Harpblog

Taller Itinerante de Arpa Clasica: Harp Travelling Workshop

Following on from Edmar Castaneda's new album, Harpblog has another piece of news about the harp in Latin America. It's a very special project for Latin American harp students, that will take place in Mexico between the 25th and 30th of April, 2012. It is: a travelling harp workshop, organised by Isabelle Moretti (France), Mercedes Gomez (Mexico) and Marisela González (Venezuela).

Before this article goes any further, here is an essential practicality: the application form! Closing date: March 10th. 

Download TALLER ITINERANTE DE ARPA DE PEDALES CON ISABELLE MORETTI

And now, here's some more about the project from the artists themselves!

 

 

Isabelle Moretti. Photo: Eric Larrayadieu

 

After two journeys with my husband, the one to Venezuela to El Sistema, and the other to Mexico with Mercedes Gomez, I became truly aware of how lucky we French musicians are, to have almost everything we need while others have practically nothing. Of course, I had already been aware of this, but these journeys really brought it home to me, almost physically.

The traditional Criolla harp is an instrument widely played in Central and South America, but the “classical” harp struggles to fulfil its potential because of significant difficulties – a lack of instruments, strings and music, but also a lack of contact with the outside classical music world, and little access to teaching (I mean, contact other than on YouTube !). On the other hand, the goodwill, courage and self-sacrifice of certain teachers is not lacking at all!

It was in meeting two of these fantastic teachers, Mercedes Gomez from Mexico and Marisela Gonzales from Caracas, that I very much wanted to do something concrete, by offering my help as a soloist and as professor at the CNSM in Paris.

Mercedes and Marisela know their countries very well. Their knowledge is extremely valuable and after long discussions, it became clear to us that the most useful thing to do would be to create a travelling classical harp workshop. If the workshop travels, this permits the young harpists of Central and South America to take part more easily, by reducing the duration and price of their journey. 

We are thinking, in the first instance, of beginning in the two cities of Mexico and Caracas. Following the initial results and level of interest, it would of course be possible to expand our field of action at a later date. It is a journey for us all. We hope that by putting our knowledge together, we will be best able to help all these young harpists who deserve it so much.

Isabelle Moretti

 

Mercedes Gomez

THE INFINITE IMPORTANCE OF SHARING

What might some harpists in France, Venezuela and Mexico have in common - besides playing the harp, being women, and enjoying teaching? 

Possibly, in this case, it is that the three of us own a dictionary that includes the verb to SHARE. Our project started when Isabelle Moretti (France) was teaching in Brazil. Marisela González (Venezuela) was also working there, and after her course had finished, Isabelle travelled to Mexico, where I live. Marisela, Isabelle and I began discussing the harp world in Latin America, and its difficulties.

We decided to use this verb "to share". We started thinking about how to share our very different experiences. We wanted a workshop in which Isabelle, with her enormous talent and amazing experience, could help us to strengthen the studies of our harp students in Latin America, as we know this needs hard work. We thought a lot about what to call this experience, and decided on TALLER ITINERANTE DE ARPA CLÁSICA, which means the CLASSICAL HARP TRAVELLING WORKSHOP.

Our Taller Itinerante is specifically addressed to Latin American students, who, owing to their political, economic and cultural circumstances, generally have had much less access to opportunities, instruments, strings and scores than students from first world countries. The travelling workshop that will take place in April is a first adventure. We will see how it goes, shape it while it's happening, and keep a fresh, open-minded spirit. 

Isabelle, Marisela and I have been practicing our three languages at different levels, thinking “out loud” at our computers (what a crazy image! My grandma would not have a clue what I'm talking about!). We have discussed how to structure the sessions - these will include individual classes, and technique sessions in groups - and how to open the application process. 

While the three of us were doing the artistic planning, I contacted schools and institutions in Mexico to see who could host and support the workshop. Janet Paulus and Artemisa González, our generous colleagues and professors at the Escuela Nacional de Música (part of the National University UNAM) jumped for joy at the idea. They spoke with their director, Francisco Viesca, who has respected and supported a lot of our harp ideas, competitions, master classes and other projects over the last few years. Camac Harps also kindly volunteered to sponsor us.

Thanks to this wonderful support, we are ready to launch the project and send out the application forms. I promise to let you know how this adventure will develop. There have already been wonderful benefits, like sharing some Venezuelan and Mexican harp repertoire with Isabelle, her recommending some French teaching literature, and the three of us being very aware and respectful of the different situations and contexts from which we come. 

All this, besides making us more aware of how vital it is that artists work together, fills my heart with gratitude and the molto crescendo joy of sharing.

¡GRACIAS, THANKS, MERCI, GOOD LUCK, BONNE CHANCE Y BUENA SUERTE! 

Mercedes Gómez Benet, Mexico

 

Marisela Gonzales

 

Regardless of the challenges we face in Latin America, we are teaching the harp and we will continue to do so! But I also feel we must do something inspiring for our students, who love their instrument so much that they overcome all the difficulties, and keep practising as much as they can. 

Last year, after meeting Isabelle Moretti at a festival we had in Brazil, and experiencing what a  motivation she was for the students, Isabelle offered enthusiastically to help us. So here we are, with a programme of masterclasses and technical workshops for students of all levels. This way, we are giving a chance to students who would probably never be able to travel abroad to hear harpists other than their own teachers: a chance to play or to hear these masterclasses and workshops in our own countries with a unique harpist. It will be a week of students of different levels playing and re-playing together, watching, talking, observing and absorbing as much as they can. They will also know that this is going to happen again, close enough for them to get to; they will be able, in other words, through this repeated experience to keep growing as harpists.  I am certain that our workshop is going to be a chance for sharing: not just experience or knowledge, but the joy of learning and playing together.

