Agenda
Agenda
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The 40th Edinburgh International Harp Festival will take place online this year. From Friday 9th to Monday 12th April inclusive, you can sign up for a wealth of online courses, concerts and workshops. We are proud to be the sponsors of the Saturday night concert, with Maeve Gilchrist, Corrina Hewat with one or more colleagues, and the Iain MacLeoid Young Composer Award Winner 2021.
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We will begin Les Jeudis de la Harpe, Season III with none other than Myrdhin, Breton Celtic legend. The concert also marks the beginning of his 50th year on stage, and we are very honoured that he is sharing this moment with us.
Born in Upper Brittany to a Cornish family, Myrdhin is one of the driving forces behind the revival of the Celtic harp in Brittany. Since the 1970s he has been applauded both in France and abroad: in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands, Turkey, Poland, Russia, Italy, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Norway, and Paraguay.
He has received numerous awards, such as the Triskell d’Or, Kan ar Bobl, 1st prizes for harp and singing in Killarney-Ireland, Nancy Richards’s Trophy in Wales, J.M.F. and France Musique awards, and the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2002. In 2000, as part of AFROCELT, MYRDHIN was nominated for a Grammy Award in Los Angeles (world music category).
He draws his inspiration from the natural environment in Brittany, and has been playing on bronze- and metal- strung harps since 1975.
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The North London Competitions, which we have sponsored for fifteen years now, were about to happen last year when the first Covid-19 lockdowns hit. Confined to our homes, we quickly moved online, an experiment shared by the NLF’s equally enterprising drama section. In both cases, we were overwhelmed by the response – and so, the festival has gone fully online in 2021.
This year, to make the online format accessible to as many harpists as possible, the syllabus has been streamlined into three age categories plus the senior Camac competition.
Up to age 18, you can enter:
- Age 10 and under
- 11 to 13 years
- 14 to 17 years
These are all school year ages, i.e. if you were 17 on 1st September 2020 but have turned 18 since then, you can still enter.
It is no longer necessary to follow grade exam syllabus repertoire, although of course you can if you want to.
The Camac Competition is open to harpists living and/or studying in the United Kingdom and Ireland, aged 30 and under.
We’re delighted that the United Kingdom Harp Association are repeating their generous sponsorship of a special prize for an outstanding competitor in any category. We are sponsoring all the other prizes, and every competitor will receive personalised feedback from our wonderful jurors: Catrin Finch and Keziah Thomas.
Competition entries can be made here on the festival website.
All queries:
Helen Leitner, Artist Relations Manager
Camac Harps
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The Greek singer-songwriter Elisa Vellia was born in Corfu and grew up in Athens. She left her country for adventure and travel. She discovered the Celtic harp on the London Underground; then later settled in Brittany. Between her native land and her adopted land, between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, she sings in Greek about her roots and her emotions, giving new life to the harp and weaving her own musical universe.
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Our third series of Les Jeudis de la Harpe is approaching its third concert – which promises to be exceptional, as we welcome Isabelle Moretti to our online stage. Her programme will include works by J S Bach, Glinka / Balakirev, Debussy and Tournier. From some of the greatest composers in Western musical history, to some of the most subtle and sublime colours of the harp literature, this will be a musical experience not to be missed!
“Beauty of sound, perfection of style, depth of eloquence”: this is how the composer Philippe Hersant describes Isabelle Moretti. She is an artist who, since the beginning of her rich career, has been an ambassador for the colours of the French harp throughout the world. In her hands, the harp reveals the full extent of its immense, not always expected, expressive potential. Ever-curious, she embraces a vast repertoire, from the 18th century to the present day.
Please join us on YouTube at 19:30 CET, this coming Thursday April 29.
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As May begins, so does the Spring! Les Jeudis de la Harpe is also feeling joyful, with a concert by one of the most exciting members of the new generation of modern trad.
Kevin Le Pennec is the winner of 2019’s Camac Trophy at the Lorient Interceltic Festival, where he also won the audience prize. He combines his passion for traditional music and songs with modern harp arrangements. Thursday’s programme will explore the music of Brittany, Scotland and Ireland: full of song, dances, fused with pop and other influences, and emotionally deep and varied.
Together with his duo partner Morgane Grégory (another Lorient Trophy winner, in 2017!), Kevin has also just released a début album: Bisiad. Warmly recommended – you can get a flavour via its SoundCloud excerpts.
We look forward to welcoming you to Kevin’s concert: Thursday, May 6, at 19:30 CET on YouTube!
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This Thursday, May 13 at 19:30 on YouTube, we are looking forward to welcome one of the best-known singer-songwriters of the French contemporary scene. Cristine Merienne started her career in the 90s with Sedrenn – a piquant duet that contributed to the Breton musical landscape in this very active and creative period. She then decided to combine her passion for music with her passion for writing and French songs. She has continued in this direction ever since, creating many projects alone and with colleagues, and frequently crossing disciplines into theatre and literature.
Cristine’s set on Thursday will indeed consist entirely of her own songs, selected from a creative period spanning over two decades.
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We are delighted to welcome François Pernel to perform solo on Les Jeudis de la Harpe this Thursday. He will be focusing on original music from his latest volume, “Boite à outils pour harpe à leviers” (“Toolbox for lever harp”), which has never been performed in concert before.
we have long admired François Pernel’s wonderful contribution to the lever harp. He is the inspiration behind our Excalibur harp; you can also watch him demonstrate our new Odyssey model, and much more besides. He regularly publishes beautifully-presented volumes of compositions, offering lever harpists a wealth of intriguing, original music. His oeuvre is also particularly accessible: a committed teacher, he works regularly with his harpist colleagues to create music for the youngest beginners, fantastic ensemble projects, and also exciting challenges for advanced musicians.
As ever, just log on to YouTube at 19:30, and enjoy the premier!
