Úna Monaghan is a harpist, composer, sound engineer and award-winning musician.

Biography

Úna Monaghan was born in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. She graduated with a degree in astrophysics from

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

and a masters in sonic arts, before she went to

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

where she completed a PhD on New Technologies and Experimental Practices in Contemporary Irish Traditional Music. She has been artist in residence in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Montréal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Monaghan was the studio engineer at Queen's University's Sonic Arts Research Centre. In 2016, the Ireland Canada University Foundation awarded Monaghan the James M. Flaherty Research Scholarship. Monaghan won the given the inaugural

Liam O'Flynn Liam O'Flynn, Óg Flynn (, 15 September 1945 – 14 March 2018) was an Irish people, Irish Uilleann pipes, uilleann piper and Folk music of Ireland, Irish traditional musician. In addition to a solo career and as a member of Planxty, O'Flynn re ...

award in 2019, worth €15,000. From 2016 to 2019 Monaghan was Rosamund Harding Research Fellow in Music at

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, University of Cambridge. She went on to work with the

National Concert Hall The National Concert Hall (NCH) (An Ceoláras Náisiúnta) is a national cultural institution, sometimes described as "the home of music in Ireland". It comprises the actual concert hall operation, which in various chambers hosts over 1,000 ...

to write a six-part suite called ''Aonaracht''. The piece was debuted in the NCH on 27 February, although only five pieces were played because one of the players, the piper, was unavailable. She works to create experimental and Irish traditional music.

References and sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monaghan, Úna Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Traditional musicians Musicians from Belfast Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Harpists from Northern Ireland Alumni of the University of Cambridge 21st-century Irish harpists