The USA International Harp Competition presents

Laureate Recital

9th USA International Competition Gold Medalist

Buskirk Chumley Theater
114 E Kirkwood Ave
Bloomington, IN 47408

About Remy van Kesteren

Remy van Kesteren was admitted to the conservatory of Utrecht at the age of ten and graduated in 2010 cum laude. He continued his education at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he studied with the famous harpist Isabelle Moretti. In 2012 he received his master diploma cum laude at the conservatory of Amsterdam. Van Kesteren has won various prizes including the Gold Medal at the 9th USA International Harp Competition.

His many wins led to concerts all around the world, from Europe to the United States, in Japan and Africa. When he was sixteen he debuted at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Het Nederlands Kamerorkest. A year prior, he played on the occasion of the baptism of Princess Amalia and performed in Carnegie Hall, New York.

When he was 25, van Kesteren took his music into a new direction. He wanted to compose his own music, which led to Tomorrow Eyes (2016), the first album for which Remy composed music himself.

About Shadows

In creating Shadows, Remy sought to create his own universe. After a three-year musical search for a new sound for this album, he emerged with a product that combines many genres -electronic, minimal, ambient, jazz, pop, world music, and classical. Of this process, Remy states:‘I wanted to reinvent myself as a musician. To do that, I abandoned my harp for almost a year. I started playing other instruments like piano and guitar, and I started singing. I was also playing a lot on synthesizer and programming software. It was a difficult time for me. Without the harp I lost all my securities. In classical music you play what is written, and play it well. But since now every note had to come from me, I was insecure about everything.’’ Shadows, on the Universal label, was co-produced with the English ex-DJ, singer-song writer and producer Fink. The music is accompanied by projections and video mapping by Blue Hour taking the audience into a poetic visual world, in which to experience the music.