Harpblog

Florence Sitruk and Agne Keblyte at l'Espace Camac, February 17th

On February 17th at l'Espace Camac, we'll be showcasing the work of Florence Sitruk, professor at the Haute école de musique in Geneva, and that of one of her pupils, Agne Keblyte. Agne is the winner of the second International Harp Competition in Szeged, and also won second prize in the most recent International Harp Contest in Israel: we're really looking forward to hearing her again!

Florence will be giving a masterclass between 2PM and 5PM, an ideal opportunity to meet her, work with her, and ask her any questions you may have about her Geneva class. Agne will give an hour's recital at 6PM. If you would like to reserve seats or participate in the masterclass, please contact Claude on c.bouly@camac-harps.com, or call her at l'Espace Camac: +33 1 40 40 08 40. Everything is free, but places are limited so it's best to book!

Photos from our weekend with Camac Ibérica

Alexander Granados, director of Camac Ibérica, greets the public at the Real Conservatorio Supérior de Musica de Madrid

Jakez and Eric report from Madrid that Camac Ibérica have had a super first birthday party! A full house awaited Gabriella Dall'Olio and François Pernel's recital in the auditorium of the Real Conservatorio Supérior de Musica de Madrid, and the two artists were applauded wonderfully by their delighted public. Gabriella and François even concluded their shared concert together, improvising on Paul Lewis's Saturday Night Jazz Suite. Here are some photographs of the concert, plus the ensuing day of successful masterclasses. A big muchas gracias to Gabriella, François and to everyone who came in such numbers to both events!

 

Waiting for it all to begin

Gabriella Dall'Olio

 

François Pernel

 

 

Special harp sale, L'Espace Camac, December 15th

 

We're having one of our periodic, big special harp sales at L'Espace Camac this Saturday. It's a great chance to try a large range of our harps in one place, both new and second-hand. Why not make a weekend of it and go to our masterclass with Jana Bouskova, and concert with Vasilisa Lushchevskaya, the following day? You'll rarely have a better harp excuse for a weekend in Paris!

For more information about the harp sale, please contact our Commercial Director, Eric Piron: +33 2 40 97 79 40.

 

An example of one of our recently-restored second-hand harps: Obermayer Orchestra, 46 strings, extended soundboard, ca. 1950. New gilding, soundboard and varnish, revised mechanism. Six-month guarantee. €25,000

First birthday weekend at Camac Ibérica!

 

Camac Ibérica, our partner in Madrid, is one year old in January! To celebrate, we are sponsoring a harp weekend of concerts and masterclasses on January 18th and 19th, at the Real Conservatoiro Superior de Musica de Madrid. We're delighted to be able to welcome exceptional lever harpist François Pernel, winner of the fifth Camac Trophy at the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in the summer of 2012. For concert harp, you have the chance to hear and play for Gabriella Dall'Olio, the highly respected and much loved Professor of Harp at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, London.

Admission and participation in all events is free of charge. To reserve places, please contact Alexander Granados at Camac Ibérica:

C/San pedro, 7 - 28014 Madrid

Tel +34 91 006 37 27
Mob. +34 61 964 89 68

alexander.granados@camac-harps.com 

Christmas is coming!

Fresh from the tropical warmth of Singapore, I arrived home to drizzly rain and a letter from the tax office which appeared, for all I could understand it, to have been written in mysterious runes. But winter* is not all doom and gloom, for it also means that CHRISTMAS IS COMING! 

Here are two pieces of news to help you get into the Christmas spirit ! 

 

December 2nd, 2012: Harpy Christmas : Camac's festive open stage! 

On Sunday, December 2nd 2012, from 2PM to 5PM, Camac will be getting into the Christmas spirit with its now traditional "Harpy Christmas" open stage at l'Espace Camac! This is for every type of harpist - professional, student, amateur, pedal, lever, solo or in chamber groups. At 6PM, you'll have the chance to hear an hour's "Carte Blanche" concert given by the young harp duo of Sarah Massuelles et Héloïse Carlean Jones, both students in Audrey Perrin's class at the Conservatoire du Centre.

For more information, to sign up or to reserve a seat, please email Claude: c.bouly@camac-harps.com.

 

Valérie Milot and Antoine Bareil's harp / violin Christmas CD is now out! 

 

 

 

When you get home from Harpy Christmas, you can put your feet up before a roaring fire with Valérie Milot and Antoine Bareil's Fantasie sur Noël Christmas CD, now available on Analekta ! Get a taste of it by enjoying the videos below, before rushing to order a hard copy or download the tracks directly from the record label's site. 

