CMRC Workshop (Summer Week 9): Composing for the Harp with Ruth Lee
Event details
Please don’t feel intimidated by the harp! I’m here to help and I’d love to receive as many submissions as possible – the harp needs more writing from contemporary composers. A quick word of advice, consider which type of harp you’re writing for before you start composing as they’re very different beasts.
My pedal harp is a full size concert grand. I’m happy to use prepared harp, and de-tune (small amounts) c. 3 strings. More is possible with longer works, but it’s trickier in a workshop when we’ll be going from piece to piece! My electric lever harp is a DHC-32. I can play it on the stand, or I also have a harness which I can wear it with. If you’re considering the possibilities of movement/interaction, then this may be something to think about.
About the speaker
Ruth Lee
A dynamic soloist, Ruth is a performer of classical and contemporary styles. Winner of the Sioned Williams Harp Prize at the United Kingdom Harp Competition, the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival and the Wales International Harp Festival Competition for Composition, her work has been recognised at many of the leading festivals across the UK. Interested in history, mythology, nature and anthropology, she explores acoustic and electro-acoustic music in solo and chamber music; incorporating loop machines, ambient noise and extended techniques to create a unique sound world, fusing contemporary classical and folk styles. Her compositional output from traditional western notation to graphic scores based on photography and in-situ sketches. She is a graduate of the University of York (First-Class BA Hons. Music 2019) where she was awarded both The Wilfrid Mellers Prize for Music and a Concerto Award, performing Deborah Henson-Conant’s Soñando en Español with the University of York Chamber Orchestra. She is privileged to have studied harp with Eleanor Turner and Charlotte Seale.