LOOKING BACK AT THE  2019 FESTIVAL

By  Delphine Constantin-Reznik

 

The 1st Pratté International Harp Festival and Competition,

took place between May 08 and May 12, 2019 in DeGeer concert hall in Norrköping.

 

My goal with the festival was to give the possibility for harpists from around the world to discover the great music of Anton Edvard

Pratté. Apart from that I also hoped to create an opportunity

for cultural and generational exchange for harpists by organizing an international competition for young talents, programming a series of concerts around Norrköping and planning masterclasses.

The international competition jury that I had the honor to

preside over was composed of Catherine Michel, Sandrine

Chatron (Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest), Sophia Steckeler

(Monte-Carlo Philharmonic) as well as of the principal harpists

of Oslo and Stockholm Philharmonic orchestras, Birgitte Volan

Håvik and Laura Stephenson.

 

16 candidates from 15 different countries were performing at

the competition. In the first round that took place on May

10th, each contestant had to play a balanced solo recital of 20 to 25

minutes composed of three pieces: one from the 18th century, one

written after 1950, and, to correspond to the festival concept,

one written by a harpist-composer between 1800 and 1950.

 

The general level of the contestants was excellent, and the jury chose

six finalists to perform concertante pieces (Händel, Debussy,

Ravel) the next day with the chamber orchestra Camerata

Ostrogothia, under the baton of Roman Reznik.

 

All the finalists received prizes.

These are the results:

 

First Prize:

Iván Bragado Poveda, Spain

Second Prize:

Claudia Lucia Lamanna, Italy

Third Prize (shared)

Janice Hur, South Korea

Juri Saito, Japan

Audience Prize: Claudia Lucia Lamanna, Italy

Young Promising Talent Prize: Janice Hur, South Korea

Special Prize for the best interpretation of the

harpist-composer piece:

Juliusz Wesolowski, Poland

Special Encouraging Prize to the youngest contestant

for outstanding playing:

Haley Wong, Hong Kong

 

At the festival’s opening night, I performed Pratté’s wonderful Harp Concerto in g-minor together with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rumon Gamba. I also played during the festival a number of concerts which focused on some of Pratté’s solo and chamber music works.

Pratté’s music got a warm response from the international audience and it was a very strong and touching experience to participate in its revival, after almost 150 years of silence!

 

Apart from opening a window to Pratté´s music, the daily concerts portrayed harp music written by several of his contemporaries: Sandrine Chatron and Sophia Steckeler played solo and duo pieces by Charles Oberthür, Louis Spohr and Ann-Marie Steckler-Krumpholtz, while the festival´s closing concert on May 12 included Elias Parish Alvars’ Concertino for two Harps and Orchestra!, featuring Catherine Michel and myself. Catherine Michel also delighted the audience with her performance of Bochsa Harp Concerto.

 

Naturally a space was given to the performance of nordic and nordic-inspired music thanks to Laura Stephenson, who performed exciting Swedish contemporary compositions for harp written by J. Westman, Anders Hillborg and Ivo Nilsson, and to Birgitte Volan-Håvik, who chose to play an Elisabeta

Walter-Kühne Fantasy inspired by a Edward Grieg melody as well as the great ”footsteps in an empty room”, written by composer-in-residence of the 2019 USAIHC, the Norwegian Uno Alexander Vesje.

 

It was an amazing week in many regards and none of this would ever have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors, including Norrköping municipality, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, local companies, and private donors.

 

I would like to warmly thank Salvi and Lyon and Healy Harps

for coming all the way from Germany with a truck-load of great

instruments which were used through-out the festival!

I wish to applaud the generosity of dozens of Norrköping families

who hosted and took care of our contestants during the festival,

and I would like to say a special thanks to my organization team

from the friends of the Orchestra Association who worked

untiringly during the weeks leading up to the festival to ensure

it all happened.

So, my sincere and deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to make the First Pratté International Festival and Competition a great success and we are now very much looking forward to the 2022 Festival!

 

Text edition: Laura Stephenson

 

 

 

 

Picture 1

From left to right: Prizewinners 2019 Iván Bragado Poveda, Juri Saito, Julek Wesolowski, Haley Wong, Claudia Lucia Lamanna, Janice Hur, Jury members Delphine Constantin-Reznik, Sandrine Chatron

Norrköping Mayor Lars Stjernkvist

 

Picture 2: Closing Gala Concert, Camerata Ostrogothia conducted by Roman Reznik

 

Picture 3: First Prize Winner Iván Bragado Poveda receiving his award from Lars Stjernkvist

 

Picture 4: Catherine Michel and Delphine Constantin-Reznik playing  Parish-Alvars Concertino for two Harps in D minor with Camerata Ostrogothia conducted by Roman Reznik