Spring has sprung & harp events abound at BACAHS

April, 2015

Dear BACAHS Members and Friends,

Now is the time to be a harpist or harp lover in the Bay Area. We are quite fortunate that there are so many engaging and entertaining events coming up in April and May, it may be hard to choose, let alone find time for everything you will want to attend.  Or don’t choose, just do it all!

In the early part of April, BACAHS member and former board president, Dominique Piana, will perform in concert with her son, Greg Allen Friedman, as part of the Seventh Avenue Performances Series in San Francisco.  Diana Rowan has numerous performances happening around the Bay Area, and Laura Simpson is off to the nation’s capital, Washington DC, to perform in a show that she co-wrote, “The Telltale Harp”, a musical comedy about wedding harpists.

In partnership with Harps Etc., BACAHS will present Jazz Harp Master, Motoshi Kosako, in concert on April 18.  Motoshi will also present a workshop on Improvising, Arranging and Jazzing up your Playing, that afternoon in advance of the evening performance.

And–this just in–Grammy Nominated Electric Harp Virtuoso, Deborah Henson-Conant, will perform at Harps Etc. on Saturday, May 23.  Details are still being worked out for workshops and reception, so watch your email and check back at BACHARP.org and Harpsetc.com for updates.

All this and more are listed on the BACAHS calendar.  Sadly, because of the timing of this newsletter, we could not include all April events, such as the Conversation with Destiny Muhammad: From Hood 2 Harp” at San Francisco State and Natalie Cox’s “Cup of Classical” with the Pacific Arts Trio, both of which took place on April 2.  We are grateful to all of you for letting the Bay Area become more intimate with the harp and appreciate your talents.

Make sure your events are included in upcoming emails and the calendar, and let us know what you are up to for member news.  Send your updates to bacahs@gmail.com.

Upcoming events: 

• April 11, 2015, 7:30pm: Piana-Friedman Duo presents a concert of Romantic Era music. Come hear tenor Greg Allen Friedman and harpist Dominique Piana as they join forces in presenting a concert of warm and lush selections from the song repertoire: German lieder, French melodies and romances, Italian airs and other surprises. Presented by Seventh Avenue Performances Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church located at 1329 Seventh Avenue in San Francisco. Tickets- $20/$15.  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/840168.
• April 12, 2015, 4:00pm-6:00pm:  Jennifer Ellis presents the workshop: Building Meaningful Partnerships with the Community through Music at Harps Etc.  “Outreach” and “Community Engagement” are buzzwords in the musical community.  But how do we go about creating long-term, sustainable, mutually-beneficial relationships with community partners?  In this workshop, we will borrow from other fields to explore how these disciplines create meaningful and effective community partnerships and apply these interdisciplinary techniques to our work as musicians.  Suggested donation $10.
• April 12, 2015:  Harp Live! with our friends in Silicon Valley AHS, is CANCELLED and will be rescheduled at a later date.
• 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 2, 2015, 3:00pm:  The Silicon Valley Youth Harp Ensemble will present their 6th Annual “String Fever” Harp Ensemble Concert, at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 1710 Moorpark Avenue, San Jose.  Suggested donation: $10 adults, $5 youth  www.siliconvalleyharp.org Come and hear a full ensemble of adult harpists plus the young people of the Silicon Valley Youth Harp Ensemble (YES)! The Youth Ensemble will perform a special program in the middle of the concert and also join the adult ensemble on several pieces.  Repertoire will include Handel’s “Water Music”, Offenbach’s famous “Can Can”, music from “Frozen”, an O’Carolan Concerto, Joplin and much more…
• May 23, 2015, 7:30pm:  Grammy Nominated Electric Harp Virtuoso, Deborah Henson-Conant, in Concert! at Harps Etc.  To purchase tickets and for additional information visit harpsetc.com
• 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! The application deadline for the Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Competition is a few weeks away!  Sign up by May 1 to insure your place in the competition to hone your musical skills and receive valuable feedback from respected harp professionals.  The application and guidelines are available online at the chapter website. 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. College students returning home to the region are particularly encouraged to join us in their category. Membership information is available at bacharp.org/membership and at harpsociety.org respectively.

Member news:

Laura Simpson will be in Washington, DC, April 20, where she will perform with Lorelei Kornell in a reading of the play, “The Telltale Harp”, a comedy about wedding harpists which they co-wrote. This features live harp music and some original songs by Laura, and will be presented at St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church.

Joffria Whitfield will be playing three Mother’s Day seatings at the Camellia Tea Room in Benicia, 707-746-5293.

Brian Swager just launched a new YouTube channel called “Sundays at Immanuel” featuring organ and harp music that he plays on Sunday mornings.  Brian says:  “Please enjoy the music, and please share the playlist with anyone who you think might enjoy joining us on Sunday mornings for church services.  It would be nice to see more people in our congregation, so please use this channel as a calling card to let people know what kind of music they can experience with us.

“I’ve started with ten selections (eight organ, two harp) and plan to add more pieces periodically.  To listen, click on the link below.  You can play the entire playlist of 10 pieces by clicking “Play all,” or you can select pieces individually from the list.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfsmCOgtAyaC3pVW5HBbIlK51fCkrKy7z

“Also, spring has sprung, and it’s organ recital time again at the Legion of Honor, Saturday April 11 and Sunday April 12 at 4:00pm. If you attend, consider going to the museum early to see the special exhibition on High Style. They want me to play a High Style program, but I insist that all of my recitals are High Style.  I suggest that they offer me a stylish, $20,000-costume to wear for the event.  Failing that, we have the great Skinner organ, a fine example of quintessential, high style, American organ building.  My program will include two famous warhorses:  the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, and the Toccata from the Fifth Symphony of Widor (my Easter tradition).  I’m also bringing back the dramatic arrangement of Bach’s chorale, Come, Sweet Death, made by Virgil Fox who brought incomparable style to the pipe organ in the 20th century.  You’ll find the rest of the program here:  http://allegrofuoco.com/prog036.html