On April 1, 2024, starting at 9:00 am PDT, VAYA adjudicator Anaïs Gaudemard will be giving an online master class. There will be a pay button to sign up soon. This is for WCHS members only; $35 for 15 minutes, $70 for ½ hour.

It did not take long before Anaïs Gaudemard's international fame was established after being awarded the 1st Prize at the prestigious International Harp Contest in Israel 2012, as well as the 2nd and Prize of the Münchener Kammerorchester at the ARD Competition 2016 in Munich. Anaïs Gaudemard was also awarded the Thierry Scherz Prize at the Festival des Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad 2015 and nominated "ECHO Rising Star" 2018/19 by the Philharmonie de Paris and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation of Lisbon. Since then, she has made debuts on the most prestigious international stages, such as the Wiener Konzerthaus, Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), Barbican Centre (London) and Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), among others. 

After her Solo album for the Harmonia Mundi label, her wide-ranging discography soon includes Mozart's Concerto K299 for flute and harp with Julien Beaudiment and the Lyon National Opera Orchestra, two discs with Avi Avital and the Between World Ensemble for Deutsche Gramophon, as well as a repertoire of French Romantic music produced by the Palazzetto Bru Zane for Alpha.

During the 2023/24 season, Anaïs will be performing the Harp Concerto op.74 by Glière, the Harp Concerto op.25, by Ginastera with Sinfonietta de Lausanne under the baton of Joseph Bastian, the premiere of the Nachstück composition written for her by David Coleman and will be touring Japan with Philippe Bernold.

Anaïs will also play in recitals in the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, France and Italy.

The Institut de France recently awarded her the Tissier-Grandpierre Prize in recognition of her career.

Anaïs Gaudemard plays with a Style 23 Gold Concert Grand harp, a gift from the Lyon & Healy  harp makers that she received at the 18th International Harp Competition in Israel in 2012. 

Early Music specialist Antoine Malette-Chenier gave a workshop on style and interpretation for the Baroque harp on February 14, 2024, 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm at Elizabeth Volpé Bligh's residence and on Zoom. Several students played, and Antoine demonstrated and answered questions about ornamentation, dynamics, and other facets of this period. There was a fee of $10 for everyone. 

Harp Day 2023 was on October 28, in person for the first time since 2018! The location was the same as in 2018: the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 West 49th Ave.,  at 49th and Oak Street in Vancouver. It's the perfect spot, with a big, flat parking lot and a central location. There was a large ensemble of harpists/harpers learning a new piece, a merchandise table, panels, a salute to Winter Harp's 30th anniversary, presentations by experts, including harp technician Manuel Gamalinda and UBC theory professor Robert Komaniecki, finishing with a concert featuring guest artist Ava Yeh and our own student ensembles and the large group from the morning session. 

Please note, admission for Harp Day is for members only, but concert is available for all, and we have a family rate!

Schedule of the Day:

Time Topic
9:30am-10:00am Meet and Greet, load harp
Location: Lobby
10:00am- 12:00am Learn a new piece - Akiko by Fabio Rizza, arranged for 3 harps by E. Volpé Bligh, and Trumpet Voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke, arr. E. Volpé Bligh, if there is time. For this workshop, rehearsal and concert: Bring your own harp, pencil, tuner, tuning key, music, music stand, and seat. Bring your harps pre-tuned at A 441.
Teachers: Elizabeth Volpé Bligh, Rosanna Chiu, Marilyn Rummel
Location: Sanctuary
10:00am - 11:00am Panel A - Make a Living
Panelists: Mehlinda Heartt, Hayley Farenholtz, Lani Krantz, Abby Madar
Location: Fireside Room
11:00am - noon Panel B - Preparing for a Competition - Ava Yeh,  Grace Han, Alyssa Katahara
Location: Fireside room 
Noon - 1pm

Lunch - a few places to eat nearby, such as Pho Hoa, Tim Horton's, Subway, Domino's Pizza, Sushi Mura and A & W - Bagged lunches may be eaten in the Linus-Priestley Room. No food or drink in the Sanctuary.

