In this section we will provide bios of the Festival tutors as they become available.
Asni (Astrid Nielsch) has gained international recognition as a specialist on medieval and baroque harps, and as a continuo player. She is German born, but is currently living in Wellington, New Zealand, where she teaches early harps at Victoria University of Wellington. She has quickly become an integral part of the local performing circuit, as a soloist and with local early music groups, and has completed a series of concerts and masterclasses at the major university music departments in the country. She has also taught at numerous workshops for harpists, and is attracting an increasing number of private students.
Previously, she has performed widely in Europe and the United States. As a soloist, she has appeared at the World Harp Congress in Copenhagen in 1993, at the Tage Alter Musik Berlin 1994, and in recitals in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands. She has performed at the early music festivals in Utrecht, Regensburg and Halle, and at the festival for new music Risonanze in Venice. In 2001, she took part in a production of Handel's Giulio Cesare at the Drottningholms Slotsteater, which was directed by Roy Goodman. She has worked with well-known ensembles such as Chanticleer (U.S.A.), Drottningholms Barockorkest (Stockholm), Ensemble Bouzignac (Utrecht) and Collegium Cartusianum Köln, and has taken part in Opera productions in Amsterdam, New York and Rome. She has participated in several CD-recordings, as well as radio and TV productions.
From 1993 to 1999, Asni was a member of the New York early music ensemble ARTEK/458 strings, and toured widely in the United States, including a series of peformances with the Mark Morris Dance Group in Boston, Berkeley and Brooklyn, N.Y.
In 1996, she co-founded the duo “Rent a Nightingale” with recorder player Gaby Bultman. The duo's repertoire spans music from Ancient Greece to Stockhausen. Among the ensemble's various activities was the staging of an English “Masque” at the festival KlangBilder in Berlin, which was widely acclaimed. A CD recording, Pourquoy doux rossignol, appeared in 2001.
In addition to her recent teaching appointments in New Zealand, Asni has taught masterclasses for historical harps and for continuo playing at the Royal Conservatory in Stockholm, and in New York. In 1999, she was a member of faculty at the International Summer School Amherst Early Music in Boston, U.S.A.
In 1995, Asni took up studies in musicology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and received her M.A. cum laude in 1997. In 1992, she published an edition of the harp music contained in the 17th century Spanish collection Luz y Norte Musical by Lucas Ruiz de Ribayaz. In 2000, she received a DAAD scholarship to pursue PhD studies at the University of London, but quickly decided that the practical side of music was more important to her. However, during her stay in London she developed a keen interest in film and popular music, and is now increasingly seeking to combine her historical concerns with a more modern and creative approach. Her new CD 700 Years of Pop appeared in 2003.
Ingrid Bauer began playing the harp at the age of 11, and has been a student of Carolyn Mills (Principal Harp, NZSO) from the beginning. She passed ABRSM Grades IV-VIII with distinction, and was awarded the highest mark in the country for any grade or instrument for Grade VI. She studied music at school achieving a Scholarship pass in the University Bursary exam. She is currently studying for a BMus in harp performance at Victoria University. She has played with the Wellington Youth Sinfonietta, the Wellington Youth Orchestra, the Wellington Chamber Orchestra, has been a member of the National Youth Orchestra each year since 2000, and has appeared with the NZSO, the Wellington Sinfonia and Stroma. She enjoys playing chamber music, and in 2002 her group won the Wellington district final in the Secondary Schools Chamber Music Competition. She has twice been a concerto soloist with the Academy of St Andrews on the Terrace in concerts arranged by the Michael Monaghan Young Musicians' Foundation. She hopes for a career as a professional harpist. Her harp is a Lyon and Healy Style 30 Concert Grand, and she still has her first harp, a 28-string lever harp by Keith Harrison.
Celia Briar is a folk harper, a former All-Ireland harp champion (1983), originally from England but now resident in New Zealand. She chooses to play from memory rather than sheet music, and does her own arrangements of folk tunes as well as composing new harp music. Celia has been playing harp for 25 years and has performed extensively in New Zealand and overseas, and has released 4 CDs. She also enjoys playing in informal music sessions and finds this a great way to learn new tunes.
