Being a musician is about much more than music. Wise artists are always telling their students: as well as mastering your instrument, you have to read, learn languages, hang out in bars, go to the theatre, live your life…and travel, of course, for travel broadens the mind and soul. The Camac team can certainly testify to that: we’re on the road every ten days. Sometimes you’ll hear a loud groan emanate from one of our offices, perhaps accompanied by the exasperated evocation of a national airline – but the fun and the experiences we have more than make up for this, and we wouldn’t change anything.<\/p>\n
Recently, the Camac Artist Relations department has got more deeply involved in accompanying musicians on such travels. Together with our business partner in Beijing, Duoli Wu<\/a>, Guan Wang and Lin Lin Wei, Professors at the Central Conservatory of Music<\/a>, and Xue Mei Zheng, our first project after the summer break was a ten-day tour of France. Duoli, professors and nearly thirty young Chinese harpists joined us for a combined programme of masterclasses, concerts, and other excursions: some directly harp-related, and some – as those wise musicians say – indirectly, but none the less importantly for that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Everybody was still smiling on arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport, after a twelve-hour flight from Beijing: the Camac coach was waiting to greet them, and take the party to their hotel. The first part of the tour took place in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, home of the Paris Conservatoire<\/a>, Jean Nouvel’s magnificent new building for the Philharmonie<\/a>\u00a0– and our Paris showroom<\/a>, our base for the next five days.<\/p>\n After a good rest, we began with a day of welcome and celebration. We filled L’Espace Camac<\/a> with a selection of the size you’ll normally only see at a World Harp Congress, and closed the store for an afternoon so that our group could enjoy some peaceful, private browsing. In the early evening, Mathilde Wauters gave a beautiful short recital (of French music, naturally!), followed by a cocktail to round off the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n