Thursday, August 5, 2010

Grant Received for Harp and Theorbo Purchase!


I am pleased to announce that the Abraham, Katie, Eleanor, and Natalie Feld Memorial Fund as well as the Ruth Ballard Klausmeyer Fund (via The Greater Cincinnati Foundation) has provided a grant to the Catacoustic Consort to go toward the purchase of a Baroque triple strung harp and a theorbo!
This is thrilling news! Elizabeth Motter, a Cincinnati professional harp player, is learning the triple harp (named such for its three parallel rows of strings) and recently returned from the Amherst Early Music Festival, where she participated in the Historical Harp Society Workshop. She is planning to dedicate time and energy to learning Baroque music on this beautiful, difficult instrument. Elizabeth fell in love with the triple harp last year when Julia Seager-Scott came from Toronto with her instrument. This is just the thing that will have a huge impact on Cincinnati's early music scene!
The theorbo purchase will be to ensure that we can have theorbo players here for concerts. It is always a huge risk for Catacoustic's theorbo players (Daniel Swenberg, Michael Leopold, and others) to fly here with their instrument. There are huge fines for over-sized luggage, and one never knows it the instrument will make it here in one piece. The theorbo is an essential instrument for Catacoustic's repertory, and until a professional theorbo player moves here, we need to do what we can to see that it is possible to play with this instrument.
I have commissioned a harp from the English builder, Simon Capp (http://www.simon-capp-harps.co.uk/index.html), and it will be ready for delivery this Fall!
These grants provide a portion of the funding necessary to purchase these instruments. We will have a fundraiser concert soon (date TBA). If you would like to contribute to the harp and theorbo fund by making a tax-deductible donation, please mail a check payable to the Catacoustic Consort at PO Box 198022, Cincinnati, OH 45219. You may also email any questions to info@catacoustic.com.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Congratulations !!! Your hard work and dedication is paying off. Catacoustic is truly a gem in the Queen City's crown.