(This was originally sent out as an email newsletter on February 16th, 2026. Sign up to my newsletter to get this delivered straight to your inbox!).
I’m making my final preparations for my upcoming Australian tour – I leave in a week, with my first concert happening in Melbourne on February 27th. Tickets and details for my tour available at Carter Harps Australia.
After Melbourne I’ll be headed to Tasmania, including tutoring at Harp Island – a big thank you to Camac Harps France and Jakez François who sponsor the travel costs of the Harp Island tutor each year.
From Tasmania I go back to Melbourne and up to Sale and Raymond Island, then to Perth, in Western Australia. This will be my first visit to WA and I’m really looking forward to it!
From there it’s back to Tassie, this time to Hobart for concerts and a workshop, including a performance of Reinhold Glière’s Concerto for Harp. This is such a wonderfully romantic, iconic concerto and I’m looking forward to this performance in Hobart (plus a performance in Adelaide in April).
After that weekend I’ll have a bit of time to sight-see and relax, before heading to Queensland to do a concert in Noosa, followed by a workshop and concert in Tecoma (near Melbourne). My final stop is in Adelaide, with a performance of the Glière concerto, a solo concert, a workshop, AND a concert on nearby Kangaroo Island!
I’m playing my The Harp Has a Story program that I toured this past fall in Europe. My arrangement of Vivaldi’s Winter, Renié’s Légende, The Moldau, my new composition Starlight Glimpses, and more.
A special addition to this tour is that for some of the concerts I will be joined by Suneetha Carter, of Carter Harps Australia. Not only has Suneetha organized this tour, she’s also a wonderful harpist. We have a couple of duets planned… John Thomas’s Cambria is a favourite of mine (here’s a performance of it from 2001 with my teacher, Kathryn Ely) and Franz Poenitz’s Wikingerfahrt (Viking Journey) very much fit’s the bill of music that tells a story!
I’ll be keeping you updated on the tour, and you can also stay tuned to my Facebook and Instagram accounts.
A Harp for Sale
This past fall I bought beautiful, nearly new Sorellina. Delivered to me in Paris by Lena Rummel (the harp used to belong to a student of hers) I planned to take it along with me during my European tour but quickly became clear that it was just a bit too big to manage traveling around on public transport, in addition to juggling a pair of suitcases…
Lena is currently very kindly letting it stay at her harp studio, but I’d love to have someone playing it! 27 strings, going to down to a low A (nice to have the extra bass range). Wearable, and also comes with a small stand and a very nice backpack style case. Sounds beautiful! (Here’s an example of Lena playing her own Sorellina).
If you’re interested and able to pick it up in the Bodensee area (where Austria, Germany, and Switzerland meet) send me an email! (Potentially can ship within Europe for an additional cost).
A new Harp Tuesday episode
A couple of episodes ago I did a tutorial on how to play a lovely short piece called “Shepherd’s Cradle Song” from Betty Paret’s First Harp Book. At the end of that episode I ended up doing a short improv on the piece, and I had a request to do a guide on how to go about doing something like that – so here it is! Hope it inspires you do try a bit of improvising :)
Two local concerts
If you’re in Victoria, BC, Canada, you can catch me in a couple of concerts over the next few months. On Saturday, February 21st (just before I leave for Australia!) I’ll be playing harp in the orchestra for the 1st movement of the Bruch Scottish Fantasy as part of the Victoria Conservatory’s “Spark to Flame” concert.
And when I get back from Australia I’ll be playing with the Capriccio Vocal Ensemble for their performance of Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds on May 2nd and 3rd. Definitely worth checking out if you’re on the island!
I will write again soon! Thanks as always for reading :)
Cheers,
Josh