Dear Harpists,

You are invited to join Harps Etc. as we celebrate our first 10 years of serving the harp community throughout California and around the world! The time went quickly and thanks to our fantastic customers, it’s been a blast!

Our First Harp Festival will feature world class performers and workshop presenters. See the schedule below and be sure to register today, as space is limited. Come join this festive celebration of music, the harp and YOU, our loyal customers! Just click on the link below to register today!

Yours truly,
Jessica Siegel
Harps Etc.
1601 N. Main Street, Suite 106
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
925-937-4277
800-836-5559

Full Schedule for the Harp Festival at Harps Etc.

May 3 -5, 2013

Register at http://tinyurl.com/harpsetc

FRIDAY, MAY 3

6 pm Reception: Please join us for some light appetizers before the Opening Concert.

8 pm Carlos Reyes in Concert Paraguayan Jazz Harp & Violin. Carlos Reyes was declared a child prodigy in Paraguay at the age of five. He made his debut on the harp with the Oakland Youth Symphony at age 14. Since then he has performed internationally and headlined with stars including Chuck Mangione, Bill Evans and Willie Nelson.

SATURDAY, MAY 4

9 am Continental Breakfast: For full conference and day pass attendees

10 am Harp Maintenance: The Basics and Beyond with Karen Gottlieb, Lyon & Healy and Salvi Certified Harp Technician, and Mike Lewis, The Harp Tech.

Karen Gottlieb, harpist, is an international performer, teacher, lecturer and harp technician. She has performed with the San Francisco Symphony, many headline performers and chamber music ensembles.

Ms. Gottlieb received her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington and her Masters from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is on the faculty of San Francisco State University and Mills College.

Mike Lewis began working at Lyon and Healy as a harp technician in 1989 and left to form HarpTech in 1995. As HarpTech, Mike has traveled all over the United States and internationally working on harps. He is a former columnist for the magazine Harp Column under the title of “What’s the Buzz?” for which he wrote and illustrated what all harpists need to know about their instruments. Mike also repairs, restores and builds harps.

1 pm Master Class with Heidi Lehwalder

“The main thing to tell you about Heidi is that she is simply a genius” -Leonard Bernstein, Nov. 1963.

“If I were forty years younger, I’d take the next plane out West to study with Heidi. She’s got it all, and wants to pass it along all to her students.”– Harpist Susan Miron, Music critic for The Boston Musical Intelligencer and Artsfuse.org.

Heidi Lehwalder has performed as a guest artist with more than 65 orchestras around the world and has collaborated with conductors such as Arthur Fiedler, Charles Dutoit, Erich Leinsdorf and many others. She has served as Professor of the Harp at the College of William and Mary, University of Virginia and University of Washington. Her chamber music duo and trio have toured extensively through the US and Europe. Heidi has recorded for RCA, CRI, Nonesuch and Vanguard and been the director of the Fredricksburg Festival of the Arts in Washington, D.C. for 17 years. Lehwalder is the recipient of a Ford Foundation Grant, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and the first recipient of the Avery Fisher Prize. Heidi studied under master harpists Carlos Salzedo and Alice Chalifoux. She currently lives in the Los Angeles area.

4:30 pm Harp Circle with Joan Raeburn Holland, Professor of Harp, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Interlochen Arts Academy.

Joan Raeburn Holland began her harp studies with Eileen Malone in the preparatory department of the Eastman School of Music. Starting at the age of twelve and continuing through college, she studied with Alice Chalifoux. She earned a bachelor’s in harp performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Along with her position on the faculty at the University of Michigan,, Professor Holland is resident harpist and instructor of harp at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She maintains an active career in solo, chamber, and orchestral performing. She is currently principal harpist for the Midland (MI) Symphony Orchestra, co-principal of the Traverse Symphony Orchestra, Traverse City, MI, and principal harp for the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra.

8 pm Harp Concert featuring Meredith Clark. Music by Krumpholz, Tailleferre, Faure, Renie, Caplet and Salzedo. Ms Clark is a powerful, dynamic and multifaceted musician who excels in solo, chamber and orchestral performance. Meredith has quickly established herself in the San Francisco area; having performed as guest principal harpist of the San Francisco Symphony, as well as many other orchestras and groups in Northern California.

She earned the honor of playing principal harpist for the Oberlin Symphony Orchestra in a tour of China in January 2006, as well as in a performance at Carnegie Hall in January 2007 under the direction of Robert Spano. Ms. Clark played for a number of orchestras in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Nebraska while completing her studies with Yolanda Kondonasis.