Merch Table in lobby of Sanctuary
There will be a variety of merchandise for sale including sheet music and arts.  You can also learn how to tie a string knot in a fun and easy way.

1pm - 2pm Winter Harp presentation.
Presenters: Lani Krantz, Hayley Farenholtz, Marilyn Rummel and members of Winter Harp
Location: Sanctuary
2pm - 3pm Robert Komaniecki on Theory
Location: Sanctuary
3pm - 4pm Manuel Gamalinda on Harp Maintenance
Location: Sanctuary
4:15pm - 5:30pm Rehearsal of ensemble 
Location: Sanctuary
5:30pm-6:30pm Dinner break
7pm - 8:30pm Concert 
Location: Sanctuary
Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket (2023_10)
  • Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket (2023_10)

Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket (2023_10)

In cart Not available Out of stock
C$15.00

Harp Day 2023 - Concert admission for 1 participant. Membership not required.

Read more…
Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket for Family (2023_10)
  • Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket for Family (2023_10)

Harp Day 2023 - Concert Ticket for Family (2023_10)

In cart Not available Out of stock
C$20.00

Harp Day 2023 - Concert admission for 1 family. Membership not required.

Read more…

Previous events

AHS Concert Artist Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang in concert

 —  —

Vancouver Unitarian Church, 949 WEST 49TH AVE. , Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang, American Harp Society's Concert Artist of the Year, will be performing a solo harp recital for the West Coast Harp Society. Elizabeth is a graduate of the five-year, dual-degree Harvard/New England Conservatory program and received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard and a Master of Music degree in Harp Performance from NEC. She started her music journey on piano at age 5 with Robelyn Schrade-James. She began playing the harp at age 9 with Karen Lindquist and continued her studies with Jessica Zhou at NEC. Elizabeth was a harpist with NEC’s Symphonic Winds and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and she performed as a guest harpist with Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra. Before college, Elizabeth played with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, and she guested with the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and St. Thomas Orchestra. She was a YoungArts Foundation Honorable Mention winner and received first prizes in the Intermediate II division of the American Harp Society competition and the Emerging Artist Division of the Young Artist’s Harp Competition.

Through a fellowship at NEC, Elizabeth enjoyed presenting a musical storytelling program where she introduced the harp to elementary school students around Boston. Elizabeth received first prize in the Young Professional division of the AHS competition and is honored to have the opportunity to travel and share music with AHS chapters as the 2021-2023 AHS Concert Artist.

Feb3

Harp Fest New Zealand 2023

 —  —

Auckland, NZ

Hands - on workshops, lectures, panels, master classes, concerts. Elizabeth Volpé Bligh presented several workshops and master classes and performed a concert of Canadian music by female composers. The program was: Winter in Vancouver by E. Volpé Bligh, Winter Still by Sharlene Wallace, The Girl in the Red Skirt by Lori Pappajohn, and Fall in Vancouver by EVB.

Oct22

Harp Day for WCHS

 — (PDT, UTC-07) — (PDT, UTC-07)

Apr2

Andrew Chan performed the Michael Conway Baker Harp Concerto and the premiere of "Three Meditations" for harp and strings by Constantine Caravassilis with Lions Gate Sinfonia Orchestra of the North Shore. He played an encore as well, from the Mendelssohn music that he has been transcribing. There was a 6:30 pm pre-concert talk. The orchestra was conducted by Clyde Mitchell. April 2, 2022 6:30 pm pre-concert talk 7:30 pm concert Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, V7M 3L1 https://www.lionsgatesinfonia.com/ April 2, 2022 - A celebration of the Persian New Year, with several arrangements of well-known Persian folk songs for orchestra, featuring some Persian traditional instrumentalists. We will also feature Canadian Composer-in-Residence Michael Conway Baker’s Harp Concerto, with Canadian harpist Andrew Chan.

