Les Jeudis de la Harpe – Season IV

Thespian inspirations for the electroharp! Sixth International Harp Competition, Szeged: November 29 – December 4, 2022

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October 29, 2021

Camac Harps is delighted to announce a fourth series of online harp concerts: Les Jeudis de la Harpe, season IV!

Les Jeudis de la Harpe began in the winter of 2020, as a wave of pandemic lockdowns saw concert halls close throughout the world. An initial series of classical recitals with Parisian artists was quickly followed by season 2 and season 3, expanding into jazz, traditional music, pop, and indeed all the many styles in which the harp plays a major part today.

Our online concerts were initially born of necessity, and indeed emergency. We devised season 1 in under a week, immediately after l’Espace Camac had to close. However, we soon discovered that top-quality recitals online did not simply respond to the pandemic, but in some ways transcended it. Harp recitals became accessible to audiences and geographies who would never normally have the chance to hear them, or who need shorter or different formats in order to do so.

As we continued our series, many of these new audience members became loyal viewers. By the end of season 3, many people across the world had made a habit of listening to a harp concert weekly – under normal circumstances, how many non-harpists can say they do that, or have the chance to do that?

We hope, above all, that the opportunity to discover so many wonderful harpists will inspire the general public and concert promoters to further explore our beautiful instrument and the fantastic musicians who play it. Harp concert programming in the musical mainstream can be conservative, like the same, safe 5 concertos. But look at what the harp and harpists can do! Perhaps our broadcasts, which remain online free of charge for everyone to see, will inspire live and adventurous concert invitations for harpists.

Fast forward to season 4: the concert halls are open again, and we are making the most of it. We continue to develop our partnership with J. Hanck Production, and this time we’re filming in Paris’s magnificent Salle Colonne. To transport yourselves there virtually, just click on CamacHarpsOfficial on Youtube, every Thursday at 19:30 CET.

We’ll begin next Thursday, November 4 2021, with doyenne of the Irish harp Janet Harbison. As for the rest of the series…we’ll be announcing it week by week. Stay tuned!

https://youtu.be/AyPQmg__wc0