Meredith was invited to perform the Ginastera Harp Concerto at the famed Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, in April 2009, marking her international solo debut. Also a winner of the Cleveland Institute of Music concerto competition, she performed as a soloist during CIM’s opening orchestra concert of the 2009-2010 year. Meredith has been a prizewinner in the Cynthia Mitchell Woods Young Artist Competition, American String Teachers Association competition, and competed in the International Harp Contest in Israel and the International Harp Competition and Festival in the Netherlands.

In addition to studying with Yolanda Kondonassis, Meredith has studied with the late Alice Chalifoux, Paula Page, Ellen Ritscher, Susan Pejovich, and Sydney Howell, as well as performing in master classes with Ann Hobson Pilot, Erika Waardenburg, Joan Holland, and Rebecca Anstine Smith. Meredith Clark is a native of Fort Worth, Texas.

SUNDAY, MAY 5

9 am Continental Breakfast for full conference and day pass attendees

10 am. Healing Harp with Joel Andrews

Joel Andrews is a world renowned harpist, composer, author and pioneer music healer. Few harpists come close to Mr. Andrews’ superb technical mastery of the harp. His 30 CDs are distributed worldwide. Tours to 11 countries have uplifted thousands through concerts. He has been a frequent performer and facilitator at many conferences and has written a book entitled ” A Harp Full of Stars,” chronicling his 28 years as a music healer.

1:30 pm Making Practice Fun Again with Joan Raeburn Holland Bring your practice and performance problems to Professor Holland. Do you have stage fright? Memorization problems? Always make the same mistakes or constantly plagued by new mistakes? Has practicing become a chore? She’ll help you find the fun and solve the mysteries in your music. Be prepared to play during this workshop to find the solutions to what ails you.

4:30 pm Pre-Concert Party with refreshments

6 pm Closing Concert: Bindi Society Featuring an exotic fusion of timbres and disciplines with harp, harmonium, world percussion, marimba, bass and vocals, merging to produce a spiritual and highly energetic musical style.

Harpist Barbara Imhoff is also a composer, and writer. She graduated in harp and piano from UC Santa Barbara where she subsequently taught harp and music theory. She is known for her adventurous artistic endeavors with George Coates and collaborations with Pamela Z, Todd Rundgren and Ronnie Montrose.

HOTEL & ARRIVAL INFORMATION

The easiest arrival is from the San Francisco International Airport. Take the BART train going to Pittsburg/Bay Point and get off in Walnut Creek for Harps Etc. and the Marriot Hotel. Get off in Pleasant Hill for the Holiday Inn Express and Renaissance Hotel. From the Oakland Airport, take the shuttle bus to the Coliseum BART station, take the BART train to Richmond or San Francisco, TRANSFER to a Pittsburg/Bay Point train at the MacArthur Station. Get off in Walnut Creek for Harps Etc. and the Marriot Hotel or in Pleasant Hill for the Holiday Inn Express and Renaissance Hotel.

• Holiday Inn Express: 1-800-972-3165
• Renaissance Hotel: 1-877-274-9900
• Marriot Hotel: (925) 934-2000

Walnut Creek is located at the foot of the majestic Mt. Diablo. The city is a destination well known for its quaint downtown filled with fine dining and shopping. It is 30 minutes from San Francisco and 45 minutes from Napa Valley.

Dear Bay Area Harp Teachers and Harpists,

The Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society’s bi-annual student harp competition has been reintroduced under the new name of Yvonne La Mothe Schwager Harp Competition. It will be held on May 26 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the winners’ recital is scheduled for June 2 at the beautiful Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, a prestigious new venue with a great stage area. I am writing to you today to let you know how these upcoming events can contribute to all:

• by providing opportunity to young harpists and teachers alike
• enhancing the standing of our beloved instrument in the community, and
• enriching the lives of those who will witness the performances

If you are a teacher, please encourage your students to participate and find a way to work with the repertoire choices given to include as many students as possible. The competition is open to all harpists ages 8 to 23. Ideally, partaking in this opportunity allows them to prepare thoroughly for a special performance, and to set and implement goals that will bring out their very best.

If you are a student in this age range, ask your teacher to help you prepare to participate in our local competition and encourage your parents to bring you even from far away to be a part of this exciting experience. If you are a university student studying outside of the area but still officially in residence at your parents’ home within the Western Region, you are welcome to participate as well.