Celia plays a Kim Webby minstrel lever harp made from NZ red beech, and a Pilgrim clarsach which she put together herself from a kit. Both have 34 strings and are strung in gut.
Harpist Anna Christensen began her studies in her native New Zealand, gaining two Diplomas, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Victoria University of Wellington. She graduated with an M.A. from the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1986, and returned to New Zealand until 1989. She was a contract player with the NZSO from 1981-85, and the NZSO's Acting Principal Harp from 1984-89.
Since arriving in Britain, she has established a busy and successful freelance career, playing with many of that country's leading orchestras including the Hallé, R.L.P.O., BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, R.P.O., Ulster Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, English National Ballet Orchestra, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet Theatre. Her work takes her everywhere in the British Isles with touring musicals, ballet companies and orchestras. She has played for musicals in the West End of London, and enjoyed the opportunity to work with actors who were her television heroes when she was growing up in NZ. She also appeared onstage (in a pinstriped suit, with harp) at the Theatre Royal, York, for the World Premiere season of “Behind the Scenes at the Museum” in 2001. She has played at the Prom and at the Royal Opera house, Covent Garden, and her playing has featured on several orchestral and solo C D's.
Each summer she appears with the Performing Arts Symphony Orchestra as they present concerts in the grounds of stately homes and castles throughout England and Wales. This involves approximately 35 outdoor concerts within the 12 week stretch known as “The British Summer”, all in different fields often hundreds of miles apart on successive days. This is a logistical and musical challenge for the orchestra members, particularly harp, double bass and percussion, as they struggle to get instruments on and off stages through mud or rain, occasionally even thunderstoms or high winds. This has to be seen as a character-building challenge, (before they even get to play the music ) although Anna admits to cheating somewhat in bringing her husband along to help move the harp and drive.
Anna has a flute and harp duo “Appassionata” formed with Rachel Holt in 1997, and they present recitals around Britain. Together they have developed a music workshop programme for pre-schoolers which has been rapturously received by parents and children alike in Nursery and community settings. They have received several funding awards for this work from local authorities, and have also become extremely good at writing funding applications!
Anna has two harps, a Salvi Diana and an Arianna. The latter instrument usually stays at home as it is extremely heavy and not a pleasure to move around. It is also relatively unmarked, so Anna prefers to subject only one harp to the vagaries of outdoor concerts, lakeside weddings, theatre orchestra pits, derelict telephone exchanges, abandoned monastries, and children's nurseries.
Lesley Collier, MusB, LRSM, LTCL, AIRMT, has over 25 years' experience as a music teacher, in her earlier years teaching keyboard instruments (piano/keyboard/accordion), clarinet and theory of music. Lesley began playing the harp in 1990 and today owns and plays both lever and pedal harps. Living in Wellington she currently teaches students of all ages the harp, piano and music theory, this including preparation for practical and theory examinations. A free-lance harpist Lesley regularly provides harp music for corporate and private functions, weddings etc in and around the Wellington region.
Anna started playing the harp at age 15 and went on to study pedal harp at Auckland University. Eventually her love of Celtic music won and she no longer plays pedal harp, but rather focuses on Celtic harp and song, on teaching private harp students, and on composing for harp.
The highlights of Anna's career so far include 'star spotting' while playing regularly at “Searchy's” in London and more locally appearing as harper in Portia's court in the film the Merchant of Venice in Maori, and the Christmas eve spot at Puka Park, Pauanui. Her appearances include playing regular concerts at rest homes and for selected charities and schools.
She is involved in an Auckland band “S'math sin” which means 'smashing' in Gaelic, (harp, fiddle, whistles, uileann pipes, guitar and bodhran) and with vocalist Beverley Young. Anna appears as a soloist and with the previously mentioned groups at the folk clubs in Auckland, Whangarei, Thames and Coromandel, and has recorded with Auckland artists, including featuring on Beverley's 2001 album, Tinkerman's Daughter. She also played in “Twisty Willow” (pub band) for a year.
