Acacia Lyra Media Kit

Acacia Lyra is a harp and voice duo with Janine Dudding and Susan Sweeney Hermon. Visit us on MySpace.

Based in: Ottawa, Ontario
Musical Genre: Original and traditional Celtic, French and Spanish
Instrumentation:
Janine Dudding - Celtic harp, guitar, voice, bodhran
Susan Sweeney Hermon - Celtic harp, guitar, voice, bodhran and tinwhistle

Artist Description

Acacia Lyra is not your average harp and voice duo. Janine Dudding and Susan Sweeney Hermon sing in English, French, Spanish and Gaelic, accompanying themselves on Celtic harps and guitars. Their programme is a colourful journey of traditional and contemporary tunes, including their own material, from the Scottish highlands to the Peruvian Altiplano.

Janine and Susan began performing as a duo in 2006. Each has a wealth of songs from different sources, and their musical collaboration has resulted in new compositions and fresh arrangements for harp, guitar and voice, and two CDs, Harmonic Curves (2007), and Aqsarniit - Northern Lights (2010). These two CDs were launched to sold out audiences at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage. A third CD, Silver Sun, was released in November 2011.

Their debut recording is a “delightful, multi-layered musical offering”, says Ian Hepburn, artistic director of the Music Alive! Concert series.

“Not satisfied with keeping their fingers busy, the pair sing on 13 of the album’s 18 tracks”, Hepburn adds. Their songs, in several languages “are presented with elegance and ease”.

The duo has been kept busy since it began a few years ago, performing in concerts and private functions in Ottawa, the National Capital Region, and in Quebec and Ontario.

Set List

The Set List will vary in accordance with the seasons, and the specifics of the occasion, such as St.Patrick's Day or Winter Carnival, etc.

The duration of a concert can be tailored to meet specific needs: one 60-minute set, or two 40-45 minutes sets with intermission, and the like. If the request is for background music, the sets are instrumental only.

Stage Requirements

4 chairs
4 vox mics (Sm-58 or Beta-58)
4 Active DIs for harps
1 Active DI for acoustic guitar
2 wedge type monitors on 2 separate mixes (or one mix if second is not available)

Media Photos
Photos: Jean-Marc Carisse