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July 06, 2009

Camac Celtic harp trophy, Lorient

Calling all Celtic harpists:  Dominig Bouchaud has kindly sent me this, about the Camac Celtic harp trophy in Lorient. 

"Under the auspices of the Interceltic Festival, Lorient, France, and sponsored by Camac Harps, the second Camac Celtic harp trophy will take place on Saturday August the 8th, 2009, at 3PM.  The competition will be open to ten finalists will be selected from preliminary applications.  The aim is to promote music of the Celtic countries, with both their similarities and their differences!  The candidates must present a free suite of ten minutes in length, emphasizing this repertoire.  This year, they are also required to play a Breton and a Galician theme (the countries enjoying special focus at the Interceltic 09 Festival).  

2008 was a particularly interesting festival, with the first prize unanimously awarded to Lina Bellard, the second prize to Louise Roux and the third to Anne Postic. 

Please note that the competition takes place at the same time as the Interceltic Festival Harp Day, with a masterclass in the morning from 10AM to 12 noon directed by Dominig Bouchaud (Brittany) and Delyth Jenkins (Wales).  There will also be an evening concert with Delyth Jenkins, and Dominig Bouchaud in duo with the bassist Yann Honoré.  This duo will also perform in trio with the Scottish harpist Maggie MacInès en trio."

Dominig Bouchaud

Further details under Harpcomps.

musical journies - Telveten

Kapak More interesting harp CD news from Turkey:  Sirin Pancaroglu and Yinon Muallem´s Israeli-Turkish percussion-harp album Telveten, now out on KAF Müzik. 







He Plays the Darbuka, She Plays a Turkish Harp

Erez Schweitzer

Ha’Aretz, Monday, May 11, 2009

Many extremities meet in the joint album of Yinon Muallem and Þirin Pancaroðlu, an Israeli musician living in Turkey and an internationally-acclaimed Turkish harpist, but the main surprise does not lie in the fusion between east and west or between tradition and progress, which has already become cliché. The album is so delightful because it feels as though it presents no real innovation, and yet, it does not resemble anything that was done before. Therefore, the encounter it offers is very peaceful and very exciting at the same time. It is easy to give in to its exquisite beauty, but it also presents a riddle, which is not easily solved.

Continue reading "musical journies - Telveten" »

June 29, 2009

Arpista Ludovico competition results

Blonde atlantide prestige The results of the sixth Arpista Ludovico International Competition are as follows:

First Prize "Arpista Ludovico"                  

Andreas Mildner


Second Prize "Arpista Fernandez de Huete"   

Withheld


Third Prize "Arpista Juan Hidalgo"              

Veronika Lemishenko and Hinako Hara ex acqueo


Fourth Prize "Arpista Esmeralda Cervantes"

Maiko Enomoto  and Manon Louis ex acqueo


Fifth Prize "Maria Rosa Calvo-Manzano"

Withheld


Special Prizes


"Arpista Nicanor Zabeleta" Prize for the best performance of the Handel Concerto            

Andreas Mildner


"Arpista Luisa Menarguez" Prize  for the best performance of the Debussy Dances                     

Andreas Mildner


"Arpista Vicenta Tormo" Prize for the best performance of Spanish music   

Mami Segawa


"Arpista Marisa Robles" Prize for the best performance of Mudarra's Fantasia X que contrahaze la harpe a la manera de Ludovico

Mayo Miura

June 28, 2009

South American discoveries

At the Arpista Ludovico Competition, we have been treated to two concerts of unusual repertoire - or certainly, what is unusual repertoire if you haven't been to South America, which I haven't - by two of the jury members:  Maria Celia Machado, Professor of Harp at the Federal University Conservatorio of Rio de Janeiro, and Venezuelan harpist Fernando Guerrero, our jury's President. 

Maria Celia champions Brazilian music.  She has recently published a book,  "Heitor Villa-Lobos, Tradição e Vanguarda na Música Brasileira" (Livraria Francisco Alves - in Portuguese, but if you read Spanish you should be OK), and initiated the Orquestra Brasileira de Harpas.  She also created the Trio D'Ambrosio with violinist Aizik Geller and pianist Maria Helena De Andrade, who we heard in concert yesterday.  Named after the great Brazilian violinist Paulina D'Ambrosio, the trio specialize in Brazilian programmes that give you a sense of the variety and history in Brazilian music, particularly in the first decades of the twentieth century.  For example, their programme for yesterday, Clàssicos Brasileiros, was:

Overture                        Padre José Maurício (1767 - 1830)

Episódo Sinfônico                 Francisco Braga (1868 - 1945)

Samba Clássico                   Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 - 1945)

Grande Valsa Brilhante         Chiquinha Gonzaga (1847 - 1986)

INTERVAL

"Abaxo, ó Piques" (maxixe)   Chico Bororó (1897 - 1968)

"Num vorto a pé" (cateretê)   

"Pontiando à viola" (tango - maxixe)

Valsinha do Marajó                Waldemar Henrique (1905 - 1995)

Chorinho

Odeon (Tango Brasileiro)        Ernesto Nazareth (1863 - 1934)

Cinco Miniaturas:                   E. Villani - Côrtes (b.1930)

Preludio, Toada, Choro, Cantiga de Ninar, Baião

Batuque                                Lorenzo Fernândez (1897 - 1948)

Fernando guerrero

Fernando Guerrero in concert at the sixth Arpista Ludovico international harp competition, June 28th, 2009, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain.