Tickets available online at https://www.nvrc.ca/centennial-theatre or by phone through Centennial Theatre at (604) 984-4484 — 11am-4pm Wed/Thurs/Fri In-person at Centennial Theatre (2300 Lonsdale Ave) — 11am-4pm Wed/Thurs/Fri

Mar26

Sasha Boldachev master classes online

 —  —

Brilliant Russian/Swiss harpist Sasha Boldachev gave master classes from 9 am to 12 noon on March 26 and 27, 2022 on Zoom. Participants must have their music learned to their best ability.

Mar25

Livestream link: https://vimeo.com/687292283

Eveline Grégoire-Rousseau will be performing at the Chan Centre the next evening on March 26 in Moe Clark: Feast of the Invisible. https://chancentre.com/events/moe-clark-feast-of-the-invisible/ Eveline will do a workshop for us on Friday. She brings a unique perspective with her eclectic career. It should be very interesting!

Her idea is to start with a brief presentation of her projects, some of the tools she uses, how she wants to integrate the harp in various genres/styles, and to explain, show some videos of her different projects. Since we’ll have the harp there, she can sing a few songs or improvise a bit. But she is definitely super interested to have some students play as well, give some kind of feedback on specific pieces, compositions, or songs. Questions are welcome at any time, or it could be at the end as well with the students ‘performances. Eveline has done some teaching /workshops on pop harp writing, but also was a Harp Teacher at McGill University (where she studied). She did Bachelor and Master In Harp Performance at McGill, and a Performance degree at the Manhattan School of Music. She has been working as a freelance harpist since 2005, but, since 10 years, she has been working in the rock and roll world( with The Barr Brothers), did a lot of playing with some brilliant French singer/songwriters (Pierre Lapointe, among others), MSO, IMUSICI DE MONTREAL(soloist), Moe Clark, Cordâme(jazz), Celtic , etc. Eveline is at the stage of pre-production of her second singer/songwriter album with her jazz quartet. Lots of projects! Students can be comfortable playing or asking questions in any genre.

Livestream info will be available at subscriber home page. https://westcoastharpsociety.org/subscriber-member-home-page

Feb27

Alyssa Katahara's presentation on preparing for competitions and recitals

 —  —

Alyssa Katahara, the new Principal Harpist of the VSO, will do a presentation on preparing for competitions and recitals on February 27, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. Alyssa will draw on her extensive experience winning prizes and auditions to tell us how she prepares for these events! Alyssa won the position of Principal Harp of the VSO over more than 60 other harpists. Alyssa Katahara has performed alongside the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and New World Symphony. As a soloist, she has been featured with the Burbank Philharmonic, Colburn Conservatory Orchestra, Pasadena Community Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, National Philharmonic, and Interlochen Arts Camp Philharmonic. In the summer of 2021, Alyssa will attend the Tanglewood Music Center as a fellow. Her past summers have been spent at the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice, Aspen Music Festival and School, and as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West and National Repertory Orchestra. She is an Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, where she studied with Joan Holland. Alyssa continued her harp studies at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with JoAnn Turovsky where she received her Masters of Music.

Zoom details available at subscriber home page. https://westcoastharpsociety.org/subscriber-member-home-page

Apr23

Beethoven @ 250

 —  —

see below, Vancouver, BC

Musewest presents Beethoven@250 We are thrilled to host the esteemed concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony, Jonathan Crow, and remarkable pianist, Philip Chiu. They will perform ALL 10 of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin.

This exceptional event will take place on:

Thursday, April 23, 2020 – 8:00 PM (in West Vancouver) Friday, April 24, 2020 – 7:30 PM (in Point Grey) Saturday, April 25, 2020 – 7:30 PM (in Point Grey)

*These concerts take place at St. Helen’s Anglican Church at 4405 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver (between Alma and Sasamat on West 8th – Buses 4, 14, and 99) Thursday venue: Davidson Residence – 6144 Gleneagles Drive, West Vancouver, BC more info https://muzewest.wordpress.com/upcoming-concerts/

May 20, 7:30 pm, AHS Concert Artist of the Year Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang will be performing a solo harp recital at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, 949 W 49th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Z 2T1, sponsored by the American Harp Society.  

Program can be downloaded here.

