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UW Symphony Orchestra’s opening night to feature unusual harp concerto

A woman smiles as she sits next to a harp
Courtney Hershey Bress
/
UW Symphony Orchestra
Courtney Hershey Bress, the harp soloist playing for UW and the principal harpist of the Colorado Symphony

The University of Wyoming (UW) Symphony Orchestra is opening their season with a pretty unique piece on Oct. 10. “Harp of Ages” spans the history of harp musicians. Every movement is based on a different harpist in history and even one harpist from the future.

The piece is what’s known as a harp concerto.

“A concerto for any instrument with an orchestra is where the soloist is out on the front of the stage in front of the orchestra, and the orchestra accompanies the soloist,” said Courtney Hershey Bress. She’s the harp soloist playing for UW and the principal harpist of the Colorado Symphony.

“Probably about a decade ago, I approached Michael Daugherty [a well known American Composer] and I called him up on the phone and I said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in [composing a piece for me]?’ He said, ‘Sure, I've got one concerto for the harp. I will write it for you.’”

That’s how “Harp of Ages” came about. The world premiere of the piece was performed by the Colorado Symphony last spring.  

“This piece is the only harp concerto that exists. It's wild, magical, wonderful,” said Hershey Bress. “It's also in seven movements because at the base of the harp, there are seven pedals. Each movement is extremely different. They're all based on the harp throughout time, way back from David and the Bible all the way to Star Trek in the 23rd century. [Daugherty] took figures of important things from over the course of time and he used those as his inspiration for writing each movement.”

The First Movement: Sappho Leaps

“The first movement may be my favorite still to this day because everybody always asks me, and I love Sappho Leaps and Sappho was from around 600 BCE.”

“She was the first lyrical poet who also played the harp from that time period in Greece. And he bases this movement off of the rhythm of her poetry.”

“It's got crazy special effects. I'm playing glissandos, which is when you go all the way up and down the strings of the instrument. And I'm using my nails for a lot of those glissandos.”

The Second Movement: Sister Juana’s Hymn 

“The second movement is for Sister Juana Inez de la Cruz, who was a female Mexican poet, scholar, musician and nun. She was from the 1600s and it sounds like a hymn.”

The Third Movement: Uhura’s Song

“Uhura's song is the third one, and that is the Star Trek movement.”

The Fourth Movement: David’s Prayer 

“That sounds like a prayer, but it's also, to me, the most romantic of all the movements.”

The Fifth Movement: Harpo Speaks 

“And then we go into the wild movement, which is my cadenza, which is Harpo Speaks. That's based on Harpo Marx. That's a little over three minutes and it's only solo harp and it's wild. I do so many special effects on the instrument that some people might get scared about what I'm doing.”

The Sixth Movement: Detroit Blues

“After that we go into Detroit Blues, which is just calm and bluesy. Alice Coltrane and Dorothy Ashby from Detroit were jazz harpists, pioneers of jazz harp.”

The Seventh Movement: Irish Wedding

“Then we go into Irish Wedding, which is the last movement. That's the only one that's not based on a harpist. It's based on Irish music and the fact that the harp has been the symbol of Ireland for forever.”

The UW Symphony Orchestra Season 

The UW Orchestra has five more concerts this season. Those include the Gala Holiday concerts, the Jacoby competition finals in March and a season finale in May, which showcases Mahler’s Symphony Number 4.

Kamila has worked for public radio stations in California, New York, France and Poland. Originally from New York City, she loves exploring new places. Kamila received her master in journalism from Columbia University. She has won a regional Murrow award for her reporting on mental health and firearm owners. During her time leading the Wyoming Public Media newsroom, reporters have won multiple PMJA, Murrow and Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism Awards. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the surrounding areas with her two pups and husband.

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