With with a heavy heart, our team has taken the decision to postpone the Harp on Wight International Festival 2020 and move it to next year. The new dates are from October 22nd to October 26th 2021 inclusive. Safety has to come first, and with social distancing and other restrictions in place , it was felt that we would not be able to deliver an event of the high quality that is associated with the festival. We will be inviting as many of the musicians who were due to be at the festival to return next year to perform and teach. Plans are currently being drawn up to put together an online virtual festival over the course of four evenings in October to maintain our profile and to hopefully reach out to a wider audience. Full details of this will be announced as soon as arrangements are confirmed.
For our seventh annual Festival, we are announcing what is arguably our most exciting line up to date. Among those who will be performing and teaching at the festival are Catriona McKay - one of Scotland's leading and most innovative harp players, Triona Marshall from Ireland who is a former member of The Chieftains, and the dynamic Breton harpist Tristan Le Govic. Andulusian Flamenco harpist Ana Crisman will bring a new style and colour to the festival, while Lauren Scott will not only be performing in the opening concert, but also leading an ensemble workshop which will lead to a performance on the Monday afternoon. A special concert of medieval music will take place on the final afternoon (Tuesday). This will mark the 500th anniversary of the death of the genius Renaissance painter Raphael. This will be performed by the trio Antica Liuteria Sangineto who are Marianne Gubri, playing Renaissance harp, vocalist Caterina Sangineto and her brother Adriano Sangineto playing medieval instruments of the kind used at the time of Raphael. The concert will also include visual projections of Raphael's artwork. Finally, Festival Patron Anne Denholm will be joining forces with the Voices of the Isle of Wight choir for a Saturday afternoon concert. The Festival takes place at Ryde Methodist Church , Garfield Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight from 23rd to 27th October 2020 inclusive. Full details of how to book concert tickets and teaching workshops will be listed on www.harponwight.co.uk in due course. If you require any further information please email harponwight@gmail.com or telephone 01983-730930