Harpblog

Camac Voice, April 2013: Benoît Wery

The distinguished harpist-composer Benoît Wery has just released a new words-music CD, with flautist Philippe Pierlot, and one of France's most famous actors: Marie Christine Barrault. April's Camac Voice is an extract from the final track on this album of French poetry and music: L’Isle de la Fée for harp and narrator, by Benoît Wery, based on the tale 'The Island of the Fay' by Edgar Allen Poe. 

 

Benoît Wery is much in demand both as a performer and composer, in and beyond the harp world. He has particularly made a name for himself as a champion of French music. He was awarded five diapasons for his CD "musique française avec harpe" (Chant de Linos CL0946), and his discography also includes a disc of French violin and harp music (CL1061) with Jean-Pierre Wallez, and one of French flute, bassoon and harp music (REM 311283).

 

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...)

Russians abroad: HarpMasters in Switzerland

If you’re not in St Petersburg and my last post has whetted your appetite to find out more about the harp in Russia, you could do a lot worse than sign up for the HarpMasters summer Academy in Switzerland. This is not a “Russian school harp camp” – it’s a high-level, general international summer school, like most of the others you’ll find on the Harpblog listings page. But it is directed by Irina Zingg, and Milda Agazarian is always one of the professors-in-residence. As such, it has the best English-speaking Russian school presence of any harp academy.

Camac Voice, June 2012: Remy van Kesteren

June’s Camac Voice is a clip from a wonderful transcription of Shostakovich’s Prelude and fugue no. 4. It has been recorded by Remy van Kesteren, and forms part of his debut CD, ‘Remy’.

 

 

It is not easy to pursue a top-flight performing career and run an exceptional annual festival, but Remy has pulled it off. From its beginnings in 2010, the Dutch Harp Festival has proved itself to be one of the best events in the harp world calendar; meanwhile, Remy has a busy concert schedule, including a unique harp/violin/saxophone ensemble. He even manages regularly to update a thoughtful, English-language blog, which you can read via his website.

 

 

 

All of Remy’s activities distinguish themselves through a magical elixir of fine, tasteful and charismatic musicianship, very good communication skills, exemplary professionalism, and powerful personal integrity. This combination sounds easier to take for granted than it is. But it is exceptional. If it weren’t, we would all be doing it.

 

Camac Voice, May 2012: Véronique Musson-Gonneaud

 

The early harp specialist Véronique Musson-Gonneaud has just released a new album: “Pour un plaisir: Intabulations by Antonio de Cabezón and his contemporaries" (Brilliant Classics 94351). It’s an atmospheric window on the dignified music of the Renaissance Spanish court – Antonio de Cabezón, Juan de de Cabezón, Hernando de Cabezón, Francisco Fernández Palero, an original piece for the harp by Alonso Mudarra (ironically, his more-performed Fantasia is originally for vihuela), and two anonymous works, all played by Véronique on Renaissance double harp. Hear an extract now on camac-harps.com!

 

 

New charity single from The Outside Track

Here's a lovely idea from Ailie Robertson's band, The Outside Track. They've just released a single, 'The Mountain Road', and every penny will be going to charity.

 

 

Regarding their choice of charities, Ailie writes:

"UK: The Mountain Rescue (Scotland, and England/Wales) 

The choice for the UK was inspired by the title of the song, so we have decided to support the Mountain Rescue (Scotland, and England/Wales). The volunteers teams offer a world class, front line, voluntary search and rescue service that is available any hour, any day and any weather, saving thousands of lives every year in the UK.

Ireland: The ISPCC 

In Ireland we have opted for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Ireland's leading children's charity for the rights, wellbeing and protection of children. The ISPCC is the only organisation in Ireland providing unique 24 hour support services for children and young people through our Childline service, which receives over 2,300 calls and messages per day. ISPCC support workers and volunteer mentors also work with over 1,500 individual children and families nationwide each year dealing with many issues such as emotional and behavioural problems, anxiety, grief, risk of drug and alcohol abuse and early school leaving.

Canada: The Tim Horton's Children's Foundation 

The Tim Horton Children's Foundation was established in 1974 to honour Tim Horton's love for children and his desire to help those less fortunate. The Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization committed to providing a fun-filled camp environment for children from economically disadvantaged homes. For these children, access to the types of opportunities that develop lifelong skills that help them grow into positive, contributing members of their communities are often lacking. The positive Foundation camp environment exposes economically disadvantaged children to new growth opportunities and challenges.

The single will be for sale for $0.99/£0.79 on Itunes, but if people would like to donate more to the cause, please visit: http://theoutsidetrack.bandcamp.com/ where donations of any size are accepted."

 

Edmar Castaneda's new album: Double Portion

 

Marcella Carboni and Elisabetta Antonini: Nuance

 

 

Marcella Carboni and Elisabetta Antonini have released a great new harp + vocals album, in jazz style: 'Nuance'. Find out more in their press release, below!

New CD from Yann Honoré and Dominig Bouchaud

 

Dominig Bouchaud and Yann Honoré have been a duo for some years now. Their music is rooted in Breton and Celtic traditional styles, and they particularly explore this repertoire's minimalist dimensions. Now, they have a new CD out: L'arbre noir for lever harp and fretless bass!

 

 

They'll launch the CD on December 13th in Quimper (see invitation below), and you can buy it as from now from Keltia Musique.

Download Invitation l'arbre noir

Dibedoup - Breton songs for children

 

For those of you who read French, here's an interesting article about a Breton music project for children, devised by Breton harper and singer Yann Bertrand. While researching traditional Breton songs, Yann was unable to find many specifically written for children - so he composed his own. The project, "Dibedoup", includes a CD now available from Coop Breizh. The recording is a collaboration between Yann and the Beninese musician Euloge Hountondji, fusing jazz and African elements with the traditional Breton sounds - it's a fine example of how traditional music is constantly travelling, and carving new roles for itself. Read the article from Musique Breton here.

 Download Yann Bertrand Musique Breton