We have the Elite 8!

Hello lovely harpists and harp enthusiasts!

Stage II is officially behind us, and Stage III is right around the corner. In case you haven't heard, here are the 8 contestants who have survived two stages and will move on to the third. In performance order:

Gwenllian Llyr, United Kingdom (Wales)

Coline-Marie Orliac, France

Agnès Clément, France

Rino Kageyama, Japan

Ruriko Yamamiya, Japan

Jimin Lee, United Kingdom / South Korea

Marta Marinelli, Italy

Vasilisa Lushchevskaya, Russia

Congratulations to everyone who played in Stage II...you were all incredible!

Stage III begins tomorrow at 3 pm. There is a composer forum beforehand at 12:30, where composers will be presenting their works. It will also feature the runner-up compositions for the USA IHC composition competition; students from Peabody Conservatory, along with professor Ruth Inglefield, will be performing the works. The composition contest winner, Awakening Stillnesses, will be heard in the competition itself, as it is the required work for Stage III. Speaking of which, have YOU awakened the stillnesses lately?

Tomorrow also marks the relocation of the competition performance venue from Recital Hall to Auer Hall. Although Recital Hall was convenient and had great, harp-friendly acoustics, it will be nice to sit in cushioned seats! A funny thing about the competition: during the performances, we have been plagued by the sounds of candy wrappers being opened (most of them occurring during the softest sections of the pieces.) It's been quite a nuisance, and the echoes in Recital Hall do not help with this problem. The judges seemed rather upset by all of the noise, and we overheard one judge say, jokingly, that they should announce "No candy, no dogs, no cats, and no goldfish." (We agree.) Hopefully all will be resolved in Auer Hall!

After the results were posted, we tracked down Welsh harpist Gwenllian Llyr in a practice room (where else?) and extrapolated some information from her, including her past competitions, favorite pieces in the USA competition, and plans for the future.

Gwen is 22 years old, and a recent graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she studied with Caryl Thomas. In the fall, she is moving to London to begin post-school life as a harpist (note to all Londonfolk--she is fantastic!) If completing a degree and planning a move aren't enough, the USA IHC is her 3rd international competition in 1 year. She also competed in the International Harp Contest in Israel (where she was one of six semi-finalists) and the International Harp Competition in the Netherlands, where she also was a semi-finalist. How exactly did she manage to learn 17 pieces in so little time? "I just didn't live," she told us. "I chained myself to the harp. I didn't really do that, of course. It was helpful that there were some pieces that overlapped." Even with the overlap, it is an overwhelming amount of music to learn, but having listened to her in both Stage I and II, it is obvious that she has been able to not only learn everything, but also master it. (Her Stage II Bach was positively enchanting.) In Stage III, which is comprised of free choices plus two required works, she will be performing the Faure Une chatelaine en sa tour (one of her favorite pieces), Mathius' Sante Fe Suite, two Scarlatti Sonatas, Caplet Divertissements a la francaise, Awakening Stillnesses and Un Sospiro. We cannot wait to listen to her tomorrow afternoon!

Come back soon for more engaging topics such as Performance Poll: Heels or Flats?, Dress for Harp Success, Profiles in [Musical] Courage: an overview of the judges at the competition, and more!

That's it for now! In closing, we leave you with an actual quote from an email we received recently.

Very, truly, and warmly sincerely yours,

~Harpo Marks