Vexin harp festival Ile-de-France, Digi Mart USA News (Genainville, Val-d’Oise, France): For its third edition, the harp festival in the Vexin region of Val-d’Oise is focusing on diversity. Electric harp, jazz and Paraguayan music will take the stage in succession, according to the source article.
The event will feature three harpists with different specialties. Its organizer, Ismael Ledesma, announced that the festival will include a participation that has never been offered before.
“It’s going to be something new that we have never offered before,” he said.
The festival opens with Aurelie Barbe, a harpist, composer and teacher who will introduce audiences to the sounds of the electric harp. She holds a gold medal from the regional conservatory of Caen and a diploma of advanced studies (DEA) in 20th-century musicology from the Sorbonne.
Trained first in classical music, she later turned to Celtic repertoires before exploring the electric instrument.
Next is Magali Zsigmond, a harpist of Japanese and Hungarian origin, who will present another facet of the instrument through jazz harp. She began violin and piano at age 7 and took up the harp at age 9.
She won a gold medal at the national conservatory of Grenoble and later earned an execution diploma at the Ecole normale de musique de Paris. In 1993, she won first prize at the HarpFest international pop and jazz competition in Chicago.
Her work also includes harp therapy, with musical sessions aimed in particular at people who want to relax.
Ismael Ledesma will close the evening with his Paraguayan harp, accompanied by his daughter Lena on guitar, for a set devoted to Latin American music. “I am very happy because there are more and more people and because each year there is a new expectation from the public,” the artist said.
“Making the harp known in the Vexin is a real success,” he added.
The concert takes place Saturday, November 7 at 8 p.m. at the salle des fetes in Genainville.
Tickets cost 10 euros, and admission is free for children under 15. Reservations can be made at festiv.harp@gmail.com.
