The USA International Harp Competition presents
2024 Gala Concert
featuring Elizabeth Hainen, Emmanuel Ceysson, and Marie-Pierre Langlamet with Guest Artist Joshua Bell (violin)
Streaming on IDAGIO July 6 - July 22, 2024
Click here to purchase tickets (pay-as-you-wish, starting at $15).
About
This Gala is a Benefit Concert to raise funds for the 13th USA International Harp Competition to be held in May 2025. A wide range of ticket prices is being offered, and the proceeds will be used to support the competition. Your support is greatly appreciated.
The Gala Concert features three USA International Harp Competition laureates: Elizabeth Hainen (Artistic Director), Emmanuel Ceysson (Associate Artistic Director), and Marie-Pierre Langlamet, plus special Guest Artist, Joshua Bell.
Program
Frédéric Chopin: Étude in A flat major op. 25/1 B. 104 'Aeolian Harp' (Arr. for Harp)
Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne in C sharp minor B. 49 (Arr. for Violin, Harp and String Quartet)
Giacomo Puccini: "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi (Arr. for Violin, Harp and String Quartet)
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Variations on the Spanish Follia Wq 118/9 (H 263)
Jean-Philippe Rameau: "Les Sauvages" from Les Indes galantes
Jean-Philippe Rameau: "L'Égyptienne" from Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin: Suite in G major RCT 6 (Arr. for Harp)
Gabriel Fauré: Une châtelaine en sa tour op. 110
Bedřich Smetana: Má vlast (My Fatherland) JB 1:112: 2. Vltava (The Moldau) (Arr. for Harp)
About the Artists
Elizabeth Hainen is the Artistic Director of the USA International Harp Competition and one of its first laureates, winning the Silver Medal in the 1st USA International Harp Competition in 1989. Ms. Hainen is Principal Harp of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has earned an international reputation as one of classical music’s great harp ambassadors. She has presented programs showcasing the diversity and virtuosity of her instrument to audiences throughout the world, receiving critical acclaim. Ms. Hainen has collaborated with such eminent conductors and musicians as Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and the Juilliard String Quartet. In addition to the Philadelphia Orchestra, she has appeared as a featured soloist with the City of London Sinfonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Orchestra Camerata Ducale (Italy), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. She also appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A champion of new music, Ms. Hainen gave the United States, Chinese, European and Australian Premieres of the Nu Shu: Secret Songs of Women, written for her by Tan Dun. Ms. Hainen is the founding director of the Lyra Society, an organization to promote new works for the harp and educate young harpists. Through the Lyra Society she has provided educational outreach to hundreds of schoolchildren in urban Philadelphia. Ms. Hainen teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Emmanuel Ceysson, Associate Artistic Director of the USA International Harp Competition, won the Gold Medal in the 6th Competition in 2004. He then went on to win the Young Concert Artists auditions in New York in 2006, and the ARD Competition in Munich in 2009. Soon after winning the USA International Harp Competition Ceysson was appointed Principal Harp in L’Opéra Nationale de Paris, then Principal Harp in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and is now Principal Harp in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, RAI Orchestra Torino, Orchestre National de Lyon, and PKF Prague Philharmonia. Ceysson is equally in demand as a recitalist and has appeared in major concert venues including Carnegie Zankel Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau, Munich Gasteig, Wiener Konzerthaus, and the Hyogo concert hall. He is regularly invited to perform in major festivals, and has been featured in the Edinburgh International Festival, the Cartagena Music Festival, the Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festival, Hong Kong Premiere Performance, Caramoor and Classical Tahoe. As a recording artist, Ceysson’s wide discography covers solo, chamber music and concerto harp repertoire with labels such as Naxos, BR klassik, Naïve, Aparte, Alpha Classics. He performs on a custom-made red and silver Salzedo-model harp, designed and manufactured by Lyon & Healy Harps of Chicago.
French-born harpist Marie-Pierre Langlamet was the Silver Medalist in the 3rd USA International Harp Competition in 1995. Ms. Langlamet received her first musical training at the Nice Conservatoire with Elisabeth Fontan-Binoche, and at the age of only 15, she attracted international attention when she won top prize at the Maria Korchinska International Harp Competition and first prize at the International Harp Competition of the Cité des Arts of Paris one year later. She was only 17 when she was engaged as Principal Harp in the Nice Opera Orchestra, but a year later she gave up this position to continue her studies in Philadelphia at the Curtis Institute. In 1988 she was appointed deputy principal harpist of the Metropolitan Orchestra in New York, and five years later she was appointed Principal Harp in the Berlin Philharmonic. Ms. Langlamet has performed worldwide as a soloist with renowned chamber music ensembles and orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and has presented numerous solo recitals. She teaches at the Karajan Academy and Berlin University of the Arts. In June 2009, Ms. Langlamet was made a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture for her contribution to French music.
With a career spanning almost four decades, GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Joshua Bell is one of the most celebrated violinists of his era. Having performed with virtually every major orchestra in the world, Bell continues to maintain engagements as a soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor and Music Director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Bell has led the Academy of St Martin in the Fields on tour in South America to Sao Paulo, Bogotá, and Montevideo as well as throughout the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. In the 2024-2025 season Bell will perform alongside the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Orchestra, the Calgary, Bavarian Radio, Deutsches and Swedish Symphony Orchestras, and at the Aspen, Tanglewood and Tsinandali Festivals. He will appear in recital in Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw and in Australia, South America and the United States. Born in Bloomington, Indiana, Bell began violin at age four, and at age twelve, began studies with Josef Gingold. At 14, Bell debuted with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and debuted at Carnegie Hall at age 17 with the St. Louis Symphony. At age 18, Bell signed with his first label, London Decca, and received the Avery Fisher Career Grant. In the years following, Bell has been named 2010 "Instrumentalist of the Year" by Musical America, a 2007 "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum, nominated for six GRAMMY® awards, and received the 2007 Avery Fisher Prize. As an exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 albums, garnering GRAMMY®, Mercury®, Gramophone and OPUS KLASSIK awards.
This concert also features Amy Oshiro (violin), Dan Han (violin), David Nicastro (viola), and Udi Bar-David (violoncello).
