2015/16 Winter News: November-January

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This winter I will be performing in Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, Greensboro and Newton, NC with the NC Harp Duo, NC Harp Ensemble and my first full performance of the Nutcracker. Check out the schedule below and I hope to see you at a performance or two!

Starting in January, I will be expanding my studio to Cary, NC where I will teach harp lessons from Leechford Music Studios near downtown Cary.  Contact me today to reserve your spot at the Cary Studio! Leigh is accepting new students of all ages.

 

NC Harp Ensemble’sHoliday Concert 

Nov 22, 2015, 3pm at NC Art Museum | Free Admission!

13 Harpists will gather at the NC Museum of Art to play your holiday favorites. Founded in 2010, the NC Harp Ensemble provides professional ensemble instruction for harpists of all ages and skill levels – beginning, intermediate, advanced and professional. Conducted by Jacquelyn Bartlett, Professor of Harp and Chamber Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, the ensemble rehearses from September through April at UNCSA in Winston-Salem, NC. 

 

The Nutcracker

presented by Triangle Youth Ballet & Nutrcracker Virtuosi

Dec 5-12 at Chapel Hill High School and Carolina Theater | Tickets $10-$27

This will be my first full run of the Nutcracker Ballet. Tchaikovsky wrote a fabulous harp part complete with one of the best known harp cadenza’s in the Waltz of the Flowers. This performance is a collaboration between the Triangle Youth Ballet and the Nutcracker Virtuosi conducted by Andrew McAfee. 

 

NC Harp Ensemble on Tour

Dec 13, 2015, Greensboro, NC | Free Admission

After special requests from the Greensboro community, The NC Harp Ensemble will return to Greensboro this winter for it’s annual holiday concert and will feature harp quartet, violin and piano! Stay tuned for more details!

 

NC Harp Duo & Friends

Bach’s Lunch N’ Listen, Newton-Conover Auditorium, Newton, NC

Dec 18, 12pm-1pm | Tickets $12

The NC Harp Duo with special guests, will return to Newton, NC for a second appearance on the Bach’s Lunch N’ Listen program for an intimate showcase of your favorite Christmas music. Tickets will be available soon. 


Forming the NC Harp Duo

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Our teacher, Jacquelyn Bartlett, introduced us via the North Carolina Harp Ensemble. Grace Wepner Ludtke and I met while playing in the North Carolina Harp Ensemble about 4 years ago. Grace manages the group and plays as well, and I am now involved as the development coordinator. We played in the advanced group together, enjoyed playing and became friends gossiping about the joys and woes of harp playing that our husbands just don't always understand. The seemingly minute difference between fingering a 5th with fingers 1 & 3, versus 2 & 4, the value of tall thumbs and the challenge of pedals have a way of losing their punch when discussing with muggles. 

Playing with the NC Harp Ensemble, we learned quite a bit of fabulous repertoire written for two harps, so as two young professional harpists in the music community, forming a duo was the only logical step for us.

Grace grew up in Newton, NC and gave the newly renovated Newton-Conover Auditorium the brilliant suggestion to begin a Lunchtime Concert series called the "Bach Lunch N' Listen." They agreed, and Grace presented a fabulous opening performance to begin the concert series. With each luncheon selling out, the new series was a success, and we landed our first gig as a Harp Duo this past spring.

Next, we discussed names (and repertoire). Between the four of us (harpists & our spouses), we came up with the following:

  • Tangled Harps
  • One Pluck One
  • Harp Burn
  • Harp Worm
  • Harp Felt
  • Harp to Harp
  • Artichoke Harps
  • Harps of Palm
  • Harp Attack
  • Achy, Breaky Harp
  • Tear'n up my Harp
  • Harpbeat!
  • Lonely Harps
  • Harpland

We're all suckers for puns, though perhaps we can use these to title future albums, programs or original music. After many laughs, the North Carolina Harp Duo won.

For our debut performance as the NC Harp Duo, we selected our favorites from the ensemble repertoire and learned a couple new pieces. Some of the music, was written for harpists within our harp community by composer Jack Jarrett. 

Mr. Jarrett is the grandfather of a student of Grace and a talented conductor and composer. As a gift to his granddaughter and her grandmother (who are both harpists!), Mr. Jarrett wrote, "a Little Harp Duet" for beginning harpists. He also arranged a number of Folksongs for various arrangements of ensembles, and Grace recommended that also arrange these for harp. Jack agreed, and arranged three more folksongs for harp (Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair, He is Gone Away & Shenandoah). Though we love all of his arrangements, we could only fit the Folksongs on our Newton program. But, we did get to play all of his music as duets when we made recordings of the music as a thank you to Jack Jarrett for composing.

At the first session, we worked with only the recording engineer, Ben Blozan. At our second meeting, Jack Jarrett was able to join. His intimate knowledge of the music he composed and keen ears gave us some great ideas while recording. You can listen to the completed recordings here.

When we can, we play in orchestras together, trading off as Harp 1 & Harp 2 and dream often of the repertoire we will learn and play, inviting other instrumentalists to collaborate with us and looking for new venues and concert series to play.