 

 

 

*(OK, so Singapore has Christmas too. Some countries have everything...)

Carte blanche à...Jana Bouskova and Vasilisa Lushchevskaya

On December 16th, we're delighted to be able to present an exceptional "carte blanche" masterclass + concert at l'Espace Camac in Paris. Jana Bouskova, who needs little introduction to most of you, will give a public masterclass between 10AM - 12noon, and 2PM- 5PM. After this, at 6PM, you'll have the chance to hear an hour's solo recital by the first prize winner of the recent Ksenia Erdely International Competition: Vasilisa Lushchevskaya. 

Don't miss this opportunity to work with and listen to these two virtuoso stars of the concert harp. Admission, as to all our Paris events, is free, but please reserve in advance with Claude on c.bouly@camac-harps.com. 

Carte Blanche à Nikolaz Cadoret, L'Espace Camac, 18th November

 

Nikolaz Cadoret is a rising star in the Celtic harp firmament. The photo above was taken during his performance at the longue nuit de la harpe during our festival in Ancenis, where he wowed us with his technical virtuosity and musical creativity, fusing traditional music with jazz and other contemporary styles.

Nikolaz will be appearing at our Paris showroom, l'Espace Camac, on November 18th as part of our "Carte blanche" series of masterclasses and concerts. The afternoon workshop (from 10AM to 5PM) is open to those who have studied lever harp for at least three or four years, and will focus on playing by ear (in a group), arranging music and improvisation. After this, Nikolaz will show us how it's done with a solo performance at 6PM. As ever, the event is entirely FREE but places are limited (particularly for the workshop), so please make your reservations with Claude on c.bouly@camac-harps.com.

Want to find out more about Nikolaz? He was one of our Camac Voices of 2011, and you can also read his very interesting blog. 

Back from Geneva !

Some many of you will remember the smash hit, worldwide success of CamacCam, our video blogging live from the Vancouver World Harp Congress in 2011. Harpblog is now back at the movies with a video report from our very busy and enjoyable Camac festival in Geneva!

 

The festival began in style with an excellent concert of harp chamber music. The three duos who are Ghislaine Petit-Volta and Jean-Marc Volta, Isabelle Moretti and Magali Mosnier, and Sophie and Marie Hallynck, offered us a programme that ranged from introducing us to new repertoire (such as a Tôn-Thất Tiết world premiere for harp, clarinet and bass clarinet), to being a chance to hear flute and harp music at its very best. While the harp chamber repertoire contains some of the best music ever written for the instrument, its relatively small size is not without its challenges. New music, and the opportunity to discover how stunning and rich less usual combinations (like harp and cello) can be, are both vital contributions to the development of our chamber music - and equally, it's both inspiring and humbling to hear a familiar work like the Saint-Saëns Fantasie Op.124 played so well that it is like hearing it for the very first time. I was reminded, not before time, that to think "the Saint-Saëns will be OK, I'll just run through the solo demisemiquavers an hour before the concert" is to have lost your way amid this beautiful music.

Off to Geneva!

We're all heading to Geneva at the end of this week for our annual Camac Festival! 

 

 

The advance information about the festival has not changed so, rather than repeat myself, you can read it here. In a nutshell, this annual event aims to present some of the brightest stars of the harp's different styles and genres (a range so diverse that it never fails to amaze and delight us), highlight the work of local harp scenes (which is why we choose a different venue every year), and offer the best commercial opportunity possible (the largest exhibition of Camac instruments you will ever find in one place). It is also an ideal opportunity to have your harp regulated (please reserve an appointment in advance for this).

The wonderful artists performing for us this year deserve a paragraph of thanks containing no parentheses at all. There will be four fabulous duos: Isabelle Moretti and Magali Mosnier, Ghislaine Petit-Volta and Jean-Marc Volta, Sophie and Marie Hallynck, and Sileas - Mary Macmaster and Patsy Seddon. We're also delighted to welcome Petra van der Heide, Tara Minton and her trio, Bernard Andrès, and the harp professors and students in and around Geneva. A huge thank you to them all! 

If you haven't yet reserved your tickets - which are free - call +33 (0) 2 40 97 24 97, or email festival@camac-harps.com!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Harpblog is also looking forward to the chocolate

Photo slideshow from the Ksenia Erdely Competition 2012

I've now received official photos from the Ksenia Erdely International Competition, which took place in St Petersburg at the end of the last season. I thought it would be fun to try presenting these as a video slideshow.

Many thanks to Isabelle Moretti for agreeing to let me use her lovely recording of Glinka's 'The Lark' for the accompanying music!