{"id":5527,"date":"2017-03-29T07:39:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-29T07:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.harpblog.info\/?p=5527"},"modified":"2018-07-29T21:14:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-29T21:14:17","slug":"cardiff-camac-harp-weekend-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.camac-harps.com\/blog\/en\/news\/cardiff-camac-harp-weekend-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Camac Harp Weekend 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

 <\/p>\n

Telynau Vining Wales\u00a0\u00b7 \u00a0Cymru<\/a>, our exclusive partners in Wales, have run an excellent annual harp weekend for the last three years. It is a glowing example of the sort of harp days\u00a0we put on all over the world – the idea being to provide special artistic, commercial and service opportunities, and also to celebrate a regional harp community ! Artists, businesses and concert\/festival organisations commonly assume it is best to be as international as possible, but they are wrong. Community – in other words, friendship and collaboration – begins at home. The friend you up sticks to go and see\u00a0is a better friend than the one you just message on Facebook; the local bookshop you enjoy browsing offers more than a faceless order via Amazon. Music, too, is an expression of community, and there is nothing like developing your studies and career from the solid foundations of where you live and work. This is why one of our sponsorship\u00a0hallmarks is our Camac Festival<\/a>, which always takes place in a particular region; it’s also why we go crazy every two years at Harpes Au Max<\/a>, in our home part of Brittany. \u00a0It is also why\u00a0our partners are so important to us. It is much more convenient to buy your\u00a0instruments and accessories close to home, and our network of best-quality, exclusive Camac harp centres is growing all the time.<\/p>\n

\"Camac<\/a>

Camac Wales director Elen Vining with Jakez Fran\u00e7ois<\/p><\/div>\n

Telynau Vining Wales\u00a0\u00b7 Cymru have been Camac partners for the last eighteen\u00a0years. They have just extended their Cardiff premises, and their own programme of special and touring events also continues to go from strength to strength. It is our pleasure to collaborate with them in bringing a special selection of exhibition harps, and sending our head technician Enric De Anciola to carry out sponsored regulations.<\/p>\n

Wales is nothing if not rich in home-grown harp talent: Catrin Finch, Elinor Bennett, Eira Lynn Jones,\u00a0Meinir Heulyn,\u00a0Gwenan Gibbard, Ben Creighton-Griffiths, Eleanor Turner, Gwenllian Llyr\u00a0and Amanda Whiting have all taken part in the Cardiff Camac Days since their beginnings in 2015. This year, Elen Vining also invited colleagues from London – Gabriella Dall’Olio, head of harp at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance<\/a>, and blue harp star Tara Minton<\/a>. And – she’d appeared at the 2015 Cardiff days<\/a> via video link, and this year she arrived\u00a0in person! Deborah Henson-Conant<\/a> provided the grand finale, backed by Shelley Fairplay and her ensemble Dynamic Harps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Preaching what they practise, all\u00a0the performing artists generously gave workshops and classes. From a classical masterclass with Gabriella, to classes for complete beginners with Ben Creighton-Griffiths (returning for another year) and Shelley Fairplay (ditto), there was something for everyone. Eleanor Turner, now making great waves at the Birmingham Conservatoire<\/a>, ran workshops on contemporary notation, and deciphering scores so that dots become music; together with Balandino Di Donato, Eleanor also explored electronic and computer interfaces with the Camac electroharp.\u00a0Tara Minton and her trio colleagues Ed Babar and Tom Early gave a jazz class, and Tara another one on her own, about the harp in popular song. We’d loved\u00a0the Tara Minton Trio only a few days earlier at the opening of our new store in Rotterdam<\/a>, and it was great to hear them again! Meanwhile, DHC initiated a large group of eager participants into the wonders of her favourite use-anywhere left-hand pattern, and autographed a lot of Blue Lights her fans had brought along to The Ultimate DHC Pluck Off<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t