{"id":27505,"date":"2020-01-16T08:49:32","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T08:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/?p=27505"},"modified":"2020-01-25T19:31:22","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T19:31:22","slug":"review-of-the-year-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/en\/news\/review-of-the-year-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Review of the Year 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bonne<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in action after the Christmas holidays, we\u2019re taking a moment to look back on the year just gone. It\u2019s been quite a 2019!<\/p>\n

We have been busy attending harp events throughout France, and further afield. This is in order to create exhibition and regulation opportunities, and to sponsor and co-facilitate artistic events, in as many different regions as possible. We may think globally, but we have always acted locally: only by visiting harpists in their working environments can we get a proper understanding of musicians’ needs, and answer these in the development of our harps.<\/p>\n

Pierre Le Levier, your Camac representative for France ex-Paris, set off in the wintry dawn of 2019 for \u201cHarpe en Avesnois<\/a>\u201d, in no less than its 25th edition. Pierre was also delighted to be involved in the Journ\u00e9es de la Harpe \u00e0 Metz, the Journ\u00e9es de la Harpe de Carnac, Harpes en Loire, La Perri\u00e8re, Caen, Saint-Malo, and the Camac Trophy at the Lorient Festival Interceltique<\/a>. Lorient is the biggest Celtic event in Europe; it regularly attracts 800 000 visitors, and welcomes 4500 musicians, singers and dancers to its stages.<\/p>\n

\"Jury<\/a>

Jakez Fran\u00e7ois with the jury of Dasson an Delenn 2019. L-R: Jakez Fran\u00e7ois, Nikolaz Cadoret, Tiphaine Escarguel, Aurore Br\u00e9ger, Anne Fiard-Vileyn, Brigitte Baronnet (president)<\/p><\/div>\n

The French team were also out in force to accompany our lever harp competition, \u201cDasson an Delenn<\/a>\u201d. This initiative, whose title means “The Resonance of the Harp” in Breton, is particularly focused on Breton lever harp music: as a company, we are proud of our Breton roots. We began harp-making in the midst of the Second Celtic Revival, in Brittany in the 1970s: to this day, all our harps are made in the same workshops in Mouzeil.<\/p>\n

The French harp calendar is also not complete without the Concours fran\u00e7ais de la harpe \u00e0 Limoges<\/a>. We were delighted to celebrate no fewer than ten years of the competition with founders Marie-Monique Popesco and V\u00e9ronique Chenuet. The Dinan Rencontres internationales de harpes celtiques<\/a> is similarly unmissable – celebrating its 36th year in 2019! We were very proud that our harps were chosen by headline artists on every night of the Dinan festival: lever harps, electric harps, and even our South American llanera, the latter played by Eduardo Betancourt flying in from the USA. Dinan’s exhibition floor is also a good chance to catch up with the many talented, artisanal luthiers making lever harps today. It is a source of great company pride that over one hundred such artisans choose Camac levers for their instruments.<\/p>\n

\"Chinese<\/a>

THE Paris photo: we welcome our Chinese colleagues to France<\/p><\/div>\n

In mid-August, we embarked on a new adventure<\/a> with our Beijing partner, Duoli Wu, and a large group of Chinese colleagues and clients. Nearly thirty young Chinese harpists arrived in Paris, in the company of Duoli; Guan Wang and Lin Lin Wei, Professors at the Central Conservatory of Music; and Xue Mei Zheng, professor in Guangzhou. Camac\u2019s Artist Relations team had organised a combined programme of teaching (from Isabelle Moretti, no less), concerts, and other musical and cultural excursions both in Paris, and around our factory seat in Brittany.<\/p>\n

\"Festival<\/a>

Camac Festival, Toulouse 2019<\/p><\/div>\n

The third weekend of October is always the scene of the Festival Camac, which tours to a different francophone region every year. In 2019, it returned to Toulouse<\/a> for the second time, for three days of concerts, workshops, regulations and service, and the biggest travelling exhibition of our season. Special thanks go to Fabienne Hilar-Drhouin, Mathilde Sandoz and Dominique Piussan, and their classes de harpe du CRR de Toulouse, du CRC de Blagnac, de l\u2019Ecole de Musique “Axe-Sud” de Roques-sur-Garonne, and the l\u2019Ecole d\u2019Enseignement Artistique de Tournefeuille. They collaborated with Rossitza Milevska on an ambitious \u201cjazz and harp\u201d premier, created for the festival.<\/p>\n

In our Paris flagship showroom, manager Olivier Galeraud and his colleague Laurent Canaple have been enthusiastic hosts. Thanks to the kind collaboration of Warner Classics, L\u2019Espace Camac Paris hosted a pre-release signing<\/a> of Anneleen Lenaerts<\/a>\u2019s latest CD: works by Nino Rota, brought out 40 years after the composer passed away.<\/p>\n

\"Miriam<\/a>H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Breschand<\/a> and the association \u201cLes Signes de l\u2019Arc<\/a>\u201d held a creative workshop about prepared harp and contemporary notation. Many thanks to H\u00e9l\u00e8ne for leading this workshop, which brought harpists of all ages and stages joyfully out of their comfort zones, and was very enthusiastically received! The day concluded with Jakez Fran\u00e7ois demonstrating the latest developments for Camac’s MIDI instrument – and finally, a dynamic and thought-provoking concert by three great names of the avant-garde harpe: Miriam Overlach<\/a>, Sunniva R\u00f8dland<\/a> and Gunnhildur Einarsd\u00f3ttir<\/a>. Morgane Le Cuff visited Paris from Brittany<\/a>, giving a concert presentation of her new book of traditional Iberian music, and the talented young winners of the Limoges competition also came to perform<\/a> for us.<\/p>\n

