- Two People

 - Over a Dozen Traditional Instruments

- Beautiful Music

- Period!

 

The Harper and The Minstrel are Jay and Abby Michaels

Historically Inspired, Passionate Performances of Medieval, Renaissance and Celtic Music sung and played on a variety of Traditional Plucked, Bowed, Hammered and Woodwind Instruments including:

Cláirseach  (Irish wire-strung Harp) 

Celtic Folk Harp

 Hammered Dulcimer

Irish Wooden Flute

The Greek Aulos (also called the Double Flute or Divergent Flute)

Alto, Soprano & Tenor Recorders

Penny Whistles

Silver Flute

Bowed Psaltery

Mountain Dulcimer

Bowed Dulcimer/Viol

Classical Guitar

Rebec

The Harper and The Minstrel specialize in beautiful Ayres and Ballads, but are quite adept at Jigs, Reels & Dances. Their vast repertoire includes unique arrangements of Music ranging from Medieval Spain's 13th Century Cantgas de Santa Maria to the music of Elizabethan era English Lutenist John Dowland to 17th Century Irish Harper Turlough O'Carolan and much more;

Medieval & Renaissance Love songs sung in many languages including Ladino, Galician, French, Italian, Catalan and Gaelic.

Secular and Sacred Music.

Their own Enchanting Compositions.

 

"You can best judge a musician’s acumen by the way they interpret music, whether that music is familiar to you or obscure...Jay and Abby Michaels’ deft adaptations of songs from Sting to Robert Burns are thrilling, and they reveal the pair to be artists of some skill."  -Motif Magazine

"Gentle, lovely music...stunning voices"-Renaissance Magazine

"Sheer uniqueness" -Dirty Linen Magazine

"They play an astounding variety of instruments, including harps, of course, and flutes and whistles. Abby’s gentle soprano and Jay’s baritone are also used to good effect"
 -Concert  Review by Edward Hoffer in Music & Theater in Boston & New Bedford