Harpblog

quadro nuevo - tango bitter sweet

The award-winning German quartet Quadro Nuevo normally consists of: Mulo Francel (saxophones, clarinets), Andreas Hinterseher (accordion, vibrandoneon, xylophone), D. D. Lowka (double bass, percussion), and Robert Wolf on the guitar.  However, poor Robert is convalescing from a car accident, and so is replaced for the current season by Evelyn Huber on the blue harp.  It is with Evelyn that Quadro Nuevo will make their London debut, on November 1st, 2009, in the Music Hall of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The quartet will perform a show based on their latest CD, tango bitter sweet.  This album fuses world and Oriental music, jazz, cabaret, flamenco, valse musette, Balkan swing, and original songs with the passionate nostalgia of European tango.  The four musicians’ venues are as diverse as the roots of their music: they appear in concert halls and festivals all over the world, but also travel around the Southern Mediterranean as street musicians, enticing their audience to dance as a nightly tango band!

pictures from the opening celebrations of Harfengalerie / Camac Berlin!

A full report on the opening celebrations of Harfengalerie / Camac Berlin will be published in Harpseasons, but here are a few pictures from a weekend trying out a full range of Camac's harps, drinking champagne and listening to Isabelle Moretti and Isabelle Perrin (it was tough).  We were delighted to welcome visitors from across Germany - Berlin, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Weimar, the Allgäu - and also several from Poland.

Special thanks to Isabelle and Isabelle for a wonderful concert;  to Isabelle Moretti for a fantastic masterclass, and to Iris Vosseig and Martina and Torsten Horwald for giving up their whole day to prepare a continuous stream of delicious canapes. Thank-you too to Klara, Sabrina and Martha for being such tireless waitresses! 

Isabelle Moretti with Martha

talking with Maria Krushevskaya

Maria Krushevskaya was born in Moscow into a musical family.  She began the harp at the age of seven at the Moscow’s Gnessin’s Special Music School, and currently studies at the senior Gnessin Music Academy – in both cases, with Milda Agazarian.  From an early age, Maria took part in many harp competitions, most famously, Second Prize at Lily Laskine International Harp Competition in 2002 and First Prize at the USA International Harp Competition in 2007.   

Maria pursues a career as a recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician throughout Russia and Europe. Her solo engagements have included the Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra, the Saratov Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nigniy Novgorod Philharmonic Orchestra, the “Kremlin”, “Four Seasons”, and the Chamber Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.   She has given solo recitals at music festivals all over the world, has been broadcast widely on Russian TV and radio, and she recorded her first solo CD in 2006.  Her list of prestigious scholarships includes  the “Russian Performing Arts” Fund for young people of outstanding talent.

On October 2nd, 2009, at 7PM, Maria Krushevskaya will perform at the 11th International Harp Festival in the Royal Palace of Gödöllő, Hungary.  She will play a virtuoso programme you can find here.  She asked Camac to lend her a harp for the concert, which we have done with great pleasure and pride. 

fifty years of the Israel Harp Contest

Next week, many young harpists will travel to Israel for what was the first, and is the longest-running international harp competition in the world.  The International Harp Contest in Israel is fifty this year, and its winners are among the harp's finest artists today. 

Very many thanks to Esther Herlitz, the competition's director, for writing the following article for me in celebration of this great competition. 

Esther Herlitz was born in Germany and educated in Jerusalem. She served as an officer in the British Army in the Second World War and in the Israel Defence Army during Israel’s War of Independence.  A graduate of Israel’s first school for Diplomats, she served in Israel’s Foreign Service from the time of its inception. She was Director of the Ministry’s Public Relations and Information Departments; a member of Israel’s UN delegation; First Secretary at the Embassy in Washington; Consul in New York and Israel’s Ambassador to Denmark 1965-1971.

Miss Herlitz was the Director of the Labour Party’s International Department 1958-1962; a member of the Tel Aviv City Council 1961-1965; at the request of  Prime Minister Golda Meir she founded the Israel Voluntary Service of which she was Chairperson from 1972 till 1978.  She was a member of the Eight and Ninth Knesset representing the Labour Party, and served on the Law and Constitution, the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees, as well as the Committee on the Interior.

Miss Herlitz was a member of the Israel Committee on the Status of Women. She is the Chairperson of the Friends of Denmark in Israel; a member of the Board of Trustees of Ben Gurion University of the Negev; the Board of Overseers of the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.  She was appointed Director of the International Harp Contest and the Zimriya (World Assembly of Choirs in Israel) in 1983.

