Composers in 16th-century Spain and Portugal published books of music "for keyboard, harp, and vihuela" in a variety of tablature notations. Tablature is a very early form of written musical notation. Some tablatures use numbers as notes, some use letters and fingering, and all use different techniques of showing rhythm. These books were shared throughout Europe and brought across the Atlantic to Central and South America. 

The program will include pieces by Gracia Baptista (the first woman to have instrumental music published in Europe), Antonio Cabezon, Luis Milan, Alonso Mudarra, and Martin y Coll. Phoebe will be playing music from the original tablatures on a renaissance Spanish arpa de dos ordenes (or cross-strung harp) and discussing compositional techniques and historically-informed performance practices as well as the harp, tablatures, and cultural context of renaissance music making and sharing.

Phoebe Durand-McDonnell grew up in Bar Harbor and began studying modern harp at age 10 with Liza Rey Butler. She earned a BM in harp performance at Oberlin Conservatory studying with Yolanda Kondonassis.

In 2019, she received a Fulbright Research grant to study historical harp in Switzerland. Phoebe received her first MA in 2021 from Haute École de Musique Genève in Geneva, Switzerland, with intensive study on medieval and renaissance single- and double-rowed harps, Spanish arpa de dos ordenes, Italian and Welsh baroque arpa doppia, and the harpe organisée, or single-action pedal harp.

In 2023, Phoebe completed an MA in musicology at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where her thesis was titled “‘She Drew Forth Its Strongest Sounds’: Tracing the Historical Throughline of Women Harpists.” Phoebe is always thrilled to perform in her home community on MDI!