OneHarpWorld starts next week, Tasmanian harpist Emily Sanzaro in concert here in Victoria on Wednesday, Skye Boat update, and more!
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Hi all,
I’m busy getting ready to head to Toronto for One Harp World – this is a week long event combining the World Harp Congress and the American Harp Society’s National Conference and should be quite something!
I’m performing on Wednesday, July 29th at 4:30pm, playing a program of my own compositions:
- Uncharted Shores (2020) on lever harp
- Starlight Glimpses (2025) on pedal harp
- Impromptu (2026 – World Premiere) on lever harp
- Passage (2005) on pedal harp
Can’t wait to share these pieces, from my very first composition (Passage) to a brand new piece, written specifically for this event! (And when I say brand new, I mean I finished it last week…).
Starlight Glimpses is also quite new – European and Australian audiences have had a chance to hear it, but apart from its world premiere in Calgary last year and a small concert I did here in Victoria in December, this will be the first chance for North American audiences to hear it!
(If you’re a Patreon you can listen to a live performance of it, and I do hope to get a music video of it out soon).
Something I’m particularly looking forward to is performing on both lever and pedal harp – the lever harp repertoire has grown hugely over the past few decades, and I love showing of the capabilities of both instruments!
Emily Sanzaro in performance in Victoria, BC!
Tasmanian harpist Emily Sanzaro is also performing at OneHarpWorld, and she’s stopping on the west coast on her way to Toronto, to do a performance here in my hometown of Victoria, BC, Canada!
Wednesday, July 22nd at 7:30pm at the Paul Phillips Hall in Fernwood. Emily shows off a different side of the harp than the typical classical image – check out her YouTube channel and then come hear her live on Wednesday!
(She’ll be playing on my harp! Over the years so many harpists have helped me make various concerts possible (one can’t really fly with a pedal harp, so as harpists we always have to rely on getting a harp wherever we are going) and it feels great to return the favour!).
If you missed it – Season 7 of Harpist in the Wild live-stream
For the conclusion of season 7, which spanned over two years of filming on two separate tours of Australia/New Zealand, I did a live-stream a live-stream to celebrate! You can watch the replay here.
Skye Boat Song zoom course – one week left!
Yesterday was the third session of my zoom course on my arrangement of The Skye Boat Song. We’ve been looking at the piece by sections, and yesterday we put the whole thing together! Next week, for the final session, we’ll be looking at how to polish and refine it (with concepts that can apply to any piece).
Replays are available for all the sessions, so there’s still time to take part – you could catch up on the first three weeks and then join in live on Sunday. Or, since the replays will be up for a long time, simple watch at your leisure.
I went camping for a couple days last week and brought my little Firefly electric harp along with me. Inspired by teaching the course I filmed a section we’ve been working on, near a river in the evening…
I will write more soon! Hope to see some of you on Wednesday, and thanks as always for reading!
Cheers,
Josh