Anna is keenly interested in researching harp facts and contributes articles for each NZ Harp Society journal. She has presented lectures and workshops on “The Harp and its Place in Irish Music” (at Waikato University and at Gaidhealtacht), “Saving the Traditional Harp Music in Ireland” (at Rivercelt), and “The Harping Tradition in Wales” (at Gaidhealtacht).
Along with Lisa Williamson, Anna organises and tutors the biannual harp weekend, which is open to all harp players around NZ and all abilities. It's a weekend of new music, new friends and new levels of performance anxiety — for all involved!
Anna plays a Kim Webby Celtic harp and also a Danny Walker lap harp and has a Keith Harrison 29 string harp which is hired out to students.
Lethea Erz is an educator, professional storyteller, Reiki master, and harp therapist certified by the International Harp Therapy Program (IHTP) and the Music for Healing & Transition Program (MHTP). She plays harp at the bedside for birthing and dying, and for all life's transitions and celebrations in between.
Lethea is an American by birth and a Kiwi by choice, having lived in Oregon for her first 52 years before settling in Golden Bay, South Island, in 1999, where she now lives happily with two cats, two goats, and her partner, the artist and healer NgAng.
After uninspiring piano lessons as a child, and years of playing recorder in both baroque ensembles and a contra-dance band called “Give Us a Break!”, Lethea took up harp in 1992 at age 45. She planned to use her harp primarily at the bedside for healing, but through the magic of the harp she eventually found herself performing, teaching, recording, and presenting workshops on harp-for-healing and storytelling-with-harp at International Folk Harp Festivals in 1998 and 2000.
Although she earned her Ph.D. in 2002 in the multidisciplinary field of “Partnership Education and Communication”, she finds herself increasingly drawn to use the harp as her primary tool for teaching, healing, and promoting harmony both individually and collectively. She also plays the Native American flute, various recorders, the bowed psaltery, and a variety of eclectic and accessible instruments collected over the years, which she loves to share with people who think they're “not musical”. She is part of the 8-member multi-instrumental troupe “Momentum”, which encourages audience/participants to explore sound and movement through completely improvised musical journeys which flow with the synergy of every unfolding moment.
Her solo harp CD, Harpflight, takes listeners into deep relaxation and returns them refreshed to everday consciousness, while her storytelling-with-harp CD, Parables of Partnership, challenges listeners from 8 to 80 to think creatively about how to live more peacefully, cooperatively and caringly with each other and our Mother Earth.
Lethea plays a Dusty Strings FH36B lever harp called “Allegra” and a 26-double-strung Mountain Glen lap harp called “Milagra”. The latter has introduced many people — old and young, healthy and hospitalized — to their first harp-playing experience, often with transformative effects. Milagra will accompany her to the Harp Festival, to illustrate techniques for storytelling with the harp, along with the special possibilities of the double-strung harp.
Annemieke was born in Holland in 1968, and at the age of 9 she started to learn to play the harp. Over 15 years she learned from four different teachers in Holland. She played in a youth orchestra, with five other harpists, and with that orchestra she travelled to England for performances. After she graduated as a primary school teacher, she decided to travel the world with her 26 string Celtic harp. She busked in many cities, travelling alone through Europe, Singapore, Asia, and she settled for one year in Australia.
She picked up many different ideas from the cultures she travelled through, and she played music with the locals. In Australia she has been sighted in between two didgeridoos. And in Galway, Ireland, she started off busking alone, but soon the bodhran and a man with ten penny-whistles in his pocket had arrived and joined her. In Portugal she played at the palacios, and in the moonlight for the locals. In Indonesia she played for the poor street boys, and she had wonderful conversations with them. Then she came to New Zealand, and loved it so much that she became a resident.