Elizabeth is a graduate of the five-year, dual-degree Harvard/New England Conservatory program and received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard and a Master of Music degree in Harp Performance from NEC. She started her music journey on piano at age 5 with Robelyn Schrade-James. She began playing the harp at age 9 with Karen Lindquist and continued her studies with Jessica Zhou at NEC. Elizabeth was a harpist with NEC’s Symphonic Winds and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and she performed as a guest harpist with Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra. Before college, Elizabeth played with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, and she guested with the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and St. Thomas Orchestra. She was a YoungArts Foundation Honorable Mention winner and received first prizes in the Intermediate II division of the American Harp Society competition and the Emerging Artist Division of the Young Artist’s Harp Competition.  

Through a fellowship at NEC, Elizabeth presented a musical storytelling program where she introduced the harp to elementary school students around Boston. Elizabeth received first prize in the Young Professional division of the AHS competition and is honored to have the opportunity to travel and share music with AHS chapters as the 2021-2023 AHS Concert Artist.

Winter Harp

Winter Harp 2023 concert tickets on sale for all Mainland and Island venues 

www.winterharp.com/concerts.php for tickets!

Winter Harp is also looking for volunteers for their performances. 

Email lanakrantz@gmail.com if interested!

Previous events

AHS Concert Artist Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang in concert

 —  —

Vancouver Unitarian Church, 949 WEST 49TH AVE. , Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2

Elizabeth Yeoh-Wang, American Harp Society's Concert Artist of the Year, will be performing a solo harp recital for the West Coast Harp Society. Elizabeth is a graduate of the five-year, dual-degree Harvard/New England Conservatory program and received a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Harvard and a Master of Music degree in Harp Performance from NEC. She started her music journey on piano at age 5 with Robelyn Schrade-James. She began playing the harp at age 9 with Karen Lindquist and continued her studies with Jessica Zhou at NEC. Elizabeth was a harpist with NEC’s Symphonic Winds and the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, and she performed as a guest harpist with Harvard’s Bach Society Orchestra. Before college, Elizabeth played with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and the InterSchool Orchestras of New York, and she guested with the New Jersey Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and St. Thomas Orchestra. She was a YoungArts Foundation Honorable Mention winner and received first prizes in the Intermediate II division of the American Harp Society competition and the Emerging Artist Division of the Young Artist’s Harp Competition.

Through a fellowship at NEC, Elizabeth enjoyed presenting a musical storytelling program where she introduced the harp to elementary school students around Boston. Elizabeth received first prize in the Young Professional division of the AHS competition and is honored to have the opportunity to travel and share music with AHS chapters as the 2021-2023 AHS Concert Artist.

Feb3

Harp Fest New Zealand 2023

 —  —

Auckland, NZ

Hands - on workshops, lectures, panels, master classes, concerts. Elizabeth Volpé Bligh presented several workshops and master classes and performed a concert of Canadian music by female composers. The program was: Winter in Vancouver by E. Volpé Bligh, Winter Still by Sharlene Wallace, The Girl in the Red Skirt by Lori Pappajohn, and Fall in Vancouver by EVB.

Oct22

Harp Day for WCHS

 — (PDT, UTC-07) — (PDT, UTC-07)

Apr2

Andrew Chan performed the Michael Conway Baker Harp Concerto and the premiere of "Three Meditations" for harp and strings by Constantine Caravassilis with Lions Gate Sinfonia Orchestra of the North Shore. He played an encore as well, from the Mendelssohn music that he has been transcribing. There was a 6:30 pm pre-concert talk. The orchestra was conducted by Clyde Mitchell. April 2, 2022 6:30 pm pre-concert talk 7:30 pm concert Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver, V7M 3L1 https://www.lionsgatesinfonia.com/ April 2, 2022 - A celebration of the Persian New Year, with several arrangements of well-known Persian folk songs for orchestra, featuring some Persian traditional instrumentalists. We will also feature Canadian Composer-in-Residence Michael Conway Baker’s Harp Concerto, with Canadian harpist Andrew Chan.

