Bangkok--10 Aug--Tamnak Prathom Harp Centre
Sixteen young harpists from seven countries will be vying for Her Majesty the Queen trophy at the Second Thailand International Harp Festival and Youth competition to be held at Chulalongkorn University from August 15-19, 2012.
The Festival is the cooperation between the Ministry of Culture, Chulalongkorn University's Music Department of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts and the Tamnak Prathom Harp Centre with the support from top harpists in both Europe and Asia.
The Festival was held for the first time under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen in November 2009 and was the first such harp festival and competition to be organized in Southeast Asia, aimed at providing a stepping stone for aspiring young harpists who may wish to take part in more advanced competitions internationally.
With the slogan "Friendship Through Music", the festival is also aimed at opening up opportunity for young harpists to meet their peers as well as to meet and work with some of the best harpists and teachers in the world.
With Wales' eminent harpist and teacher, Elinor Bennett, as Artistic Director and Tongsuang Isarangkul na Ayuddhya of Chulalongkorn University as co Artistic Director, other top harpists participating in the festival this year will include France's Marielle Nordmann, Florence Sitruk, Professor of Harp at the Geneva Conservatoire, Yasuko Kashiwabara, Faculty member of the Tokyo College of Music and board member of the Nippon Harp Association, Catrin Finch, former royal harpist to Britain's Prince of Wales, Shanghai's Jie Zhou, harpist at the Dusseldorf State Opera Orchestra and Judith Utley of Payap College Faculty of Music.
The Festival will be divided into two parts. The first part, the Youth competition, which will see participants ages from 10 to 17 from seven different countries including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Wales and Thailand. The two-day competition will be on August 17 and 18 at the Maha Chulalongkorn building of Chulalongkorn University and will be open to the public.
On the performance side, four concerts will be held every evening at Chulalongkorn University Auditorium starting on August 16 with the "Focus On Youth Concert" which will feature young winners of three international competitions, Artemy Izmaylov of Russia, Mared Pugh Evans of Wales and Korea's Yeona Pi, winner of the Thailand Competition 2009 who is performing the Winner's Recital and will also be presenting the Queen's Trophy to the next winner who, in turn will pass it on to the winner of the Competition in three year's time.
"Catrin Live in Concert" will see Catrin Finch, hearthrob of all young harpists and first royal harpist to Britain's Prince of Wales, performing on August 17 and August 18 will see Miriam Overlach and the Lumaka Ensemble, comprising of top young musicians from the Netherlands, performing all 20th century music.
France's doyenne of the harp, Marielle Nordmann, and Argentinian bandoneonist, Eduardo Garcia, will close the programme with the concert "Encuentro" Tangos et Milongas" -- a meeting with Marielle for tangos and milongas when she will play works by Albeniz,Villa-Lobos, Piazzola and other friends. This concert will be on August 19 at the Thailand Cultural Centre, small auditorium.
Proceeds from the all the four concerts will go towards the Thai Red Cross Society. Tickets will be at 1,200 baht (500 for students) or a special-price package of 4,000 baht for the whole four concerts. Inquireies may be made by calling the Tamnak Prathom Harp Centre at 02 261 4777-8 or emailing
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