During her first years in this country she taught in Auckland, and performed with this harp group on Great Barrier Island and Waiheke Island, and in places in Auckland. Four years ago Annemieke and Stephen moved to Dunedin. It didn't take long to find people passionate about learning the harp, so the harp group there is growing fast. She and Stephen now have two children, Miro (3), and Aster (1). They enjoy all the people who come for their lessons, and Mummy plays children's songs at their playcentre.
Annemieke has studied kinesiology, harp therapy, and she is a shiatsu practitioner. Over the years she has researched the effects of sound on the human body, and she includes color and sound therapy in her teaching. She has been composing music for many years, and most of her students are proving to be great composers. She aims to have her first C.D. ready by Christmas.
She also plays, alone or in small groups, for functions, weddings, funerals, festivals, gatherings, and for the birds in the trees.
Annemieke has two harps. The first is a 37-string Fisher Bohemian single-action pedal harp, which she will not be able to bring to the Festival. She will bring her other harp, a 26-string Troubador harp from Lutgerink in Zwolle, Holland, which is the harp she travelled the world with. She also has two 22-string harps made by Keith Harrison, and one 22-string harp made by Daniel Walker. These last three harps are rented out to students.
Karen Heathcote began her formal musical education whilst at school, learning singing, piano, harp and theory, and gained her ATCL in Piano and Singing. In 1988 she commenced study at Victoria University, graduating 4 years later with a Bachelor of Music in Performance Singing, 1st Class Honours.
In 1993 she won the Evening Post Aria, Nelson Evening Mail Aria, Otago Daily Times Aria, the National Vocal Award and was a semi-finalist in the Mobil Song Quest (and again in 1998). She has performed solo concerts for the Taranaki, Taupo and Bay of Islands Art Festivals and as a soprano soloist with the Festival Singers, the Christchurch Jubilate and the National Youth Choir.
Her opera productions include roles in Don Giovanni, Tosca, Il Trovatore, and the Magic Flute with the National Opera Company, the NZ Festival of the Arts 2002 production of Der Rosenkavalier, and in the Opera Hawkes Bay production of The Magic Flute (August 2003). She was selected by Dame Malvina Major to accompany her on a recital tour of 10 centres throughout New Zealand, and an outdoor concert with the Auckland Philharmonia. She has made three trips to New York since September 2001, to study singing with a teacher and a coach who are both based in Manhattan, and teach at the Manhattan School of Music as well as at their private studios. Upcoming performances include a recital at the 2004 NZ Festival of the Arts to perform a song cycle by NZ composer, Jack Body.
Her orchestral harp experience includes opera and concert productions with the Wellington Sinfonia, Hawkes Bay Opera and the Victoria University School of Music Orchestra. Karen has 12 years' experience in providing background harp music for functions and events, and has played on a regular basis for the Park Royal Hotel, West Plaza Hotel, Icon Restaurant, Plaza International (now Duxton) Hotel, and Government House.
Karen combines her busy musical life with life as a business-woman in the corporate sector.
Reviewers' comments include: Karen Heathcote was magical with both her singing and harp…"; "…she displayed an innate musicianship and versatility accompanying herself on the Irish harp. Here was singing of a high order, with true artistry being shown especially in those passages where tenderness and sensitivity were required"; "Karen Heathcote…delivered 15 minutes of extremely impressive bravura, with dextrous arpeggios, confident top notes we well as attractive, warm lower notes. It was accurate, flexible and expressive…"
Karen plays a beautifully decorated Aoyama harp.
Yi Jin is the founder of La Vita Nuova Trio, and an associate harpist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia. Born in Shanghai, Yi started her professional career as a harp soloist in Japan after completing her studies there. She emigrated to New Zealand in 1993. She performed with the chamber orchestra Capella Istropolitana in the International Chamber Music Festival in 1999 and this performance was recorded by New Zealand's Concert FM Radio Station. Yi lives in Auckland where she teaches both harp and piano.