Esther Herlitz has published an autobiography, “How far can a Woman Go” (Ministry of Defence Publishers 1995).  She has also been awarded “Freeman of the City of Tel Aviv” (1996), Doctor Honoris Causa by the Hebrew Union College (1999), and is the recipient of the Prime Minister’s Shield for Voluntarism.

 

Reason for a Celebration – The Israel International Harp Contest's Jubilee

by Esther Herlitz

The State of Israel was hardly ten years old when A.Z. Propes, then on the staff of the Prime Minister's office, suggested, in order to attract visitors to hold an International Harp Contest in Israel, since no such Contest existed anywhere in the world. Israel, he thought, was best suited since the harp originated in the ancient Middle East.

The first International Harp Contest took place in Jerusalem in September 1959 and since then every three years. The 17th Contest, the Anniversary Contest, will be held 6th – 20th October 2009.

made to measure

Camac loves making custom-made harps for people.  Here are some pictures of the unique harps we have created recently.

This is the chrome and gold Atlantide Prestige that has been custom-made for Sunida Kitiyakara, now on its way to Bangkok in time for the First Thailand International Harp Festival and Youth competition.

new works for harp and electronics

Jakez is used to my calling him and saying "you know you're coming to Munich from Beijing via Paris at the start of September?  Well, in London on the Thursday...".  Sadly, this time the travel gods were against us - but we are very grateful to Alex Rider for being our London correspondent, and sending me this review of Elizabeth's Scorah's recital of many new works for the blue harp.  

The Big Blue: New Works for Harp and Electronics: Elizabeth Scorah, Harp

September 10, 2009- Royal Academy of Music, London

As many harp students will know, there is a lot more to presenting a performance exam than a mere succession of pieces, arranged chronologically and delivered to a panel of passive, dehumanized adjudicators. Far from it; now there is much emphasis on having a concept, of making a presentation that will excite and entertain the intellect as well the ears. The idea of a ‘programme’ means that the pieces are given cohesion and context, things that breathe life not only into the audience experience but into the playing as well. The laterally thinking student might find also that the occasion is given a greater sense of meaning beyond the fulfillment of an academic requirement: the reward being a sense of a satisfaction equal to a ‘good mark’.

Currently studying for a Masters degree in performance at London’s Royal Academy of Music under Karen Vaughan, Elizabeth Scorah sought a way in which to enliven her exam performance Debussy’s Danses sacrée et profane and Ravel’s Introduction et Allegro. Ravel’s luscious septet and Debussy’s subtle concerto-type work are beautiful but undeniably often-heard exam fare, and today’s harp student can be hard put to set them in a rich new context. France’s illustrious history of harp-design seems to have provided the answer: it is well-known that the competing efforts of the houses of Erard and Pleyel resulted in the creation of these works and this gave Elizabeth an idea. Camac today continues this tradition of harp innovation, and the Big Blue electro-acoustic harp has become synonymous with the cutting-edge .  So, when Elizabeth approached Jakez Francois in hopes of using the Big Blue harp in her exam, the result was an ambitious and intriguing recital concept: one that juxtaposed traditional repertoire with several new and specially commissioned works for the blue harp.

second-hand harps online!

Camac Harps now offer an online list of the second-hand harps we have for sale.  These are harps that have been part-exchanged for new Camacs.  They are fully overhauled in our workshops - receiving everything they need, from a simple regulation to a new soundboard - before being offered for sale either in Paris or directly in the factory in Mouzeil.

You can use the information request form on the website to ask us all further questions about the harp you are interested in (click on the harp, go to "further details", and then "ask a question about this harp").

NY.Xperienced - SONGS, London, September 24th 2009

Having been to watch Myriam Serfass performing on the blue harp with Dita von Teese in Paris, you can get on the Eurostar and go to London to hear Elisabeth Valletti's gig at the Hope and Anchor, 207 Upper Street, Islington N1, on September 24th at 9PM. 

Elisabeth will be playing her new show NY.Xperienced - SONGS, which I blogged about in July. 

NY.Xperienced_ SONGS_ Excerpts of the album-elisabeth valletti from elisabeth valletti on Vimeo.

blue harp goes burlesque

Camac's blue harp is on stage at the Casino de Paris with Dita von Teese! 

Myriam Serfass is Dita's harpist in the Gentry de Paris Revue.  The show is running until September 17th and you can book your ticket here.

Update:  review here!

Myriam and Dita

these power centres

Elizabeth Jaxon has launched a blog detailing her experience of preparing for the International Harp Contest in Israel. 

Bravo and good luck to Elizabeth - doing an international competition is a very intense experience and it's great to see someone with the time, energy and nerve to write about it.