Harp Talk Radio Interview Series

  • Episode 1: Cecile Corbel, Breton Celtic Harpist - download .mp3

    Cecile Corbel“Imagine a red haired Celt from Brittany, just out of a Broceliande tale, with a voice that hovers somewhere between the high registers of Kate Bush, the purity of Sinead O’Connor and the mysticism of Enja, and you’ll have a good idea what this remarkable young harpist, arranger of traditional songs and original songwriter sounds like.”

    Singer and Harpist Cecile Corbel was born in Brittany, in the Finistère, at the very west of Europe.  In her teens, after learning the guitar, she discovered the Celtic harp.  The young Breton composer and singer now shares her “pop folk Celtic” music with her musicians in France and abroad.

  • Episode 2: Ann Yeung, Contemporary Music for the Harp - download .mp3

    Ann YeungKnown for her bold interpretations and diverse repertoire, Dr. Ann Yeung has performed in festivals throughout Europe, Asia, and the Americas.  She has won top prizes at the Nippon International Harp Competition, Lily Laskine International Harp Competition, American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, Anne Adams Awards, and Ruth Lorraine Close Awards.  To her credit, Dr. Yeung is the only person to simultaneously receive first prizes in the two highest divisions of the American Harp Society National Competition and Prix Renié.  As a winner of Artists International, Dr. Yeung premiered her transcription of the Goldberg Variations at Carnegie Hall in 1999. She has premiered numerous compositions, including multi-media works at World Harp Congresses in Dublin and Amsterdam, and the National Flute Convention in New York City. She has made recordings for the Innova, Fons, Albany and Cadenza Labels.

  • Episode 3: Mary Radspinner - download .mp3

    Ann YeungMary Radspinner began harp studies with Jeanne Henderson in the Milwaukee Public School System. Jeanne provided many kids with the opportunity to learn the harp who may have never had the luck otherwise. Mary credits her love of music and the harp to Jeanne, a wise teacher who imparted many different styles of playing to her students, preparing them for all kinds of work in the music world.
    She also studied string bass and voice. In 1977 she earned degrees in applied harp and music education from Alverno College in Milwaukee, WI. During the next 10 years she taught elementary general music, elementary band, high school orchestra, choir and music theory. Mary free-lanced in Houston for 11 years, playing an average of 4 events per week, and during that time she served as substitute harpist with the Houston Symphony and second harpist with the Houston Ballet Orchestra.
    She has served as president of the San Jacinto Chapter of the American Harp Society, SW Regional director of the American Harp Society, and president of the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen. She chaired the International Folk Harp Conference held in Galveston in 1998. Mary is the immediate past president of the Scottish Harp Society of America. She served as editor-in-chief of the Folk Harp Journal for a six-issue interim.
    In 1993 Mary and her husband John Gill opened Melody's Traditional Music & Harp Shoppe, a harp specialty store in Houston, TX. In 1999 Mary and husband John established Afghan Press, specializing in harp music publications. Afghan Press is named after John and Mary's beloved Afghan Hound, Melody. (1987 - 1998).

    Mary instituted the harp events at the TX Scottish Festival in Arlington, and has chaired the harp competition events for the Houston Highland Games. She was a winner in the Florida Summer Harp Seminar pop harp competition in 1994, and is the 1995 Texas champion Scottish harper. She performs and gives workshops throughout the country on harp techniques for relaxation, ensemble ideas and improvisation.
    You can find out more about Mary Radspinner at www.maryradspinner.com and contact her at mary@folkharp.com.

  • Episode 4: Barbara Belew - download .mp3

    Ann YeungA veteran member of McNeese’s music faculty, Miss Belew is a graduate of Hardin- Simmons University (Abilene, Texas) and Indiana University, who has taught piano and harp, as well as courses in pedagogy and literature of the two instruments. She has coached both MSU’s harp ensemble and that of the Louisiana Chapter of the American Harp Society. Barbara founded the first American Harp Society chapter in Louisiana in 1972. She was the Southern Regional Director of the AHS from 1973 to 1979. She has played harp in the Lake Charles Symphony and several other area performing organizations, including Baton Rouge Symphony, Rapides Symphony and the opera in Beaumont, Texas. Miss Belew maintains active membership in the AHS chapter, the Lake Charles Piano Teachers Association, Louisiana Music Teachers Association, and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, honorary/professional organization for women educators. She recently was named to the 2010 edition of Who’s Who in America. Barbara was the founder of the McNeese Summer Harp Camp in 2000.
    You can contact Barbara Belew at bbelew@mcneese.edu.

  • Episode 5: Alfredo Ortiz - download .mp3

    Ann YeungIn 2007, Dr. Alfredo Rolando Ortiz was invited to compose a piece to be premiered on July 22, 2008, during the Tenth World Harp Congress in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Originally composed for four harps or harp ensemble, the piece was performed by 232 harpists, breaking the Guinness World Record of the largest harp ensemble to date.

    In April, 2009, performing his own compositions, he was one of the winners of the Beverly Hills Chamber Music Auditions of the Southern California Chamber Music Presenters Consortium.