Joan and Skip are the owners of Vermont Strings. They were both born and raised in the state of Vermont which is part of New England in the northeast corner of the United States. They met in college; both hold Bachelors as well as Masters degrees, and they have been married for 37 years. They have one child, Kelly Stallings, who owns North Shore Strings.
Following successful careers in teaching and in human services, they both entered the harp world by opening Vermont Strings, having been influenced by Skip's brother-in-law, Roland “Robbie” Robinson. Robbie started Robinson's Harp Shop in the mid 1970s, and he and his wife Phyllis also founded The Folk Harp Journal, a quarterly publication which has continued to thrive for several decades.
Vermont Strings opened its doors on a small scale in 1989 when Skip helped Robbie by filling a few string orders each month for Robinson's Harp Shop. Gradually, Vermont Strings developed its own customer base, although it remains closely affiliated with Robinson's Harp Shop.
Skip's primary responsibility is making the strings; Joan does nearly everything else — customer relations, shipping/receiving, bookkeeping and string analysis.
Brandden Lassells of Harps and Harps from Australia has been involved with harps since 1990 and has developed a worldwide reputation for the warm resonate sound of his harps. Harps and Harps makes all types of custom harps which are sought after by customers worldwide as well as selling, repairing and restoring pedal harps. Harps are his passion, and he is a mine of information on all aspects of harps.
Born New Zealand-Samoan, Natalia Mann began learning harp in Los Angeles, at the age of six. In L.A., she learnt with JoAnn Turovsky, then returned to New Zealand and studied with the NZSO harpists – Anna Christensen, Jan Christensen and then Carolyn Mills. Under Carolyn's guidance, she performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra while still in high school. From there she continued to work in orchestras and chamber ensembles around New Zealand. She was resident harpist for the Wellington Sinfonia orchestra for two years, and performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Wellington, Auckland, and Hawkes Bay Opera Companies, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, the New Zealand International Composers' Festival, and the New Zealand Post National Youth Orchestra. She was a soloist for the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts in 1992 & 1994, and has played with such greats as Kiri Te Kanawa and Alessandra Marc.
At 21, she moved to Australia, and found new inspiration in Melbourne's rich, diverse and many-cultured music scene. She began to experiment with improvisation. Not knowing many people, she would approach buskers, or musicians she met and say, “Hi. I'm Natalia. I play harp. Would you be interested in jamming? ” As a result, she ended up in some bizarre situations! Gradually she found niches that were suited to her taste, her instrument and her playing style.
She has performed Afro Peruvian, Latin, Celtic, Balkan, Mediterranean, Polynesian, Chinese, Indian, African, Reggae, Calypso, Folk, Popular, Hip Hop, Electro-Pop, Jazz, Drum and Bass, Ambient Trance, Experimental Improvisation and Classical.
Melbourne performances include the Melbourne Autumn Music Festival 2003; the Melbourne Jazz Festival 2003; Melbourne Fringe Festival 98-2003; the Boite; musical director for Martin White's adaptation of Ovid plays for the Victorian College of the Arts Graduating Directors Series 2003; Melbourne Geminiani Orchestra, and Melbourne Strings orchestra. Other regular engagements include varied recording sessions, Phatlogic live improvised hip hop, Mediterranean Dreaming with Anthea Sideropoulous, Time Traveller with harpist Michael Johnson, and experimental improvisation at the Make It Up Club.
Natalia is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, where she studied classical harp under Alexandra Shepard. She is the resident harp teacher for Methodist Ladies College and Music Academy.
Her current main projects are:
Natalia is interested in music as a universal language.
Natalia's harp is a beautiful Salzedo concert grand. It was Carolyn Mills' touring harp that she brought from America. The harp came to Natalia when Carolyn discovered Kim Webby's masterpieces, and she loves it. It's got a tight bright top end and a rumbling bass. It's been everywhere, from concert halls to grunge bars, and never lets her down.
Peter Maunder was born in Hull in 1960 and began his music making at the age of 9 on the guitar. He took up the Euphonium at 11 and later the trombone, which he went on to study in Huddersfield with Barrie Webb and later at the National Centre for Orchestral Studies London.
