Cormac MacDermott (year of birth unknown – 26 February 1618), Irish harper and composer, was one of the best-known Irish harpers and a member of the "Royal Musick" (the official band of musicians) at the English court of James I.
He was the only Irish composer at this period known to have written in a European Renaissance art music idiom.
[1] In 1590, he was employed by Sir Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, for whom he undertook at least five travels to Ireland to exchange personal correspondence between 1603 and 1611.
[2] In addition, in October 1605, he was appointed to the Royal Musick in London, the first harper since the death of Blind William More in 1565.
[4] The original players in the early performances of the Lawes consorts were the MacDermott pupil Philip Squire and later Squire's pupil Lewis Evans, both on Irish harps.