Hello from South Australia!

(This was originally sent out as an email to my newsletter subscribers – sign up here to get news like this delivered to your inbox).

I can’t believe it’s been such a long time since I wrote! My Aussie tour has been wonderful so far – just about a week left to go! I wanted to write to catch you up on what I’ve been doing and what’s ahead this week and next.

Back on February 27th I landed in Melbourne to start the tour… I met up there with Suneetha Carter of Carter Harps Australia. She’s the primary sponsor of the tour AND for a few special concerts she is joining me to play duets.

Melbourne was one of these concerts, so we got in a few rehearsals and then played John Thomas’s wonderful Cambria to open the concert. What a great way to kick off the tour!

A masterclass, then the Spirit of Tasmania ferry over to northern Tassie for Harp Island plus a couple of solo concerts.

From there back to Melbourne and a drive to the Gippsland area for concerts and a workshop (and Harpist in the Wild!), then on to Perth in Western Australia. Highlights of Perth included a wonderful Harpist in the Wild adventure in the bush.

Next back to Tasmania, this time in the south in Hobart for a packed weekend – a concert with two duets with Suneetha (Cambria plus Poenitz’s “Viking Journey” – very cool piece), a workshop, and then a performance of the Glière Concerto for Harp with the Hobart Chamber Orchestra. 

This is such a wonderful concerto – I just posted a video with a few highlights:

After such an intense weekend I got a bit of a chance to relax, including Harpist in the Wild in Hobart and then a wonderful time at the beaches in Noosa, Queensland.

This past week was a concert in Noosa, back to Melbourne for a concert and workshop in Tecoma, and then a train ride from Melbourne to Adelaide!

So now here I am in Adelaide, getting ready to head to the dress rehearsal this evening of another performance of the Glière concerto, this time with the Burnside Symphony Orchestra. If you’re in the area come catch the concert tomorrow (Wednesday, April 15th) – details here.

Then comes my three final events in Australia, starting with a workshop this Saturday.

On Sunday I’ll be doing one last concert with Suneetha at 2pm at the Hahndorf Institute – don’t miss it!

And finally, I’m performing a concert on Kangaroo Island on Monday – I think a very fitting location for my final Aussie concert :)

Three more short performance clips:

Another duet, this time my own Forgotten Summer (duet version) with Nhan Do (who has been a huge help during this tour!):

Glinka’s The Lark

Vivaldi’s Winter:

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On my way home I’ll make a very brief stop in Kuala Lumpur and then on to Hong Kong for a few days, including a “fireside chat” with Hong Kong Harp Chamber Music.  Then a very short visit to South Korea before flying home!

If I have any readers in Hong Kong or near the Incheon airport in SK, I’d be interested in trying to film a Harpist in the Wild episode while I’m there – email me if you have a 34+ string harp and think you might be able to facilitate something!

I’ve been filming various clips during the tour and plan to put out a travel vlog once I’m home, plus of course more performance videos and Harpist in the Wild episodes. I look forward to sharing all of that with you and in the meantime I hope to see some of you these next few days in and around Adelaide!

Thanks as always for reading,
Josh