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.
Kerstin guests with the Detroit Symphony and many other orchestras; has created chamber groups which tour the US, Europe, Japan, Canada and North Africa, and teaches harp, breathing techniques and yoga to music students from around the world. She was voted “Best Classical Instrumentalist” by the Detroit Music Awards and is President of High Heel Records, Inc., producing and recording digital music for Internet and CD release nationally. Her latest CD entitled, “An Affair of the Harp,” contains the solo and chamber music of composer James Hartway receiving Detroit Music Award’s “Outstanding Classical Recording” in 2005.
Kerstin also plays jazz, releasing a CD of original music, “Origins” on JBX Records. It has been another chart success for her: number five nationally in the Jazz/New Age category in “JAZZIZ” magazine. She is a member of “Jazz at the Shamrock Shore,” an ensemble headed by Detroit’s award winning tenor saxophonist, Christopher Collins. As a session musician, she has recorded with Stevie Wonder, Oleta Adams and R. Kelly and performed with Josh Groben, Natalie Cole, The Three Tenors and many others.
Congratulations to Kerstin for her work. You can buy her CDs via CD Baby, contact her on harpmusic23@hotmail.com, and order James Hartway´s harp music here.
