Month: March 2015

Dear BACAHS Members and Friends,

This short month of February was packed with exciting harp events. Kudos go out to Jessica Siegel and her team at Harps Etc. for presenting the Cafe Concert Series. In February, Alfredo Rolando Ortiz put on a 4-1/2 hour workshop covering everything from Latin American rhythms (there are many of them), to learning techniques and new ways to use slides and damping in your playing. The workshop was only the beginning. That evening, Alfredo presented a full length recital demonstrating his mastery of the Paraguayan harp and Latin American music composition while his wife, Luz, displayed her beautiful custom harp jewelry, many pieces of which are now proudly sported around the necks and from the ear lobes of local harpists.

If you have not yet attended any Cafe Concerts and workshops, there are still opportunities. On March 14, Sunita Stanislaw from Israel will present a workshop and recital, and on April 18, BACAHS will co-present a workshop and recital featuring Motoshi Kosako, renowned jazz harpist. Come for the education and entertainment, and enjoy the delicious treats and libations at the receptions.

Also, don’t miss AHS Concert Artist Alexandra Mullins in concert on March 21 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in San Jose.

Upcoming events: Check out the list below and stay up to date by visiting BACAHS calendar. In addition, check out other events presented by our friends at Silicon Valley Chapter AHS.

• March 14, 2015: Sunita Staneslow, Internationally Acclaimed Celtic Harpist, at Harps Etc. Workshop 2:30-5:30pm: The Art of the Arpeggio and Making the Most of Your Mistakes! Concert at 7:30pm. Tickets: workshop and concert, $60 or $35 each. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.harpsetc.com/events-en/
• Alexandra Katelyn Mullins, the American Harp Society’s Concert Artist, will perform in concert March 21 at 3:00 pm at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1710 Moorpark Ave., San Jose, CA 95128, sponsored by the Silicon Valley Chapter. Alexandra is a student of Susann McDonald at Indiana University.
  The program includes:
  Feerie, Prelude and Dance by Marcel Tournier (1879-1951)
  Sonata in C Minor by Giovanni Battista Pescetti (1704-1766)
  Legende by Henriette Renie (1875-1956)
  Sonata by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
  Akhnaten and Nefertiti from the opera “Akhnaten” by Philip Glass (1937-)/arr. Mullins
  Rhapsodie by Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)
• April 11, 2015, 7:30pm: Piana-Friedman Duo in Concert. Tenor Greg Allen Friedman and harpist Dominique Piana join forces in warm and lush selections from the song repertoire: German Lieder, French melodies and romances, Italian airs and other surprises. A program of songs from the late 18th to the early 20th century, evenly divided between works by the classical greats and harpist-composers, will be interspersed with a few solo harp interludes.
  Music by Krumpholtz, Gyrowetz, Reichardt, Blangini, Schubert, Oberthür, Schumann, Thomas, Holý, Strauss, Hahn, Fauré, Hasselmans, Godefroid, Tosti and Leoncavallo. Among the songs with original harp accompaniment you will hear, some will be American premieres or world-wide 21st century premieres: the old made new again! Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church located at 1329 Seventh Avenue in San Francisco. Tickets- $20/$15. Buy tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/840168.
• April 12, 2015: Harp Live! with our friends in Silicon Valley AHS, 3:00-5:30, at the home of Gwen Halterman, Moss Beach. Chapter members are invited to bring their favorite pieces to share or play for the group, or just come to listen and enjoy the company of other harpists. For more information, visit https://bacharp.org/calendar.
• April 18, 2015: BACAHS presents Motoshi Kosako Jazz Workshop and Recital at Harps Etc., Workshop for Jazz Arranging, Improvisation and Jazzing Up Your Playing: 2:30 to 5:30pm. Performance 7:30pm. Tickets: workshop and concert, $60 or $35 each. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.harpsetc.com/events-en/
• May 24, 2015: Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition for Young Harpists, San Francisco Conservatory of Music. https://bacharp.org/competitions/
• June 7, 2015: Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition Winners Recital, 2pm, Firehouse Arts Center, Pleasanton

Attention Harp Students! Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition guidelines, application and online enrollment are available at the chapter website and through your teachers. The competition is open to students up to and including age 25 and residing in the Western Region, who are members of the Bay Area Chapter and the American Harp Society. Membership information is available at bacharp.org/membership and at harpsociety.org respectively.

Member News

Anna Maria Mendieta launched a new harp duo with Dan Levitan which has performed concerts around the Bay Area since November. In December she toured Texas with her ensemble, performing with award winning guest tango dancers from Canada and Colombia. In January she had a successful tour in Louisiana and was thrilled to be invited to perform her entire concert-show with the Rapids Symphony in Alexandria, LA. It was quite a production with new multimedia, new arrangements and orchestrations created especially for the concert. She’ll be performing this new symphonic program with other orchestras during the 2015-2016 concert season. And finally, in February she was guest soloist with the Pacific Chamber Symphony premiering a beautiful original composition by Jeremy Cohen arranged for harp and string orchestra. Performances were in Lafayette and at the Bankhead Theater in Livermore.

Lynn Taffin recorded music for the upcoming world premiere performance with Alonzo King LINES Ballet Company. This world premiere ballet unites Alonzo King with natural soundscape artist Bernie Krause and composer Richard Blackford. For more than forty years, Krause has traveled the globe with microphones tuned to the earth and its creatures. It was a very dynamic collaboration in the studio and should be magical to see choreographed. Tickets and more information are available through the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts box office.

Noel Wan will be playing a solo harp concert on May 31 as part of the Carmel Music Society’s 2014-2015 concert series. She was chosen for this honor after winning the 2014 Carmel Music Society Music Competition: Instrumental Division. For more information on the concert and competition visit:
http://www.carmelmusic.org/concerts_2014-15/06_comp_winner/index.html

In 2012, Noel was awarded the prestigious Qi-Mei Music Award and Scholarship from Taiwan’s Qi-mei Art Foundation, and gave her solo recital for the grand opening of Taiwan Harp Center in Taipei. She later received the Aharon Zvi and Mara Propes Foundation Special Award at the 18th Israel International Harp Contest (2012). She also won second prize at the 2013 Nippon International Harp Competition in Japan. Noel now is studying for her Master’s Degree at Yale Music School under tutelage of June Han.

Beth Erickson emails us that she will be playing at the following venues in the South Bay:

• March 15 at Hannegan’s, Los Gatos, 2-4 pm
• March 22 at a charity luncheon, Sharon Heights Country Club, Los Altos Hills, 10-12 pm
• March 29 concert at Book Buyers, Castro Street, Mountain View, 3 pm
• May 15 concert at Berryessa Public Library, San Jose, 6:30-7:30 pm
• May 19 concert at Educational Park Library, San Jose, 6:45-7:45 pm
• May 20 concert at Cambrian Library, San Jose, 6:30-7:30 pm

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The Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp society serves to meet the need to share information, promote and foster an appreciation of the harp as a musical instrument in the Bay Area, and further harp education at all levels. Your support enables continued sponsorship of harp programs and master classes. If you have not done so already, please join or renew your membership in the Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society. Visit BACHARP.org/membership. Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society is a 501(c)3 corporation and, as such, both membership dues and all donations are tax-deductible, to the full extent allowed by law.