à la française

Les Harpes Camac are a bit biased about how great France is, but the importance of France and French repertoire for the harp is clear.  Paradoxically, Friday 13th of February, 2009 has turned out to be a lucky day for the harp world in this sense, with two important concerts of French repertoire.

At the Brussels Royal Conservatoire there will be a concert in hommage to Jean-Michel Damase, in the presence of the composer, and performed by the conservatoire's professors - including Annie Lavoisier.  8pm, Grand Concert Hall, €10/€7, tel.  00 32 2 500 87 23. 

An hour earlier at 7pm in London, Sioned Williams is playing the Debussy Dances with her own BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Stéphane Denève, in the Barbican Hall.  There is also a pre-concert talk at 6pm in the Fountain Room - the concert is part of the BBC SO's exploration of French music:

"After total immersion in the work of Tristan Murail, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Stéphane Denève pursue the French connection in a month of French-influenced concerts with a spellbinding programme of works spanning the 20th Century. Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane and the Second Suite from Ravel’s ballet score Daphnis et Chloé, evoke the seductive decadence of early 1900s Paris. Conceived in 1997 to accompany a classic silent film by F.W. Murnau, Guillaume Connesson’s Supernova has since gained independence as a pulsating concert piece."


The harp pictured above is Camac's new Elysée model.  Along with its collegue, the Vendôme (right), the Elysée is inspired by the great French Erard harps, in spirit and design.

One of the many interesting things about Erard harps, is that Sébastian and Pierre Erard probably opened their shop in London in 1792 in an attempt to counter the ban on trade between Britain and France that existed at this time.  Of which, more in my next post.