We're delighted to announce that a new Camac store has now opened in Madrid:
Camac Ibérica, La Casa Del Arpa
Alexander Granados Rodriguez
Calle San Pedro, 7
28014 Madrid
Tel. +34 910063727
Fax +34 619648968
alexander.granados@camac-harps.com
Camac Ibérica is situated in Madrid's artistic and cultural district, the Barrio de las Letras, and in the middle of a triangle made by the Museo del Prado, the Museo Reina Sofia and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. It is ten minutes' walk from the very centre of the city, ten minutes from the Atocha main railway station, a whole three minutes from the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música - it could not be easier to get to, and it has plenty of accomodation possibilities to suit all tastes and budgets.
The store itself consists of over one hundred square metres filled with a wide range of our concert, lever and electric harps, as well as - of course - strings, accessories and music. A practice studio is already busily in use by harpists for teaching, or for an hour or two's work when it is more convenient to be practising there than at home.
Very importantly, Camac Ibérica is headed by an experienced harp technician, Alexander Granados, and so also offers full technical support.
Alexander Granados. Spanish-speakers can read an interview with Alexander in El Pais, here.
Alexander Granados originally trained as a piano tuner at the ITEMM (the Institut technologique des études des métiers de la musique) in Le Mans, France. He was the first Spaniard to receive the official diploma in piano-tuning from this institution, and his studies were sponsored by the professional piano sector in Spain. As he is the son of Mickaèle Granados, principal harpist with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, he had already had some exposure to the harp world, and he knew that the Camac factory, in Mouzeil, is not far away from Le Mans. He therefore used the opportunity, while studying nearby, to visit our head office.
As Spain needed a resident harp technician, Alexander subsequently trained as one, and this took over from his piano-tuning work. For four years, he was a busy freelance technician working on all makes of harps. "I worked on private harps, and on those belonging to orchestras, conservatoires and schools," Alexander explains. "My work gave me a broad overview of the Spanish market and I could see that in fact harpists in Spain don't have much practical support available to them - I was the only resident technician, and as there was no store, it was hard to get hold of any harp supplies quickly. I therefore decided to open a harp shop, with a fully professional service for harpists. Up until now, Spanish harpists have had to rely on the harp section of more general music stores. Naturally, these stores are not run by harp specialists, and they cannot always offer a harpist the best solutions.
Throughout the course of my work as a harp technician, I had always had a good relationship with Camac. I admired their client service and, as a technician, I was very impressed by their instruments. It is much more fun to regulate a Camac harp than any other make. Apart from the fact it is much quicker and easier to do so, Camac's design innovations have made their harps the most stable on the market. There are fewer possibilities for something to go wrong with a Camac harp than with another make. From the player's point of view, the tension across the harp is more even than any other make I know, and the instruments are lighter and more comfortable to play. Finally, most importantly, I am amazed by the work Camac have done to improve the harp's sound. The instruments keep getting better and better, and it is very exciting to follow their development.
Camac Ibérica is very accessible, in the centre of Madrid, and set up with practice and teaching facilities in the form of its in-built studio. It's been great to see that harpists are already making use of this - usually there are always at least two people either practising or teaching, one in the studio and one in the main shop - being applauded by the interested crowds that sometimes gather in the street outside!
I am looking forward to being able to offer Spanish harpists a fuller, more immediate service than has ever been available to them before."
