Biography
Derek Bell gained his greatest fame serving as harpist for the Chieftains, yet his professional accomplishments reached across classical and folk domains, and he first approached the harp only after entering his thirties. A central presence in both pedagogy and performance, he stands as perhaps the foremost Irish harpist globally and has done more than any contemporary to bring the instrument widespread international regard.
George Derek Fleetwood Bell entered the world in Belfast during 1935 as the child of a traditional Irish fiddler who supplied his initial instruction. From age nine his own pursuits followed a formal classical path. As a youngster he viewed the harp as “a reward for goodness to be played in heaven.” He studied piano, mastered the xylophone, and developed exceptional skill on reeds, especially oboe and cor anglais. In 1957 he earned an honors diploma from London’s Royal College of Music; two years later Trinity College Dublin awarded him a Bachelor of Music.
His earliest position was administrative: managing the City of Belfast Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1957. He launched his performing life on oboe and English horn, appearing as soloist with several ensembles through the middle of the 1960s. Encouraged by musician, composer, and arranger Alan Tongue—who would later connect him with the Chieftains—Bell took up the harp in his early thirties. His first lessons came from Sheila Larchet-Cuthbert in Dublin on an instrument loaned by the Irish Arts Council; he continued study with Gwendolyn Mason in London. Concurrently he served as chorus repetiteur and deputy chorus master of the Northern Ireland Radio and TV Orchestra under his former teacher David Curry (1899–1971), a post he held from 1965 to 1976. In 1970 he joined the faculty of the Belfast Academy of Music and Dramatic Art as Professor of Harp and Irish Harp. From 1975 onward he also toured internationally as a harp soloist.
The most conspicuous chapter of his career opened in 1972 when he joined the Irish folk ensemble the Chieftains in time to record Chieftains 4. His arrival coincided with the group’s shift to full-time status after years of semi-professional work, and his contributions on harp, oboe, and dulcimer broadened its sonic palette. Already popular in England, the Chieftains achieved worldwide prominence in the mid-1970s. Their subsequent release, Chieftains 5—the first issued by Island Records in Britain and America—reached a larger audience than earlier efforts, helped by their appearance on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which generated substantial radio play. An ensuing American tour introduced the ensemble to hundreds of thousands of new listeners on another continent.
Thanks in part to his Chieftains affiliation, Bell’s solo recordings, which began appearing in the 1970s, circulated readily in the United States through both specialist Irish and Celtic outlets and mainstream record shops. Once compact discs arrived, Shanachie Records acquired licenses for his earlier albums and reissued them domestically.
Bell’s stature led to several English television features, among them the BBC’s Derek Bell’s Concert Party, which showcased him on ten different instruments. His engagement with Irish traditional music prompted numerous arrangements of folksongs for ensembles of varying size. He also produced original classical compositions and adaptations drawn from other traditions, including Hungarian and Peruvian dances; the Toccata Burlesca (recorded with Bell performing on eight instruments), two symphonies, the suite The Violet Flame, and numerous pieces for solo harp and orchestra.
Through performances of Irish harp repertory spanning many centuries, he helped rescue the instrument from near oblivion and establish it among the most cherished of folk instruments. While maintaining his Chieftains commitments, he sustained his academic activities, teaching and performing well into the new century. On October 17, 2002, he died suddenly in the United States following minor surgery.
George Derek Fleetwood Bell entered the world in Belfast during 1935 as the child of a traditional Irish fiddler who supplied his initial instruction. From age nine his own pursuits followed a formal classical path. As a youngster he viewed the harp as “a reward for goodness to be played in heaven.” He studied piano, mastered the xylophone, and developed exceptional skill on reeds, especially oboe and cor anglais. In 1957 he earned an honors diploma from London’s Royal College of Music; two years later Trinity College Dublin awarded him a Bachelor of Music.
His earliest position was administrative: managing the City of Belfast Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1957. He launched his performing life on oboe and English horn, appearing as soloist with several ensembles through the middle of the 1960s. Encouraged by musician, composer, and arranger Alan Tongue—who would later connect him with the Chieftains—Bell took up the harp in his early thirties. His first lessons came from Sheila Larchet-Cuthbert in Dublin on an instrument loaned by the Irish Arts Council; he continued study with Gwendolyn Mason in London. Concurrently he served as chorus repetiteur and deputy chorus master of the Northern Ireland Radio and TV Orchestra under his former teacher David Curry (1899–1971), a post he held from 1965 to 1976. In 1970 he joined the faculty of the Belfast Academy of Music and Dramatic Art as Professor of Harp and Irish Harp. From 1975 onward he also toured internationally as a harp soloist.
The most conspicuous chapter of his career opened in 1972 when he joined the Irish folk ensemble the Chieftains in time to record Chieftains 4. His arrival coincided with the group’s shift to full-time status after years of semi-professional work, and his contributions on harp, oboe, and dulcimer broadened its sonic palette. Already popular in England, the Chieftains achieved worldwide prominence in the mid-1970s. Their subsequent release, Chieftains 5—the first issued by Island Records in Britain and America—reached a larger audience than earlier efforts, helped by their appearance on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, which generated substantial radio play. An ensuing American tour introduced the ensemble to hundreds of thousands of new listeners on another continent.
Thanks in part to his Chieftains affiliation, Bell’s solo recordings, which began appearing in the 1970s, circulated readily in the United States through both specialist Irish and Celtic outlets and mainstream record shops. Once compact discs arrived, Shanachie Records acquired licenses for his earlier albums and reissued them domestically.
Bell’s stature led to several English television features, among them the BBC’s Derek Bell’s Concert Party, which showcased him on ten different instruments. His engagement with Irish traditional music prompted numerous arrangements of folksongs for ensembles of varying size. He also produced original classical compositions and adaptations drawn from other traditions, including Hungarian and Peruvian dances; the Toccata Burlesca (recorded with Bell performing on eight instruments), two symphonies, the suite The Violet Flame, and numerous pieces for solo harp and orchestra.
Through performances of Irish harp repertory spanning many centuries, he helped rescue the instrument from near oblivion and establish it among the most cherished of folk instruments. While maintaining his Chieftains commitments, he sustained his academic activities, teaching and performing well into the new century. On October 17, 2002, he died suddenly in the United States following minor surgery.
Albums
