Jakez and I have been in Cardiff this week, planning the upcoming Wales International Harp Festival with Artistic Director Elinor Bennett.
Following the success of the first festival in Caernarfon, North Wales in 2006, Camac are delighted to be the main sponsors of the second, in association with our Welsh partner, Telynau Vining Harps. The festival will take place between April 4th - 10th, 2010, and offers no less than five different harp competitions. There are three classical competitions (under 14, under 19 and under 30), with a first prize of a Camac Atlantide Prestige concert harp for the under 30 competition. There is also a competition for triple and other non-pedal harps, where the first prize is a choice of a lever harp from Camac's range. Finally, for the first time in Europe, there will be a pop harp competition for any type of amplified harp.
***The closing date for competition applications is January 20th, 2010!***
Download Wales International Festival 2010 leaflet
At the same time as all these competitions, you will have the chance to relish performances from some of the top harpists in the world: Deborah Henson-Conant, Isabelle Perrin, Constance Luzzati, Mara Galassi, Rhodri Davies, Robin Huw Bowen and Corrina Hewat. The performances range from early and Welsh triple harp, to the world premiere of Rhodri Davies' Harp Feedback, which will have CCTV cameras inside the harp projecting onto a screen. The festival also particularly celebrates the three hundredth anniversary of the birth of one of Wales's most famous harpists, John Parry.
Portrait of John Parry by his son, William Parry A.R.A (1743-1791). The portrait has been kindly lent by Miles Wynn Cato of Welsh Art, London, and will be on display throughout the festival.
I particularly like the inclusiveness of the Wales Festival. It combines harp competitions and concerts of the highest international level with other art forms, creating an event that is interesting beyond the harp world. As well as the great musical variety in the concerts, competitions and workshops offered, there will be a music/visual arts project in local schools, a project for people with learning disabilities, and an ongoing art exhibition on-site throughout the festival. Insularity is rarely healthy for anything, and particularly the arts should be as broad, generous, inquisitive and democratic as possible. Musicians always benefit from genuine engagement with audiences. Equally, audiences appreciate music more in its best forms, than they do from “dumbed down” access initiatives.
It was also really interesting to go to Caernafon, North Wales, to visit the competition site - the splendid Galeri. Galeri is a fantastic community arts centre with a theatre, cinema, art space and the William Mathias music centre, as well as twelve other resident creative companies. The harp world can sometimes feel niche, even small. But in Wales, the harp is the national instrument, learnt in schools the way other countries teach the piano or the recorder. It's a great environment to prove that the harp can be interesting and beneficial in a much wider field.
Yesterday we received the excellent news that Arts and Business will give the festival generous matching funding alongside Camac's own contribution. Energy Solutions will also fund workshops in schools prior to the festival, and some tickets for children to attend the concerts. Before I returned home, I was also lucky enough to attend a lovely fund-raising concert given by Elinor Bennett and her pupils Rhiain Awel Dyer, Rhianwen Pugh, Glain Dafydd and Mared Emlyn. They played beautifully and the tickets included curry afterwards, which added to the fun atmosphere.
Elinor has put Jakez and me on a Welsh crash course. So far, we have learnt "plis" (please), "diolch" (thank you), "hwyl" (bye) and "Iechyd da!" (cheers!).
Camac's Atlantide Prestige harp