Moving from Brazil to Venezuela, Fernando Guerrero provided further food for thought with a programme of diverse South American harp solos in the first half, and flute and harp duos in the second.  I love going to concerts where I've never heard of any of the composers before:  Rodrigo Riera (Venezuela), Gentil Montaña (Colombia), Agustín Barrios "Mangoré" (Paraguay), Alfredo Carrasco (Mexico)...

Fernando Guerrero is a lawyer by profession, but also a key figure in the Venezuelan harp world.  He studied harp at the "José Angel Lamas" music academy in Santa Capilla, Caracas, with Cecilia de Majo (who had been a pupil of Marcel Tournier).  He was one of the founders of the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra, has represented Venezuela at numerous concerts and festivals at home and abroad, and he has also published some extremely interesting scores and books. One of this is a collection of harp solo arrangements of short works by Vicente Emilio Sojo, Antonio Lauro, Juan Bautista Plaza and Moisés Moleiro:  Maestros Venezolanos.  This has been released under his pseudonym, Fernando Gubry, and is a great addition to your library, especially if you are looking for a new encore. 

If you want to start exploring Venezuelan music in depth, Fernando has written an extensive book (under his real name):  El Arpa en Venezuela.  This is in Spanish, and will inform you in detail about the history and construction of the Venezuelan harp, playing techniques (including with your nails), musical styles and principal composers.  There are many musical examples, and a particularly  interesting feature is his discussion of music's various cultural settings - in the cities, at parties, and so on.  I am reading it incredibly slowly because I don't speak Spanish, but if you are interested in South American music you'll have to learn some Spanish  sooner or later anyway.  It is, after all, as much a world language as English.

Alexis debussy Alexis can already speak Spanish fluently, but with the help of some kind finalists, has also now mastered the first line of the Debussy Dances.

June 26, 2009

Arpista Ludovico competition second round results

The jury of the sixth Arpista Ludovico Competition have decided that the following candidates will pass to the final:

Andreas Mildner (Germany)
Maiko Enomoto (Japan)
Hinako Hara (Japan)
Veronika Lemishenko (Ukraine)
Manon Louis (France)

Bravo and good luck to them!

June 24, 2009

Kerstin Allvin: top of the French Radio charts!

ALLVIN_Kerstin Waiting for the results of the first round here in Spain, I took the opportunity to call Kerstin Allvin and congratulate her on her top of the charts triumph in France.  Her recording of Jacques de la Presle's Le Jardin Mouillé is number one at France Radio Classique!  

This recording belongs to a  CD of de la Presle´s solo and chamber music. Recorded by musicians in the Detroit / Windsor area, USA, it is the brainchild of Nadine Delury.  Nadine is an American cellist who specializes in organizing concerts of music by lesser-known composers. She was also in touch with de la Presle´s granddaughter in France, and so the idea for the CD was born.  It was recorded two years ago, and released a year later in France on the Polymnie label. 

Kerstin herself has connections with France.  Her undergraduate studies with Susann McDonald in Indiana had already given her an idea to take harp lessons in France, as Miss McDonald herself had done with Henriette Renie.  Kerstin therefore took private lessons and summer courses with Jacqueline Borot (who had by that time retired from the Paris Conservatoire), travelling between France and the United States.  "I loved it," Kerstin says.  "It was the beautiful sound that I was after, and it was a technique and sound always in service of the music. I learnt to be very detailed in my practicing, really to think exactly what I wanted to do, and to shape the music and sound according to what I believed to be the composer`s desires."

One of the reasons why I like to do portraits of harpists on Harpblog is that I find it very interesting to discover how harpists build their careers. I find it inspiring, often get ideas for my own work, and I hope you, Harpblog´s readers, do too.  Back home in the States, Kerstin is a great example of a harpist making a fantastic freelance career.  

Continue reading "Kerstin Allvin: top of the French Radio charts!" »

Arpista Ludovico competition first round results

Alexis, Thomas and I are at the sixth Arpista Ludovico International Competition, where the results of the first round are as follows:

Mayo Miura (Japan)

Kei Tsunoda (Japan)

Andreas Mildner (Germany)

Maiko Enomoto (Japan)

Mami Segawa (Japan)

Veronika Lemishenko (Ukraine)

Ioana Constantina Comsa (Rumania)

Hinako Hara (Japan)

Nabila Chajai (France)

Manon Louis (France)

Cecile Monsinjon (France)

Congratulations and toi toi toi to them all! 