After finishing his studies, Peter worked as a freelance musician and teacher in Manchester, and during this time he played with The Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, B.B.C. Symphony and Ulster Orchestras as well as many of the top Brass Bands in the country. He was also a member of the Marini Trombone Ensemble and played with the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists on original instruments.
In 1990 Peter moved to New Zealand and the following year joined the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. He is also active in the New Zealand band scene as a tutor, conductor, arranger, and composer.
Peter was the recipient of the 1999/2000 NZSO/Lexus Bursary award, which allowed him to study with players from the major orchestras in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Boston.
Carolyn Mills grew up by the banks of the Mississippi River, and began playing the harp very young. In her teenage years, she travelled to Boston and Tanglewood to further her studies with renowned soloist and teacher, Lucile Lawrence. While gaining a Master's Degree in performance at Boston University, Carolyn became the first-ever harpist to win the prestigious Boston University Concerto-Aria Competition, and debuted in Boston's beautiful Jordan Hall. She began specialising in contemporary music, and performed in Canada, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and across the United States. She recorded and performed many premieres for the Boston-based Composers in Red Sneakers, and her contemporary harp and percussion duo, TALEA, toured America playing numerous works written especially for them.
In the orchestral field, Carolyn performed with the Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston Symphonies before taking up the position of Principal Harpist with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra which she has held since 1989.
The critics have described Carolyn as a musician of “great sensitivity and technical accomplishment” and “intense expressiveness.” Her recital with tenor David Hamilton at the 2002 New Zealand Festival was acclaimed as “a deeply felt and profound event.” She has appeared as soloist with the NZSO and many other NZ orchestras, and is also a member of the contemporary ensemble Stroma. Flight, her recently-formed duo with flautist Bridget Douglas, has performed already to much critical acclaim, as a part of festivals and series throughout New Zealand — including several performances of Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, with both the Wellington and Southern Sinfonias.
Carolyn's busy and versatile career has taken her from Carnegie Hall and New Zealand's Government House to the Wellington Zoo. She became the world's southern-most harpist when she accepted an engagement as Guest Artist aboard the MV Marco Polo for its 1995-96 Antarctica Voyages. Carolyn is a National Recording Artist for Radio New Zealand's Concert FM, and was awarded the Mobil Radio Award for Best NZ Serious Music Programme of the Year in 1992. CD recordings include her Grammy-nominated CD Song of the Black Swan with violinist Dawn Harms, on the Atoll label, and her solo CD, Mirage (also on Atoll), which was described by reviewers as “superb” and “positively seraphic.” Mirage quickly reached the NZ Top Ten Classical Chart and was chosen by the NZ Listener as one of the Year's 10 Best Classical Albums of 2002.
Carolyn has taken her harp to thousands of primary school children throughout both New Zealand and the US, and has received several grants from Creative New Zealand, Arts Council of Aotearoa, to take her widely-acclaimed School “Informance” Programme to rural communities all over the country. She is also Artist-Teacher of Harp at Victoria University of Wellington.
Andy Rigby has carved out a unique niche for himself in the world of music, as one of Australia's leading designers, makers, players and teachers of the harp. His performance interests include most folk traditions involving the harp, while his harp-making orders cover modern folk harps as well as medieval Gaelic brass-strung harps, Spanish Baroque chromatic harps, Welsh triple harps, and West African koras.
It all began in 1981, when Andy extended his love of Irish music into the world of the Celtic harp (while still working as an agricultural engineer for the Victorian government). Self-taught by necessity, he learned the craft in folk clubs and festivals of Victoria, swapping tunes with fiddle and flute players and scouring records and books for harp tunes.