\"Caroline<\/a>

Caroline Lizotte<\/p><\/div>\n

Caroline Lizotte<\/a> travelled considerably further – from Quebec ! – to Paris, to give the world premier of her new sonata for electroacoustic pedal harp<\/a>. This commission was supported by Conseil des arts et des lettres du Qu\u00e9bec, for the promotion of Qu\u00e9becoise culture abroad. Lizotte\u2019s extensive, award-winning body of compositions already features the electroacoustic harp, for example ‘Danses M\u00e9tales’ op. 47 for electroacoustic harp, or ‘Stellae Saltantem’ op. 49, a duo for electroacoustic and acoustic harp. The new sonata is the latest evidence of the long friendship between Lizotte and Camac Harps. The company made her a mirror-chrome electroacoustic pedal harp in 2015, after a long process in developing the perfect finish. “This harp is like a symbol of our friendship, our determination, and our audacity!”, says Caroline Lizotte. \u201cIt has played a big part in the development of my playing and composition. When luthiers make good instruments, musicians become interested in playing them, and composers become interested in writing for those artists and that instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving beyond France, firstly throughout Europe: International Sales Manager Thomas Pontoizeau was joined by Tristan Le Govic in Onex, Switzerland, for a fantastic spotlight on the electric harp. Organised by Elise Estavoyer and her association Harpes en Coeur<\/a>, the Journ\u00e9es de la harpe \u00e0 Aire-la-Ville and Onex<\/a> were featured on Swiss television. Elise was celebrating ten glorious years of great work, together with her association generating community for and interest in the harp. We are also proud that two distinguished Swiss orchestras have recently acquired new Camac concert grands: the Musikkollegium Winterthur<\/a> has a new Canop\u00e9e<\/a>, and the Berner Symphonieorchester<\/a> has just taken delivery of an Elys\u00e9e<\/a>, and an Atlantide Prestige<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Lisboa<\/a>

Carolina Coimbra, guest artist Veronika Lemishenko, and Eric Piron at the Lisboa Harp Seminar<\/p><\/div>\n

Heading South, we were delighted to work with Carolina Coimbra on the first Lisboa Harp Seminar,<\/a> while Camac Ib\u00e9rica partnered the Festival del Arpa in Terrassa<\/a>, Catalonia.<\/p>\n

\"Camac<\/a>Camac Harfen Deutschland<\/a> has had a very busy year – including opening a new branch in Bonn<\/a>, led by Andrea Thiele! Camac Germany has also organised and\/or sponsored a variety of events all over the Bundesrepublik. We were general co-sponsors of the Reinl-Stiftung competition in Munich. In May, we took a special selection of our \u201cJanet\u201d Irish harps to the AGM of the German Harp Association<\/a> – because the AGM took place as part of a German-Irish symposium. We sponsored harp weekends with Ruth Rojahn-Leitz at the Musikschule of the Hofer Symphoniker<\/a>; in Hannover with Isabel Moreton and Jasmin-Isabel K\u00fchne<\/a>; at the Folkwang Universit\u00e4t der K\u00fcnste, Essen, with Verena Volkmer and Ronith Mues<\/a>; and returned to Tettnang<\/a> for another highly successful event with Simone-Patricia H\u00e4usler, and guest artist Evelyn Huber. Germany is also well-known for its \u201cHarfentreffen\u201d, and the summer calendar of Camac Germany is not be complete without one\u2026 or more. <\/p>\n

Camac concert grand harps have also been the choice of several important German orchestras, for example the Deutsche Oper Berlin<\/a>, the Bayerische Staatsoper<\/a>, and most recently the Gewandhausorchester<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Rotterdam, Camac Harpen Nederland<\/a> enjoyed an exceptional recital by Marcel Cara, at their New Year\u2019s party in January. Marcella Carboni and Brenda Dor-Groot gave two days of jazz workshops in March, and Camac NL supported the long-running \u201cHarp Marathon\u201d, a very popular event in the Netherlands established by Edward Witsenburg. Camac\u2019s Artist Relations Manager Helen Leitner also visited Rotterdam in May 2019, where she was invited to chair a lecture on business sponsorship in the music industry at Classical: NEXT!<\/a>. She gave this conference together with Gert Wijnalda, business director of the Dutch Harp Festival<\/a> in Utrecht.<\/p>\n

Still on Europe (for now): we continue to sponsor and organise the national competitions in London<\/a> every spring, as we have done for over a decade. Telynau Vining<\/a>, our much-loved partners in the United Kingdom, celebrated twenty years of business development with a special harp weekend in Cardiff. This was a real entente cordiale, inviting some of the most well-known artists from both sides of the Channel. The British side was represented by Caryl Thomas, Head of Harp at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, and co-leader of the host artistic committee at the 2020 World Harp Congress; Heather Downie, tutor in world music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland; Natasha Gale, co-organiser of the Wild Strings jazz and pop harp festival in Birmingham; and Claire Jones, former Harpist to the Prince of Wales. They were joined by Isabelle Moretti, who performed in the beautiful setting of the Impressionists\u2019 Gallery of the National Museum of Wales. It was quite something to hear Isabelle\u2019s stunning rendition of French and Spanish repertoire, surrounded by some of the greatest and most famous works of French art.<\/p>\n\n\t\t