Next week in the Netherlands – October 12-16, 2016 – four of the country’s major harp events are set to coincide in the city of Utrecht: the international Dutch Harp Competition, the Dutch Harp Festival, the Open Harp Day, and the Jazz Harp Academy.
Dutch Harp Competition
This year, 27 harpists from around the world will compete in the 4th Dutch Harp Competition. The competition offers € 10,000 in total prize money, along with the “CCC Career Development Program” awarded to the first-prize winner. The candidates will compete over a series of three rounds, beginning on October 12th. The final round will take place in the city’s main concert hall on October 16th and features a world premiere of a triple concerto by the Dutch composer Rembrandt Frerichs.
Check back here on HarpColumn.com for updates during the competition, and tune in for an online live stream of the finals (more information to follow).
Dutch Harp Festival
The theme of this year’s Dutch Harp Festival is “Harps Without Borders”. Artistic director Remy van Kesteren explains, “In music there are no boundaries. No countries, no languages, no gate-keepers… In that respect, the world still has a lot to learn from music.” The festival takes place over October 15th and 16th, and the program includes performances by Sivan Magen, Ben Creighton Griffiths, Catrin Finch, Park Stickney, Marie-Pierre Langlamet, Nobody’s Cult, Lithuanian harp, the Korean Gayageum, the Arabian Oud, dance, theater, and science, and even a Club Night with harp. View the full schedule here.
Open Harp Day & Jazz Harp Academy
The Open Harp Day is an annual event hosted by the Dutch Harp Society and the Dutch Folk Harp Society. This year, it shares a venue alongside the Dutch Harp Festival and is integrated into the Jazz Harp Academy. Together with the Open Harp Day, the Jazz Harp Academy is producing a series of workshops for harpists and harp lovers. These workshops have been organized into routes – the jazz route, the improv route, the kids route, etc. – to help attendees navigate their way through all the different offerings. Check out their workshop schedule here.