In 1984, Andy procured a Paraguayan harp and began learning Paraguayan and Venezuelan music from Alfirio Cristaldo in Melbourne. The recordings of Alfredo Rolando Ortiz have also been a major influence, and in 1993 Andy arranged for the Harp Society of Victoria to bring Alfredo to Australia for the first National Harp Festival. The Andean music of Melbourne's Chilean community attracted Andy to the band Haravicu, with whom he played harp and kena (flute) for two years. Melbourne's rich multi-cultural mix led to his inclusion in the Sadko Russian folk orchestra, the Melbourne Austrian Choir, and Il Grupo Folkloristico Italiano in the early 1980s.
In 1986-7 Andy worked as an engineer on water projects in Botswana, and absorbed some of the musical culture of Southern Africa. Since returning he has taught the making and playing of marimbas, and has played with African musicians Joe Malatji, Valanga Xhosa, and Siyo Afandi in Melbourne.
Since 1990 Andy has been a full-time musician and instrument maker. After several years of intensive school and community workshops in marimba and flute-making, Andy is now busy making folk harps to order. His designs take features from the Celtic and Paraguayan traditions, leading to a unique hybrid style of harp which he has called the “Paraceltic Harp”. Demand is considerable, and after making 200 harps, Andy now makes only the larger harps while his assistant Stephen Oram makes the smaller “lap harps”. Andy runs harp-making workshops in central Victoria, where people make their own instruments under supervision. Andy and Stephen make extensive use of Australian timbers in their harps.
Andy performs mainly on a Paraceltic harp, and has made research trips to the Celtic countries and South America in search of music and ideas. He is well-known around Australia as a teacher and solo performer of folk harp, and as a member of the trio Moving Harps and the family-based folk band Blackwood. With these groups he has produced a range of well-received recordings, and he has collaborated with other musicians such as Riley Lee (shakuhachi), Gillian Alcock (hammered dulcimer) and Martin Tucker (kora, flute) for performances and recordings.
Andy has composed many pieces for the harp, and is proud to have been commissioned several times to produce pieces for special occasions. Some of these are featured on his first solo CD Made & Played, along with a range of Celtic, South American and African music.
Robin Ward is a recent graduate from Victoria University's School of Music with a BMus in Harp Performance under the instruction of Carolyn Mills (Principal Harp, NZSO). Since completing his degree Robin has been establishing himself as a freelance harpist, performing with various orchestras, ensembles and as a soloist. Since graduating Robin has discovered the Baroque triple-strung harp, and because of its rarity has designed and built his own instrument, and has subsequently taught himself to play it.
Some recent performances include fronting for international Folk artist Andy Irvine from Ireland (on the triple harp), and presenting a well-received programme entitled “Four centuries of harp music ” in Palmerston North and Wellington, performing on both triple and pedal harps. In September 2002 Robin appeared in Victoria University's production of L'orfeo performing the harp solo in Posente Spirito. November 2002 saw Robin appear as guest soloist with the Wellington Male Voice Choir and for the REMU 25th Birthday celebrations concert with some of Wellington's early music specialists. Robin's most recent performances have been with German Baroque harp specialist Astrid Nielsch (Ansi) in Nelson and Palmerston North, presenting a recital entitled “Gut Vibrations — 900 years of harp music” which has been well received.
Born in Whangarei, Helen Webby began playing the harp as a teenager, travelling to Auckland for lessons with composer/harpist Dorothea Franchi. In 1989 she completed a Bachelor of Music in performance at the University of Auckland with tutor Rebecca Harris. Postgraduate study followed with Edward Witsenburg at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, Holland, and with Maria Graf at the Hochschule for Music in Hamburg, Germany, where Helen graduated in 1996 with a Masters degree in Harp and Music Teaching.
During her studies in Europe Helen won numerous awards, including the DAAD Scholarship (German Academic Exchange Service), the Dutch Government Scholarship, the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council Grant and the Alex Lindsay Memorial Trust Prize (NZSO). In 1990 she performed at the IV World Harp Congress in Paris, and was a prizewinner in the International Carolan Harp Competition in Ireland (celtic harp). While based in Germany, Helen played throughout Europe as a chamber and orchestral musician. Concert highlights include performing in the Philharmonie Berlin with the contemporary music ensemble Work in Progress Berlin, and at the Schleswig Holstein Festival with her German chamber music Ensemble Obligat.
