Offstage Harp

Earlier this month I was invited to perform with the Hallé in Manchester.  The piece was Wagner's Venusberg Music from his opera Tannhauser.  Now, I have a soft spot for opera and for Wagner, and I performed seven entire Ring cycles with Opera North last year.  At over 15 hours per cycle, that felt like an epic project and I was ready for a holiday at the end!  This piece was somewhat shorter at 20 minutes or so and with a very different intensity.  The section of music I was playing is about 2 minutes long accompanying the wonderful ladies of the Hallé Choir along with a small offstage band.  Picture this - we were about 30 metres away from the orchestra and conductor, tucked away in a reception area.  There was a monitor so we could see the conductor and we also had our very own conductor.  Flexibility is crucial in this sort of situation as there are all sorts of variables, and in the last rehearsal I was asked to tune my harp slightly sharper as the distance was making it sound a bit flat, and to move my harp to a different position as it wasn't prominent enough.  This meant I had to turn my head to the left to see our conductor - ouch!  The concert was being broadcast live on the radio so there was a little pressure!  I really enjoyed the experience and you can still listen to the concert on iplayer.