World-renowned guest star Joy Yeh will take centre stage during a pedal harp solo during Dances Sacred and Profane, the grand finale of the Mainstage Concert Series presented by the Prince George Symphony Orchestra.
The concert takes place Sunday, May 4 at 2 p.m. at Vanier Hall.
Yeh is a Taiwanese-Canadian harpist who earned her doctorate degree in harp. After graduating from UBC with a bachelor degree, she continued her master’s degree at Yale University with full scholarship and became the assistant instructor at Indiana University, one of the world’s best music graduate institutes, while she obtained her doctoral degree.
Throughout her career Yeh has traveled the world to teach and perform.
“I have such respect for all musicians who live in small towns,” Yeh said. “I consider it such a privilege to perform with the musicians during the upcoming concert.”
Yeh had a connection to the Prince George Symphony Orchestra when Kevin Zakresky was music director between 2012 and 2015. She and Zakresky had attended Yale University together.
“He invited me to play a solo and it was a really difficult harp session,” Yeh recalled.
“He really wanted me to present the original work and I was very touched by the community because I saw how volunteers came together as they would drive us around and take us out for meals and it was just so heart-warming to see.”
Incredibly Yeh’s harp had to be driven from Vancouver to Prince George because at that time the symphony did not have a harp. And once again volunteers made the trip.
So now Yeh’s back to perform but this time the PGSO has a concert harp that she'll use that was purchased about a year ago.
The Salvi Daphne SE 47-string concert harp made in Italy and worth more than $20,000 was purchased through the generosity of Fred and Daniella van der Post along with support from a Prince George Community Foundation grant.
The harp is housed at the Prince George Conservatory of Music when not in use at the PGSO, providing opportunities for harpists at the Conservatory to learn the instrument where they now have a robust student harpist community.
Over the years Yeh has come to Prince George to perform and when she does she is asked by harpist and the conservatory’s Artistic Director Shoshanna Godber to host workshops so the students can gain further insight into the instrument.
“I find that so precious and valuable and I teach a lot in Vancouver so to come to a smaller community to teach is precious, too,” Yeh laughed.
Even an aficionado gets the jitters about an upcoming performance.
The concert harp has seven pedals and offers a more complex sound because of that.
“So I am practicing every day,” Yeh said.
“During the performance my feet will be dancing along those pedals – it’s going to be crazy! Every time I perform I pray I don’t mess up because sometimes it’s not about anything else but your foot just slipping off the pedals. You never know what’s going to happen - so we’ll see!”
Yeh feels deeply connected to the harp, an instrument played with your fingertips on strings.
“So there’s no big nails,” Yeh laughed.
And there’s nothing else between her and the instrument.
“You know for violin there’s a bow, and for a piano you do use your fingers to hit the keys but you are triggering a hammer against the strings inside the piano,” Yeh explained.
“So harp I think is one of the most direct instruments. You pluck with your fingers, with your flesh and sometimes you get blisters, so it’s very direct and that’s something that I really like - is this directness. And also when you play you lean the harp on yourself and it’s so close to your heart as it rests on your shoulder. When I play I can feel the vibration in my body and for me it’s almost a sacred experience and I find it therapeutic. I think that’s why I enjoy playing the harp so much – and besides – it’s so gorgeous and so classic.”
Yeh said over the last decade the harp community has grown significantly in British Columbia.
“I think me and Shoshanna (Godber, Prince George Conservatory of Music’s artistic director) have both been working really hard to get people interested in harp and in learning more about the harp,” Yeh said.
“So in Vancouver 10 years ago when I started out at the Vancouver Academy of Music we had three students and right now the harp department is the biggest in Canada and one of the biggest in North America. We now have more than 100 students in Vancouver.”
Students are involved in harp ensembles, youth orchestras and one-on-one lessons, Yeh added.
“And what’s so special is that 10 years ago when I came to Prince George Shoshanna had a lovely studio at the Prince George Music Conservatory and over the years the numbers of students have doubled and tripled so every time I come to give group classes I am always amazed at the number of students. She told me since the symphony bought the pedal harp there is even more interest.”
It’s easy to engage more people when students have an opportunity to use the pedal harp to take their skills to the next level, Yeh added.
“So to see the harp community grow in Prince George and in Vancouver is so amazing,” Yeh said.
There is an ongoing partnership between the two and Yeh had Vancouver students who were guest performers during PGSO shows in Prince George.
“So I really love the partnership we have going right now,” Yeh said.
“And even though we’re a bit far away we’re still in BC and I love the collaboration we have going. There are endless possibilities of collaboration and that’s what I love.”
During the Dances Sacred and Profane concert audience members will enjoy a full program of music inspired by dance by French and Spanish composers, including de Falla's energetic Three-Cornered Hat, while the concert will also premiere Prince George resident composer José Delgado-Guevera's newest piece, a celebration of music from the streets of his childhood in Costa Rica, called Las Cimarronas.
Tickets for the concert are on sale at www.pgso.com/concerts/dances_sacred_and_profane.
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