Did you know ‘Hamnet’ star Jessie Buckley studied piano, clarinet, saxophone, harp and singing?

15 January 2026, 17:27

Turns out Hamnet star Jessie Buckley has Grade 8 harp, piano and clarinet.

It’s fair to say that Jessie Buckley is the woman of the moment. Just a few days ago she won a Golden Globe for her role in Hamnet, alongside Paul Mescal. She has also been hotly tipped for an Oscar for the same role in a few weeks’ time.

But, as well as being a dramatic behemoth, Buckley is a mean musician too.

Here’s everything you need to know about her musical background...

Read more: Max Richter’s ‘Hamnet’ soundtrack leaves fans in tears after Jessie Buckley scene

Was Jessie Buckley on ‘I’d Do Anything’?

Those of you with good memories might recall Buckley’s 2008 appearance on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s TV talent show I’d Do Anything, which sought a Nancy for a new West End production of Oliver! Buckley lost out to Jodie Prenger (who’s gone on to superstardom herself).

From the show she bagged a role in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre before enrolling in RADA.

Did Jessie Buckley sing in Wild Rose?

Jessie then went on to star in Wild Rose (2018) as a Scottish country singer following her dream. Watch her sing the track ‘Glasgow’ from the film below.

Jessie Buckley Performs 'Glasgow'

Her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 2021 immersive West End revival of Cabaret, also starring Eddie Redmayne, earned her a Best Actress Olivier Award. Watch her full-throated rendition of the title song below.

In 2022 Buckley collaborated with Suede star Bernard Butler on a critically acclaimed folk-inspired album, For All Our Days That Tear The Heart, which was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize.

What’s Jessie Buckley’s musical background?

Buckley’s mother, Marina Cassidy, is a renowned harpist and vocal coach.

As a girl in Killarney, young Jessie studied piano, clarinet, saxophone, Irish harp and singing with the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Ciara Higgins, head of artistic programming at the Royal Irish Academy of Music, told Classic FM, “We are so proud to be able to say that Jessie Buckley was not only a participant in our nationwide RIAM Exams on multiple instruments – piano, clarinet, saxophone, Irish harp and singing, but she was also selected for a 2001 High Achiever Award as part of RIAM Exams.”

This meant that she was selected from a pool of over 40,000 candidates from all over Ireland to audition to participate in regional concerts in Ireland that year.

She went on to represent Munster in our High Achiever concert in Limerick that year performing a work by Gráinne Yeats on Irish harp.

“She was clearly a star even back then!” says Higgins.

Watch the trailer for Hamnet

Buckley isn’t the only major Irish artist to have participated in RIAM Exams. Andrew Scott and Sinead O’Connor, amongst others have also been prizewinners.

Buckley’s classical training may have informed her decision to include Max Richter’s On The Nature Of Daylight in the Hamnet soundtrack, saying she’d played it on set for ten hours a day.