    On July 19, 2009, twelve 5th grade harp students of Lou Anne Neill (harpist of the Los Angeles Phlharmonic), from Moffett Elementary School, performed Alfredo’s composition PAISAJE, during the Opening Night Gala of the Hollywood Bowl, accompanied by the Hollywood Bowl Symphony, for an audience of over seventeen thousand.

    Internationally acclaimed by the critics, soloist of the "arpa paraguaya" (Paraguayan harp), a composer, author, educator and recording artist, Alfredo Rolando Ortiz considers his "most important concert" playing the harp in the delivery room during the birth of his second daughter.

    Alfredo was born in Cuba. When he was eleven years old he immigrated with his family to Venezuela. Four years later he began studying the Venezuelan folk harp with his school friend Fernando Guerrero. A year later he became a pupil of Alberto Romero on the Paraguayan harp. Just two years after his first harp lesson, he began medical studies in Medellín, Colombia, began performing professionally and recorded his first album. Music supported his medical studies until graduation. Five years later he moved to the United States to continue studies of Music Therapy. Two years later he married Luz Marina Otero. For eight years from the time of his graduation from medical school, he worked in the medical field as well as a harpist and recording artist, until his wife became pregnant. In order to have time for his growing family, he then decided to dedicate his life only to them and to his first love: the harp.

  • Episode 6: Christa Grix - download .mp3

    Ann YeungChrista fell under the spell of the harp during her first lesson at 16.  Two years earlier, she was transfixed by live jazz during a performance at her high school. The two influences have shaped, but not limited her explorations and accomplishments on the instrument.

    Equally adept as both a classical and jazz harpist, she is one of those rare individuals who can make the transition from the jazz rhythm section to the symphonic string section sound effortless. The appeal and respect her music generates has taken her throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe as an invited soloist and clinician at all the major harp festivals and conferences.

    Christa released her first jazz harp recording, freefall, in 1996, on the Freefall Music label. Her second recording, Cheek to Chic was released in 2002. She is the President and CEO of Freefall Music, and founder of ArtnHarp, a division of Freefall Music.

    She currently sits on the board of the Detroit Musicians Fund, and is a past board member and executive committee member of the American Harp Society.

    Upcoming national and international appearances include performances at the 2010 Conference of the American Harp Society in Tacoma, Washington, and the 2011 meeting of the World Harp Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia.

    You can contact Christa at christagrix@mac.com and read more about her at http://web.mac.com/christagrix

  • Episode 7: Sadie Turner - download .mp3

    Ann YeungSadie Turner, 1st prize winner of the American Harp Society’s National Competition, made her solo debut at age 18 with the Houston Symphony Orchestra as winner of their High School Concerto Competition. As a recitalist, she has performed throughout the United States. In the orchestral arena she has performed with the Houston Symphony, New World Symphony, Shreveport Symphony, Arkansas Symphony and the Rice University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. During the summers, she has also participated in several acclaimed festivals such as the Tanglewood Music Center for two summers, the International Festival Institute at Round Top, Texas Music Festival and the Salzedo School for Harp.

The New Orleans Chapter of the American Harp Society recently received a grant from the American Harp Society to produce a series of radio interviews with harpists. The finished interviews, with related music clips, will be broadcast on the Harpestry radio program of KRVS in Lafayette, LA and other National Public Radio stations. The series will also be available on the internet at www.krvs.org. 

 The interviewees will be chosen according to the following guidelines:

1. A Louisiana harpist- Barbara Belew
2. A Classical harpist-Sadie Turner- AHS Concert artist for 2008/09
3. A Latin harpist-Edmar Casteneda.
4. A Celtic harpist- Mary Radspinner, Melody Music
5. A harpist of historical importance-Henriette Renie, as researched by Dr. Jaymee Haefner, Dallas
6. An American harpist-Robbin Gordon-Cartier
7. An international harpist-Celso Duarte-Mexico
8. A Jazz harpist-Felice Pomeranz
9. A Regional harpist-
10. A harpist providing services to the field-, Kim Rowe-Harp Column
11. A composer-Alfredo Rolando Ortiz
12. Ann Yeung and contemporary.compositions for the harp.

About the host...

Latin jazz harpist & composer, Patrice Fisher, has been performing and recording her own compositions since 1980. She has recorded 13 albums of original music, including her latest CD, "Music of the Three Americas." She has performed at such international festivals as the Cancun Jazz Festival, the Jambalaya Jazz Festival in Ilhabela, Brazil, the Trova Jazz Festival in Guatemala and the Festi Jazz in La Paz, Bolivia. Patrice also performs Celtic music and is director of the New Orleans Celtic Harp Ensemble. 
“An unexpected delight!” raves David Fricke of Rolling Stone Magazine. Gene Scaramuzzo of Gambit newspaper says of Arpa "There are many sides to this local composer/harpist. It's not unusual to see her play a staid classical gig in the morning and a smoky music club at night. Strong rhythms form the undercurrent of her instrumental music with Arpa."
You can see videos of Patrice Fisher’s original compositions at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMxQ4RHlUbs. You can hear music clips of patrice’s music at www.myspace.com/patricefisher.

And read more about her at www.patricefisher.com.