Arianna Savall, who was born in Basle (Switzerland) in 1972 into a family of Catalan musicians, began her piano studies with Susanne Hockenios, and classical-harp studies with Magdalena Barrera. In 1991, she also began singing lessons with Maria Dolors Aldea at the music school in Terrassa, where she completed her singing and harp studies.
She began studying the performance of music from earlier periods with Rolf Lislevand at the Toulouse Conservatory (France) in 1992, and joined a number of other courses taught by Andrew Lawrence-King, Hopkinson Smith, and her parents Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall.
Late 2009 saw the release of her second album, also her own work, “ Peiwoh” (Alia Vox),
which pays tribute to the harp through the eastern legend of the same name.
With this latest project, she begins an intense tour of Europe, with guest appearances at the Festival Música Viva of Vic, Ribermúsica (Barcelona), MDR Musiksommer, All’Improviso (Poland), Philippe Maillard Productions (Paris), and Espazos Sonoros (Santiago de Compostela). The critics refer to her as “The fairy of the harp”.
With Peiwoh, she has reached the finals of the Third Miquel Martí i Pol Awards, 2011, with the song “Si tornes” (“If you come back”) from the album Peiwoh (EDR Discos). She has also been awarded the “World Music from Catalonia 2011” distinction by the Government of Catalonia.
With Hirundo Maris, she performs at numerous harp festivals, including the Festival de Dinan (Brittany), Seduced by Harps (Belgium) and the Ostrava Ada Balová Festival (Czech Republic). Her ensemble has also opened some of these festivals, such as the International Harp Festival of Sentmenat (Catalonia) where they are regular guests, and Arp Sanati Dergi in Istanbul (Turkey).
She performs with several other harpists, including Myrdhin and Zil (Brittany), Robin Huw Bowen (Wales) and Sirin Pancaroglu (Turkey).
She has given several courses and makes regular trips to Austria (Handenberg) and France for this purpose, besides teaching at El Musical, the school of music at Bellaterra.