Carol McClure is a virtuoso harpist and concert artist, a respected and widely published composer and arranger, as well a nationally recognized teacher. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Carol began harp study at age six, and by age eleven was a student of both Marcel Grandjany and Mildred Dilling, and a master class student of Nicanor Zabaleta. By age fourteen, she had won two major harp competitions, and began her international concert career at age sixteen, performing in Europe.

     Audiences delight in Carol's concerts and conferences. The virtuosity, elegance and passion of her performances and arrangements express the depth of her faith, and her commitment to Christian discipline at the harp bench. An internationally acclaimed musician, Carol's career has taken her as orchestral harpist from Glasgow, Scotland to New Orleans, Louisiana; and, she has presented solo recitals in churches and concert halls -- from England's historic Coventry Cathedral with Sir David Willcocks to Buenos Aires, Argentina -- throughout the western hemisphere.

     Over the past ten years, Carol's recordings have bolstered her reputation as a solo artist of distinction. She marks her move to the Coventry Music label with the release of two albums in the autumn of 2000--A Harp Noel, and Lover of My Soul, to be followed in early 2001 by My Father's World, Beautiful Saviour, and additional titles scheduled for release throughout 2001 and 2002.

     Carol McClure has also emerged as a highly respected and sought-after harp pedagogue. She has held teaching positions in the United Kingdom, New Orleans, Atlanta, Winston-Salem, Memphis, Nashville, and Louisville, and presently serves as Director of Judson School of the Arts in Nashville, the Southern Harp Ensemble, and The Harp School™, which draws harp and chamber music students from ten states. She is the author of The Angel's Harp™, a curriculum for young children based on ear training, sight-singing, harmony, and ensemble peformance, and trains affiliated teachers in the method under the auspices of The Harp School™.

     Carol McClure is an alumna of the University of Louisville, and earned the degree Master of Church Music at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, with dual emphases in choral conducting and harp. The breadth of her conducting experience includes service as choral director at Queen's Park Baptist Church in Glasgow, Scotland, and Director of Music and Arts at North Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur, Georgia. In addition to her performing and recording career, Carol is an active composer. She has been awarded two separate commissions by the Bingham Foundation in Louisville for major orchestral works: Song of Kentucky, and A Kentucky Overture. She is nationally known for her compositions and arrangements for children's voices, and continues to produce a wide variety of original works in different genres.

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