Rhiannon Ramsey-Brimberg flies to Edinburgh April 5 where she will receive The Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award during the International Harp Festival, April 8-11, at George Watson’s College. She will present her winning composition, “Suite of Four Tunes”: “Asrai,” “The Coin,” The Hound’s March” and “Waterfall Jig”on her lever harp.

The 24-year-old received an email from The Clarsach Society Dec. 9 congratulating her on being the 2022 award recipient. In addition to the commendation, Ramsey-Brimberg will also receive £500.

“I opened the email and said ‘Holy smokes! This is really happening! I can’t believe it,’” said Ramsey-Brimberg. “I literally ran through the house, going from room to room telling my dad, my mom and sister saying, ‘I won! I won! And I called my younger sister Bronwen at college in Canada to tell her and said ‘Guess what!’ My family helped me so much, every time I write or arrange something, I ask them to listen to it and to tell me what they like or don’t like – and to be honest. They are a big part of why I got this award.”

The harpist earned a bachelor’s in music performance from Berklee College of Music a few years ago and will attend Ireland’s University of Limerick for her master’s degree in Irish music studies this September. She’s put off earning the master’s for two years due to the pandemic and her unease with traveling. She is looking forward to living in the U.K.

Ramsey-Brimberg plays her own lever harp (levers at the top of the instrument are used to change the pitch of each string instead of floor-level pedals), which she is bringing to Scotland for her 3 p.m. performance on April 10 at The Harp Festival. Her mom, Debra Ramsey, will be traveling with her from the family’s home in Stonington, Connecticut.

This young musician absolutely loves Celtic music. And during her years at Berklee, she was introduced to classical and jazz harp. Her teacher also had her write a classical suite.

“And it was as classical as a Celtic harpist like myself could make it,” Ramsey-Brimberg said with a chuckle. “Only one sounds classical and the others have definite Celtic influences in them.”

Each of the four took a couple days to write; she said she plucks the strings until she hears something she likes and writes it down. That process was followed by a month of arranging the tunes.

Her journey with the harp began quite by accident: While she was attending North Yarmouth Academy high school (Class of 2015) she wanted to play the school banjo. The lone one wasn’t available, but the school harp was.

She’s still playing one. “It’s so beautiful sounding. It’s like playing a sideways piano, but played with four fingers, not five. And it’s fun playing the harp.”

Ramsey-Brimberg grew up learning classical piano which she said was also fun, and she recently started learning to play those beloved Celtic tunes on the family piano. But ...

“There’s something about the way (the harp) feels when I’m holding it, the way it sounds and the way I feel when I’m playing it. And I love the wide range of notes. Some instruments are known for their bass sound or their squeaky sound; but with the harp I can play bass to high, and I have movement with it that I might not have with other instruments.”

A major high note early on was playing at the Opera House with Carlos Nunez on St. Patrick’s Day 2014. Ramsey-Brimberg had gone to a Nunez concert that had one of her friends on harp. After the show, Ramsey-Brimberg called Nunez to tell him he was coming to her hometown. She and her family were living in East Boothbay.

Over the years, Ramsey-Brimberg has performed in a variety of venues under the stage name Rhiannon Skye (her real middle name) including church concerts, weddings, fundraisers, funerals and others.

“I’m really confident til about two minutes before I’m supposed to do something. I still get really nervous. It helps having familiar faces (in the audience),” she said. “The more I play, the more harpists I know, and because of my years playing already, I won’t be playing to a complete group of strangers.”

Ramsey-Brimberg looks forward to the classes happening during the festival as well as concerts. She will attend classes on Scottish, Irish and Celtic music classes in addition to the afternoon and evening concerts.

Right now, back home in Stonington, Connecticut, she is working on getting recordings and arrangements together to create a CD.