In the orchestral field, Helen performed with the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra and other opera orchestras in northern Germany, including Phantom of the Opera Hamburg. In 1996 she appeared as Acting Principal Harp of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and in 2000 returned to New Zealand to take up the position of Principal Harp with the Christchurch Symphony.
Helen's solo recitals and concerto performances with the Christchurch Symphony have been warmly received, the critics describing her as “intensely musical, stylish and absorbing”. She is an enthusiastic and active chamber musician and toured the length of the country in 1999 for Chamber Music New Zealand with the Giverny Trio (Flute, Viola, Harp). CD recordings include a disc with her German ensemble Obligat (Flute, Harp and String Trio) featuring works by Scarlatti, Mozart, Schubert and Debussy. Helen's love of Celtic music has resulted in a very successful CD The Peacock's Dance — Celtic music for harp and guitar with guitarist Davy Stuart. Reviewer's comments include “Beautifully arranged and paced, with delicate interplay between musicians, a treat for the ears” NZ Musician; “The album is extremely listenable as a work of beautiful cooperative playing” Sing Out!, USA. Both CDs can be obtained through this website.
In addition to this Helen is a dedicated teacher and is helping many young Cantabrians to play harps of all shapes and sizes.
In 1980 at age 16 Kim Webby built his first folk harp for his sister Helen. Growing up in a New Zealand family where "making rather than buying" was encouraged, this was not too much out of the ordinary. About this time an old French Gothic Erard harp became available which enabled Helen to begin lessons with Dorothea Franchi in Auckland playing both folk and concert harp. This important introduction to harps set the ball rolling for a career in harp making.
Starting with the 34-string “Minstrel”, Kim's folk harps gradually evolved and became the mainstay of production until 1986. Right from the beginning the complexity of the double-action concert harp intrigued Kim, so it was only a matter of time before he attempted to build one. With very little written information available about making or design of concert harps, experience gained from the maintenance and repair of the diverse range of harps in New Zealand helped as a basis for design of his first small student-size concert harp. Completed in 1987, this harp proved the sceptics wrong when they said that concert harps could not be built here in the southern hemisphere. As a harp it was definitely a success, but it was not viable to produce for the student market.
In 1989 designwork began for a full-size professional instrument. The aim was to build a top-quality concert harp crafted by hand which was possible without huge investment in tooling and machines. The harp was built primarily of New Zealand red beech and the style given a New Zealand forest theme with carved nikau palm and ferns. This harp was exhibited at the 1990 Paris-Sèvres World Harp Congress, and created significant interest. Just prior to the exhibition, Carolyn Mills (Principal Harp, NZSO) purchased this instrument, and she regularly performs with it around New Zealand.
In 1995 work started on a new harp for Kim's sister Helen. Building on experience from the four previous harps, “Te Huia” was born in mid 1996.
Twenty-three years on, the evolution continues and with the sheer complexity of concert harps, there is always something that can be improved on. With harps in New Zealand, Austria, Scotland and England, interest grows, but as in the beginning, Kim is a "one man band" crafting harps at his home in Whangarei.
Lisa Williamson began learning piano at the age of ten, studying to Diploma level with Hamilton teacher Josie Fluhler. She began playing harp in 1985, studying with Delphine McAneney and playing a Kim Webby lever harp. Five years later, Lisa bought her pedal harp and studied with Rebecca Harris in Auckland. She has played with the TrustWaikato Symphony Orchestra, and works as a free-lance harpist with choirs, instrumentalists and as a soloist. In addition to performing, Lisa has a private studio, teaching piano, harp and music theory to over fifty students. Lisa lives in Hamilton and is married with two children.
Lisa plays two harps: an Erard Grecian made in c.1830 which was rebuilt to playing condition by Kim Webby in 1990, and a Daniel Walker Minstrel Harp.
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