New CD - The Crown of Ariadne

Exciting news! My CD 'The Crown of Ariadne' has now been released and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. Beautifully mastered by Alexander Van Ingen for Six Music Productions and released on Champs Hill Records, the CD was recorded in Champs Hill Music Room in November last year and represents a culmination of my favourite music, my toughest challenges and a really wonderful couple of years of study with tutors including Erika Waardenburg, Ernestine Stoop, Hugh Webb and Helen Sharp. Not to mention a masterclass with Raymond Murray Schafer himself, and the harpist Judy Loman, at the Eleventh World Harp Congress in Vancouver, Canada, last summer.

The tracks on the CD are:
The Crown of Ariadne by Raymond Murray Schafer (in seven movements)
Rokudan by Toshiro Mayuzumi
Reminiscences of Tranquillity by Yinam Leef
Tratti per Arpa by Ig Henneman
Sweet Blues by Bernard Andres

The CD is available to buy from Champs Hill Records where you can also download the individual tracks or the whole CD:
http://www.champshillrecords.co.uk/cddetail.php?cat_number=CHRCD041

HMV for only £9!:
http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?sku=860610

Presto Classical:
http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Champs%2BHill%2BRecords/CHRCD041

Amazon and other online stores, or direct from my shop:
http://artsinfusion.myshopify.com/products/the-crown-of-ariadne-cd

Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy the disc!

Ellie

poster by Alice Lynch for ELUSIVE SYMMETRY

Poster by Alice Lynch for the new show :) I am thrilled to report that Alice is also providing beautiful animations for the show!

Elusive Symmetry

The title of this post should possibly be 'elusive inspiration' or even 'elusive bookings' as I'm currently writing the music for my new show, starring hiphop dancer extraordinaire, Lizzie Gough. One of the venues I thought I had booked for the show has fallen through - probably due to me not pinning it down with enough verve and bullet-proof sign-on-the-dotted-line stuff. My only explanation for this happening to me is that I got married just before Christmas and for a few weeks I did have some planning of another kind to do, so if this is the only thing to have slipped through the net during those weeks, perhaps I should be thankful.

So, there are now only TWO opportunities to catch the show - on Friday 10th February at Stamford Corn Exchange theatre - Stamford's newly refurbished, comfortable 400 seat theatre - and on Friday 24th February at Leicester's Y Theatre. Tickets are £10 or 8 for concessions at both venues and child tickets are just £4. It's suitable for all ages and the music will be classical-electronic-hiphop and more besides. It's exciting stuff and I hope that people will be brave enough to invest their hard-earned in coming to see a totally new show.

My talented friend Alice Lynch is doing some posters this week with original art work, inspired by Escher's graphic designs, so I look forward to posting them up on here soon :)

Harp Course by Eleanor Turner CANCELLED

Eleanor Turner's Advanced Harp Course, 21-28 July 2012
Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth, Wales, UK.

Sadly, I am no longer running this course this year. I am sure I will be back with it, or something similar, in future years. If you would like a private lesson at my home, which is under 2 hours from London and only 1.5 hours from Stansted and Luton airports, please email me at info@eleanorturner.com

Thank you! Sorry I have had to cancel the course.

Masterclass with Murray Schafer and Judy Loman, July 25th 2011

In the summer I had the rare privilege of meeting and playing for two musicians that I hold in the highest possible regard - the visionary composer Raymond Murray Schafer and the supreme harpist Judy Loman. Both of these musicians are Canadian and famous worldwide. They were full of energy and passion for the music and obviously for life, too!

I had the most wonderful day - Day 3 of the World Harp Congress in Vancouver, which I have been lucky enough to attend thanks to the generous support of the Wingate Scholarship that I won in 2010, for this very purpose. Here is a clip from the masterclass on youtube:

Here is a photo of me with the composer, perusing the score after the masterclass was finished:

and here's another fun picture that my friend (the harpist and photographer!) Candace LiVolsi took:

I'm recording the wonderful complete 'Crown of Ariadne' in November this year (2011) and now have a new addition to my percussion collection - a sizzle cymbal, as requested by Mr Schafer!

World Harp Congress coming right up!

On Friday we fly out to Vancouver for the Eleventh World Harp Congress, thanks to my fabulous Wingate Scholarship 2010 and the generosity of my sister, Annabel. I won't lie, it's an expensive trip! However, I am excited to be going and am looking forward to hearing a variety of the best harpists from all around the World - I'm hoping that I'll see some really unique and innovative performances too - I shall report back here afterwards!

I am preparing for meeting one of my harp heroes - Judy Loman - in person, at the masterclass I am participating in. With the wonderful, inspiring composer Raymond Murray Schafer, I can't wait to play his own composition to him and get a real insight of the man behind the music. I get absorbed in the character of Ariadne as I play and perform 'The Crown of Ariadne' so I'm curious to know how he envisages the performance and what the masculine take on it may be. Basically, I just can't wait - I'm on tentahooks!

That's on Monday 25th July and on the following day, Tuesday 26th, I will be performing some jazz, classical and 'Baroque Flamenco' by Deborah Henson-Conant at the Salvi showroom which I believe will be somewhere in the beautiful Sheraton Wall Centre where the congress is being held. This concert is going to be on the new Salvi Echo electroacoustic (mark 2! - some wonderful improvements have been made since the first Echo came out!) at about 9.25am I think..trying not to think about that aspect of it!

I now own my own Salvi Echo - since about 2 weeks ago - and am still getting to know the instrument, but it's gorgeous and so 'playable' in the way that a really delicious wine is so 'drinkable' that you could engage in both activities for hours without noticing how much you had played/drunk...until you tried to stand up!

I was in London the other day, creating street music and dance with my colleague Lizzie Gough - primarily a hiphop dancer but skilled in many genres. Here's a short video of us improvising with my friend Chris Brice on drums:

I made the doll wigs and we put together the outfits as the first part of our act was clockwork dolls....but as the day went on the weather got worse and we got a bit funky to keep the rain away.

Enjoy!