At 7 pm on Saturday evening in the Indiana University Musical Arts Center, the three finalists will perform, and the gold, silver and bronze medals will be awarded. The 4th-8th prizes will also be announced, along with the special prizes for the best performances of the Gliere concerto and Maganuco's Awakening Stillnesses. The MAC seats upwards of 1200 hundred, and harp celebrities from all over are flying in tomorrow and Saturday to come experience the magic of finals. (There is a rumor that Johnny Depp is also coming, but that can't be confirmed :) It will be a fantastic ceremony, and we can't wait! In the meantime, the finalists had rehearsal today with the Festival Orchestra conductor and a pianist, and tomorrow is a rehearsal with the full orchestra. The final run-through will be on Saturday morning.
When not listening to the competition, admiring the plethora of harps provided by Lyon & Healy for the contestants, or running over to Copper Cup for regular caffeine boosts, we have also had the opportunity to experience some wonderful concerts, including the Stars of Tomorrow concert and 2004 gold medal winner Emmanuel Ceysson. Emmanuel's concert, was, in a word, incredible. It was a completely French program, opening with the Faure Impromptu and ending with Grandjany's Rhapsodie. Also on the program were Renie's Legende, two Debussy Preludes, the Tournier Sonatine, Salzedo's Ballade, and Faure's Une chatelaine en sa tour. The level of technique alone was mind-blowing (at almost every piece the word "wow" could be heard coming from several different audience members), but his musicianship was also spectacular. The notes seemed to hang in the air, and he held complete control over both the tone of the harp and the interpretations. There were so many beautiful moments, and the standing ovation and encore testified to how much people enjoyed the concert. A funny story, though: during the encore, an elderly lady loudly opened the door into the hall and proceeded to march down the aisle and through the backstage door...while he was still playing! At least it didn't happen during the competition.
A topic that has come up several times during the competition is the outfits and shoes that the competitors wear. Generally, Stage I is the most "casual." With a few exceptions, the competitors wore a tea-length or knee-length dress, or an all-black ensemble. Stage II was slightly dressier--a popular dress choice being long, dark or solid colored dresses. Stage III is a recital and thus the girls wore typical concert gown attire. Blue, green, red, pink, white...all were worn, and it was fun to see each competitor's personality through their outfit choice. Vasilisa's dress in particular was stunning. It was ivory, with gold sparkles running from one shoulder down across the front. So beautiful. Although we are looking forward to hearing the extraordinary playing on Saturday night, we are also really excited to see the concert dresses. If possible we will upload pictures.
In regard to shoes, contestants are split on whether heels or flats are better. Some say that flats allow you to feel the pedals better, and that they are more comfortable to play in. Others think that heels make it easier to change pedals while providing the support that flats lack. And then some really don't have a preference and play in whatever they like. We have yet to see a contestant try to perform barefoot...I suppose that is a good thing!
Tomorrow is a relatively free day, and the contestants and board members have a pool party planned for tomorrow afternoon. With the hot, humid weather that Bloomington has been having, it will be a perfect time.
Stay tuned for more!
Best,
Harpo Marks
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