Of course I want to thank Isabelle Moretti, Mercedes Gómez, Artemisa Reyes, Janet Paulus and Camac Harps for their generosity and support.

Marisela Gonzalez, Venezuela

Edmar Castaneda's new album: Double Portion

 

Venezuelan Music Summer Course, Mirecourt, France

 

Download Venezuelan Music Course Information

Updated summer school information

We try to schedule our Qatar regulation tours in middle of the European winter

It is minus eleven outside as I type this (minus twenty-three in Moscow!), so it's nice to think ahead to 2012's summer schools, whose websites are now mostly updated for this year. On Harpblog's opportunities page, you will now find links to the summer academies with, among others, Isabelle Moretti, Germaine Lorenzini and Isabelle Perrin. I'll be adding to this list throughout the long, cold winter.

Harp news in Hungary

Little-known harp fact: did you know that George Solti's first music teacher was a harpist? 

Well, he was. When the great maestro was a boy of six, he was taught by the principal harpist at the Budapest Opera House. This would have been either Román or Otto Mosshammer - in his autobiography, Solti mentions his teacher had been a hard taskmaster, but does not name him. 

 

Tough: Román Mosshammer

Ammann Gyöngyi writes Hungary's first harp blog. Better-known than Solti's first music teacher is the fact that Hungarian is one of the world's most difficult languages: unrelated to anything except (distantly) Finnish and Estonian, and boasting no less than thirty-five cases. Of course, Dr Ammann's blog (in fact, a family affair - she writes it with her husband and her harpist daughters) is of particular interest to Hungarian-speakers, but she has also kindly set about ensuring that some of her blog's articles are in English, and you will find them here. They include an article about Solti. October 21st, 2012 will be the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and this is celebrated in the official UNESCO Anniversary List. 

And the harp world went wild! @ 1'30"

  

I have just begun my working day by watching the whole show carefully. There is no more harp after the 1.5 minute mark, so you can all get back to your practice. I do this for you.

Elisabeth Valletti nominated for Eighth Qwartz Awards

Last year, Camac's MIDI harp won the Max Matthews Prize for technological innovation at the seventh Qwartz Awards in Paris. Now Elisabeth Valletti, who performed on the MIDI harp at the prizegiving ceremony, is in the running for the eighth Awards (musical experimentation category)! She has been nominated for her eighteen "Exercices pour la Harpe MIDI", which include the Harp Haikus she performed when the MIDI harp won its prize.

VERY IMPORTANT: this prize has a public vote, which you can cast here. The closing date for voting is February 15th.

 

Camac Voice, February 2012: Maureen Thiébaut

February’s Camac Voice has been recorded by none other than the winner of November’s Cité des Arts competition: Maureen Thiébaut. It is the opening of the Sonata K208 by Scarlatti.

 

Maureen Thiébaut

Maureen Thiébaut began the harp in 1996. In 2005, she joined the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional de Paris (CRR), where she studied with Ghislaine Petit-Volta until 2009. Having received her Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales (DEM) with a "très bien" credit, she entered Isabelle Moretti's class at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (CNSMDP). A propos - the CRR is one of the harp world’s best-kept secrets. Its first undergraduate degree - the DEM that Maureen took - qualifies you to then take the entrance audition for the undergraduate course at the CNSMDP. This can be very handy to remember if you cannot immediately apply to the CNSM because you do not speak French, and / or haven’t done solfège: you have to pass exams in both before you may proceed to the harp audition. The results speak for themselves: of the seven candidates to make the CNSM audition’s final in 2010, five with Ghislaine’s students from the CRR. Harpblog has covered this subject before, in “Studying in...Paris”.  

Back to Maureen: as well as winning first prize and the Louise Charpentier prize in the Cité des Arts of Paris competition in November 2011, Maureen also won third prize and the "coup de coeur" prize at the Martine Géliot International Competition in 2008. She is principal harpist with the Manifesto Orchestra, and has also worked with the Paris Opera (2011), the Orchestre des Siècles (2010), and the Orchestre Prométhée (2008). She performs regular solo recitals, and teaches at the Animathèque MJC in Sceaux.

The number of harp competitions has exploded in recent years, meaning that harp students prepare and focus on them more than ever before. As sponsors, we also attend more competitions than ever before, and - more than ever before - one notices the difference between candidates who have approached a competition wisely, and those who haven’t. But what is this “wisely”? Perceptively, Maureen points out that doing a competition is not like filling out a form, either correctly or incorrectly: “I would never presume to lecture harpists on how exactly to win a competition, because each person prepares in their own way, and has his own reasons for doing a competition.” 

Despite the variety in individual competition preparation and reasons for doing it, nonetheless it is clear that you must prepare carefully, and you do have to have reasons. Fact: if you aren’t ready, you’ll not win a serious competition. Even if nobody else as good as you turns up, I’ve never met a harp jury that forgives insufficient preparation, and prizes can be and are withheld all the time. In an article by Adrienne Bridgewater in the January / February 2010 edition of Harp Column Magazine, her entire interviewed panel of competition winners emphasise their preparation: “Our panel said they began anywhere from as soon as the repertoire list was published to seven months before the competition. ‘At the last minute’ was not an answer we heard from the group.” Sam Karlinski, who writes a detailed and helpful blog about competition preparation, offers a year’s timeline in the same article. For the biggest competitions, the repertoire lists usually come out two years in advance, and there is a reason why they do.

 

Amzer Nevez Harp Competition, 24th March, 2012

 

Download Application form

Get a job: music-job.com

I thought you had to subscribe to the German orchestral magazine Das Orchester in order to access the most extensive harp orchestral job listings available today. 

I was wrong! Das Orchester have nobly fed their job listings into the free search service music-job.com. You can sign up here.