The BAC board believes that organizing this competition is one of the best ways to contribute to our local harp community with the funds our chapter received from the Schwager Estate. Our goal is to give as many people as possible a boost in the development of their talent and to spread the love of the harp. Ultimately the art of music is equally about listening and being heard. Let’s turn the occasion of the competition into a big harpfest that brings us all together.

For details and to download the application for participation, please visit our website at bacharp.org/competitions. All the selections on the competition list are available at Harps, Etc. and can be purchased in person or ordered online. Video demonstrations and score errata and commentaries can be found here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at dominiquepiana@comcast.net.

Musically yours,

Dominique Piana
President, BACAHS

Dear Bay Area Harpists and Friends,

Welcome to the new BACHARP.org! This new website for the Bay Area Chapter of the American Harp Society offers our members and friends more timely and dynamic information in a clean and easy to navigate format. Use it as a tool to gather and contribute information and to contact us.

Here are some of the interactive features that you can put to good use regarding chapter and/or personal activities and interests:

• Membership: Check out the new interface that makes it easy to join/renew and pay on line.
• Calendar: Let us know about your upcoming events and gigs so we can post for all to see.
• News: Share your stories, adventures in harping and achievements.
• Competition: Find out more about the YVONNE LaMOTHE SCHWAGER COMPETITION FOR YOUNG HARPISTS. Check out the repertoire options and read about the winners of the last competition.
• Classifieds: Have a harp to sell or rent? Let us know and we’ll post your ad.
• Contact: Tell us what else you want from your chapter and from the website, or how you would like to contribute your talents.
• Blog: Stay abreast of the latest news.
• Resources: Find listings regarding harp regulation, stores, societies and other resources.
• Visit often for timely, dynamic and interactive harp news and events.

We’d like to offer special thanks to Jim Ward, our creative web master, for developing this beautiful site, and to Susie Spiwak for her initiative in making it happen.

Please let us know what you think of the new site.

With best wishes,
Dominique Piana

Dear Harpists and Harp Lovers,

The first event of the season will be the solo recital by AHS Concert Artist Elizabeth White Clark on Saturday, September 29 at 4pm, an event not to be missed, which is also the season kickoff for our sister chapter in the Silicon Valley. I hope you will consider driving south to Immanuel Lutheran Church in San Jose for great music and fellowship.

Following closely comes the visit of jazz harpist extraordinaire Park Stickney on October 6 at Harps, Etc. in Walnut Creek. Come and join us for a workshop, pizza dinner and concert all in one, from 4 to 9pm. The time has come to dig again into our creative instincts and explore ways to fancy up gig repertoire, and gain further understanding into the inner workings of how music is put together. This event is open to harpists of all levels, on lever or pedal harps. You may just listen, or participate hands-on.

One month later we will welcome the TrueNorth Harp Duo, with master teacher Lynne Aspnes and former San Franciscan John Wickey. Their concert at St. Cyprian’s in San Francisco on Friday November 9 at 8pm will be followed by an Afternoon Salon on Sunday from 2 to 6pm at Harps, Etc. The theme for the afternoon will be Wake Up the Artist Within.

Since Lynne specializes in teaching Beginning in the Middle workshops, which are designed to coach those who started to play the harp in mid-life, my mind started to extrapolate, and I’d like to address myself directly to those who recognize themselves under this description. Can our chapter do anything to encourage your personal endeavors and love for the harp? Any practice of an instrument is ultimately a “performing art” that requires expression. In this spirit, would there be enough people among you who would enjoy some kind of opportunity, such as a separate audition category, as part of our upcoming competition in May? If there is interest, I will explain things in more detail soon, as the next step of our board is to organize the competition.

At this time, I wish to call for teachers or others interested in contributing ideas to the repertoire list for the competition to contact me in person immediately. It does not matter whether your students will or won’t participate. We may have a meeting, or simply communicate by email, depending on what will work best.

Many exciting things are in the works for the spring as well: our usual potluck in January, a master class with Heidi Lehwalder, as well as a master class and recital with Gianetta Baril, and of course, the second Yvonne La Mothe Schwager Competition, with the Winners’ Recital already scheduled for June 2 at the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton. Lastly, the existing board has invited Susie Spiwak to join us as Membership Chair. Her enthusiasm and practical mind will be a great asset to further the interests of our association. In the next pages, you will read more about her and about everything else mentioned above.

Here’s to your good health and joy with the harp,
Dominique Piana