Tickets available online at https://www.nvrc.ca/centennial-theatre or by phone through Centennial Theatre at (604) 984-4484 — 11am-4pm Wed/Thurs/Fri In-person at Centennial Theatre (2300 Lonsdale Ave) — 11am-4pm Wed/Thurs/Fri

Mar26

Sasha Boldachev master classes online

 —  —

Brilliant Russian/Swiss harpist Sasha Boldachev gave master classes from 9 am to 12 noon on March 26 and 27, 2022 on Zoom. Participants must have their music learned to their best ability.

Mar25

Livestream link: https://vimeo.com/687292283

Eveline Grégoire-Rousseau will be performing at the Chan Centre the next evening on March 26 in Moe Clark: Feast of the Invisible. https://chancentre.com/events/moe-clark-feast-of-the-invisible/ Eveline will do a workshop for us on Friday. She brings a unique perspective with her eclectic career. It should be very interesting!

Her idea is to start with a brief presentation of her projects, some of the tools she uses, how she wants to integrate the harp in various genres/styles, and to explain, show some videos of her different projects. Since we’ll have the harp there, she can sing a few songs or improvise a bit. But she is definitely super interested to have some students play as well, give some kind of feedback on specific pieces, compositions, or songs. Questions are welcome at any time, or it could be at the end as well with the students ‘performances. Eveline has done some teaching /workshops on pop harp writing, but also was a Harp Teacher at McGill University (where she studied). She did Bachelor and Master In Harp Performance at McGill, and a Performance degree at the Manhattan School of Music. She has been working as a freelance harpist since 2005, but, since 10 years, she has been working in the rock and roll world( with The Barr Brothers), did a lot of playing with some brilliant French singer/songwriters (Pierre Lapointe, among others), MSO, IMUSICI DE MONTREAL(soloist), Moe Clark, Cordâme(jazz), Celtic , etc. Eveline is at the stage of pre-production of her second singer/songwriter album with her jazz quartet. Lots of projects! Students can be comfortable playing or asking questions in any genre.

Livestream info will be available at subscriber home page. https://westcoastharpsociety.org/subscriber-member-home-page

Feb27

Alyssa Katahara's presentation on preparing for competitions and recitals

 —  —

Alyssa Katahara, the new Principal Harpist of the VSO, will do a presentation on preparing for competitions and recitals on February 27, 2022, at 1:30 p.m. Alyssa will draw on her extensive experience winning prizes and auditions to tell us how she prepares for these events! Alyssa won the position of Principal Harp of the VSO over more than 60 other harpists. Alyssa Katahara has performed alongside the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and New World Symphony. As a soloist, she has been featured with the Burbank Philharmonic, Colburn Conservatory Orchestra, Pasadena Community Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, National Philharmonic, and Interlochen Arts Camp Philharmonic. In the summer of 2021, Alyssa will attend the Tanglewood Music Center as a fellow. Her past summers have been spent at the Académie Internationale d’Été de Nice, Aspen Music Festival and School, and as a fellow at the Music Academy of the West and National Repertory Orchestra. She is an Interlochen Arts Academy graduate, where she studied with Joan Holland. Alyssa continued her harp studies at the Colburn Conservatory of Music with JoAnn Turovsky where she received her Masters of Music.

Zoom details available at subscriber home page. https://westcoastharpsociety.org/subscriber-member-home-page

Apr23

Beethoven @ 250

 —  —

see below, Vancouver, BC

Musewest presents Beethoven@250 We are thrilled to host the esteemed concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony, Jonathan Crow, and remarkable pianist, Philip Chiu. They will perform ALL 10 of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Violin.

This exceptional event will take place on:

Thursday, April 23, 2020 – 8:00 PM (in West Vancouver) Friday, April 24, 2020 – 7:30 PM (in Point Grey) Saturday, April 25, 2020 – 7:30 PM (in Point Grey)

*These concerts take place at St. Helen’s Anglican Church at 4405 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver (between Alma and Sasamat on West 8th – Buses 4, 14, and 99) Thursday venue: Davidson Residence – 6144 Gleneagles Drive, West Vancouver, BC more info https://muzewest.wordpress.com/upcoming-concerts/