Derek Bell

Although best known as the harpist with The Chieftains, Derek Bell's career includes a raft of musical achievements and credits extending into the worlds of both classical and folk music -- and he didn't begin playing the harp until he was in his 30s. A major figure in music education as well as music performance, Bell is perhaps the leading Irish harpist in the world, and has done more to elevate the instrument to a level of international respectability before a wider audience than any other musician today.



Born George Derek Fleetwood Bell in Belfast in 1935, Bell was the son of a traditional Irish fiddler, from whom he received his earliest musical training. His own musical inclinations, beginning at age nine, were originally directed in formal classical direction. As a boy, he considered the harp to be "a reward for goodness to be played in heaven." He took up the piano and learned the xylophone, and became a highly proficient reed player, excelling on the oboe and cor anglais. Bell received a degree with honors from the Royal College of Music in London in 1957, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity College in Dublin two years later.

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