence of poems by Kenneth Steven based on the Celtic legend. Her music has been played on local and national radio, as well as being performed by others.
She continues to write and record, and runs an online course for composing for the wire-strung harp.
Enquiries regarding her music and to commission music are always welcome.
Minerva
The latest single from
Hilary de Vries