Thank you to Athy for these pictures of his special rainbow finish electric harp, catching the sun! He added a cover made out of holographic material. Uncovered, the harp has a more subtle rainbow sheen, which you can view in detail here.
Thank you to Athy for these pictures of his special rainbow finish electric harp, catching the sun! He added a cover made out of holographic material. Uncovered, the harp has a more subtle rainbow sheen, which you can view in detail here.
Posted at 06:00 AM in Camac instruments | Permalink
It is good to hear that Jane Berthe is enjoying her new Camac Harp! She came to our Paris showroom with her friend Line Gaudard, when Line was choosing two Atlantides for the Bern Symphony Orchestra back in 2008.
"Line was enchanted by the harps and also bought a personal one for herself. I was similarly impressed, particularly by the Atlantides in rosewood, and Eric Piron told me it would be no problem to organise a selection of rosewood harps for me to try. All I had to do after that was sell my other harp, and choose! My new harp arrived at my home in Germany at the end of February, and I am delighted with it. In the Paris shop, the Camacs struck me as very personal harps - one will sound particularly fine for you."
You can find out more about Jane's work on her website, which features an especially nice recording of the Saint-Saëns Fantasie. As well as a busy freelance career as a solo and orchestral harpist, Jane has several interesting chamber music projects with voice, cello, flute and flute/viola/harp trio - a great source of inspiration for programming ideas!
Posted at 11:42 AM in artists, Camac instruments | Permalink
If you're looking for a story today, what about Deborah Henson-Conant's Anna Bella and Piano Man Sam? You can also hear Deborah's recording of Anna Bella, and watch Jakez improvising on the same music.
Deborah will be at the Wales International Harp Festival next month, where she'll be launching the international publication of three new works for harp and chamber ensemble. You can also read Harpblog's interview with her here.
The Klezmorim performed largely dance music for Jewish weddings and other festivals, and also played a ceremonial role. Their music was rooted both in religious aspects of Jewish culture, influenced by the local music wherever they happened to be, and also had a big Gypsy element. The Klezmorim continued to gather strength until their hey-day in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. By this time, a wide and varied repertoire had been developed, and the word "klezmer" began to be used to describe their music as a genre, rather than simply the musicians ("a klezmer" is the singular form of "klezmorim").
Continue reading "vessels of song: harp in the music of Giora Feidman" »
As we were saying in Glasgow last week,
the blue harp is very versatile. It is used extensively in jazz and
pop, but also in classical music such as Schönberg, Hummel, Debussy, or
- since 2008 - the first concerto for blue harp and orchestra. It is
also popular across the contemporary music spectrum, for example in the
pioneering work of Martine Flassier and her Trio Controverse, Elisabeth Valletti's video installations, the new folk music of Corrina Hewat or Mary Macmaster, and Catrin Finch's latest projects.
In the commercial music world, the blue harp recently appeared on the soundtracks for Terminator Salvation and Casino Royale, played by Skaila Kanga. It can be found in the desert, in the air, accompanying a giant spider and in practically every photograph of Athy that ever brought joy to womankind. It even starred in Dita von Teese's recent show at the Gentry de Paris Revue.
On March 6th, it entered the magic kingdom when Myriam Serfass went to play at Disneyland Paris!
Myriam was accompanying a traditional Welsh "cerdd dant" song as part of Disneyland Paris's annual Welsh festival. The concert featured young singers in association with Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a Welsh-language youth organisation. Five winners of the 2009 Urdd National Eisteddfod were selected to perform at Disneyland Paris.
It is great to find some of Wales's wonderful music tradition in Paris. Urdd Gobaith Cymru approached Camac when they were looking for a harpist for the festival, and we suggested Myriam. It is always a pleasure to be able to recommend harpists and harp teachers, so contact us if you need one, anywhere in the world!
Posted at 06:00 AM | Permalink
The programme for the Wales International Harp Festival 2010 is now out, you can download it here!
Download Wales International Festival 2010 Programme
Don't forget that there is a special art auction on ebay of paintings by three of Wales's best-known living artists, who have donated their work to help fund the festival. The sale ends on Thursday, March 11th at 1AM.
Posted at 04:42 PM | Permalink
Ameylia Saad Wu, who was a prize winner in the Jakez François International Lever Harp Competition 2009, is giving a big recital in Italy on March 19th, 2010. Organised by the Amici del Loggione del Teatro alla Scala, Ameylia's concert will take place at 9PM at 6 via Silvio Pellico, Milan, with an instrument provided by Camac Italia.
The first half of the programme will comprise music (including songs - Ameylia is a fine singer as well as a harpist) influenced by Celtic music, and the second half will take more world music and contemporary directions. Both halves include many of Ameylia's own compositions, and her new CD will be on sale after the concert - or, if you can't make it to Milan, is also available from Camac Harps.
Bravo to Valérie Milot for this super review - of the first concert she gave on her new Camac harp!
Valérie writes: "yesterday, I gave my first concert on my new Camac in the Montcalm Palace, a magnificent hall in Quebec, as a soloist with Les Violons du Roy. I had a lot of comments afterwards, all very positive, about the harp's exceptional sound. And I particularly notice how quickly I got used to the new instrument. I've had it for less than a month and yesterday, even with performance nerves, I felt totally at ease."
You can read more about Valérie's experience buying a Camac harp here.
Posted at 07:00 AM | Permalink
The results of the 2nd International Competition of the Harpist Association of Slovenia are now out! Congratulations to all prizewinners, and to competition organiser Dalibor Bernatović and his team.
Read on to find out more...
Continue reading "2nd International Competition, Slovenia: results" »
Posted at 06:00 AM in Camac events, competitions | Permalink