Cormac Mac Dermott


Cormac Mac Dermott, Irish harper and composer, was one of the best-known Irish harpers at the Elizabethan court.

Life

Mac Dermott may have been a native of Moylurg, whose ruling family were the Mac Diarmata clan.
In 1605, he was appointed to the Royal Musick in London, the first harper since the death of Blind William More in 1565. He was succeeded on his death by his pupil Phillip Squire.
Mac Dermott's compositions survive in consort form only and Andrew Lawrence-King suggested that it was Mac Dermott who "brought his new consort-style of Irish harp-playing to the English court".

Recordings