The winner of the competition will receive a Camac Atlantide Prestige harp.

June 18, 2009

harp number one at Radio Classique!

Oriane Congratulations to Kerstin Allvin, whose recording of Jacques de la Presle's Le Jardin Mouillé has made it to number 1 of the French Radio Classique charts!

You can download the recording from Virginmegaclassique.fr, or buy the whole album from Amazon.  "Sonate et autres pièces de chambre" is a programme exclusively of de la Presle's music, with the Detroit-Woodwind Chamber ensemble (Polymnie  POL590452).  

Devotee of Fauré, Ravel, Debussy and Poulence, Jacques de la Presle was part of the French musical opposition to Wagner and Stravinsky, and of course it is from this French impressionist period that much of the most important harp solo repertoire comes.  De la Presle's elegant, refined music, privileging melody, is always focused on the beautiful.  Of his work, de la Presle remarked:  "Je n'ai jamais rien écrit qui ne fut pour moi un besoin impérieux de le faire.  Je crois que tout artiste écrit pour s'élever au-dessus de lui-même.  C'est ce qui est le plus difficile en art."  ("I have never written anything that I did not feel I absolutely had to write.  I believe that every artist writes to transcend himself.  It is this which is the most difficult in art.")

Le Jardin Mouille is inspired by Henri de Régnier's poem of the same name, where the rain-soaked garden eventually "s'égoutte/Dans l'ombre que j'ai faite en moi" ("drains all its rain at once into the shadow I have made within me.")

4G4H_Fireworks_Fables

Meanwhile, in England Four Girls Four Harps have released their second CD, Fireworks and Fables, which also features a lot of French impressionist music, and is also doing well in the media. It was David Mellor's CD of  the week on Classic FM at the start of June, was featured in Classic FM Magazine (which thought that, had the CD been released a few weeks earlier, it would have had a good chance at the Classical Brit Awards), and was played on BBC Radio 2 as well.  You have yet another chance to hear it this Sunday from 9PM on the Magazine Show

June 17, 2009

Polish translator wanted

We're looking for someone to translate our Camac main website (www.camac-harps.com) into Polish.  I can't do it myself as I have only just finished Hurra!  Po Polsku 2, and Polish is a very complex language - you need two books of Hurra! Po Polsku before you can order a cup of tea without making at least seven mistakes.

In exchange for the translation work we will give you one new Hermine lever harp, including delivery.  If you are interested, please send me a short letter in both Polish and either English or French to helen@camac-harps.com, by July 15th.

This job is aimed at the under-30s, although an exception could be made.


BD-Hermine-pg-acajou Firma Camac poszukuje młodej (do lat 30) osoby, która by przetłumaczyła - i zapewne utrzymywała na bieżąco - stronę www.camac-harps.com na język polski.


Jako zapłatę Camac oferuje nową Herminę Celtic (wraz z dostawą do domu).

Osoby zainteresowane proszonę są o wysłanie podania w formie listu przewodniego (covering letter) zarówno w języku polskim jak i angielskim (lub francuskim) na adres Helen Radice, helen@camac-harps.com.

Many thanks to the Glissando Polish harp portal for the translation of this advertisement.  Obviously, I didn't do that either on the back of Hurra! Po Polsku 2







Glissando baner 3

June 16, 2009

Harping on in the Bangkok Post

More harp news from Asia, and another example of what energetic people, passionate about the harp, can achieve.  Sunida Kitiyakara has kindly sent us this article in Saturday's Bangkok Post, about Thai harpist Phuttaraksa Kamnirdratana.  Now a rising star of Thai classical music, Phuttaraksa began her harp studies at the Tamnak Prathom Harp Centre, the wonderful institution that Sunida runs, and the first place to offer harp lessons in Thailand.  Phuttaraksa went on to win the Yamaha Asia 2004 scholarship, and then a scholarship to the University of Miami.  Now she has a full scholarship to continue at doctoral level.  It looks as if the wheel will turn full circle:  "once I have fulfilled my dream, I will definitely return to Thailand and become a harp teacher for young Thai musicians."

Don't forget that Sunida is offering five scholarships to the under-16 competition as part of the First Tamnak-Prathom Thailand International Harp Festival and Youth CompetitionEach scholarship will offer a return air ticket and accommodations for seven days in Bangkok. The organizing committee will provide special escort and supervision for those whose parents cannot accompany them.

Interested parties are asked to send:

1.A detailed curriculum vitae of their music studies and any musical activities they have undertaken, and any prizes won.

2.A letter of recommendation from their teacher/s and school.

3.Parent's written approval.

The letters (in English, French or Spanish) together with the application form, must reach the Organizing Committee BEFORE JULY15 via email at info@tamnakprathom.net . Only five names will be selected by the committee and the winners will be informed by the end of July.Please include own email as well as home address and telephone number.

Previous winners of top international competitions are not eligible for the scholarship.

Continue reading "Harping on in the Bangkok Post" »