Mary O'Hara
Mary O’Hara’s love for traditional music dates back to when her career commenced in 1953 and therefore she pre-dated the so called 'Folk Era' that nowadays many associate with Joan Baez, The Clancy Brothers and Bob Dylan.
Her voice is arresting, her harp accompaniment beguiling and the songs timeless. On her 2CD on H & H Music Mary hand-picked forty recordings from throughout her career.
Besides her musical accomplishments, the media still remain fascinated by her extraordinary life. She retired from performing in 1960 after the death of her young poet husband, Richard Selig and joined a contemplative order of nuns, emerging twelve years later to take up her interrupted singing career, recording thirteen more LPs, having her own TV series on the BBC and on ITV and writing three best-selling books, one of them her autobiography, The Scent of the Roses, a title taken from one of her favourite songs by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.
She then went on to perform in the major concert halls of the English-speaking world - New York's Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, to name but a few….
A play about her, Harp on the Willow, is currently drawing packed audiences in Australia and she is back on the road once more, this time delighting audiences with her “Travels With My Harp” presentations.
