While the Dutch Harp Festival was entirely streamed last year with online performances from around the world, the upcoming edition on 7 and 8 May will burst forth once again in full force 'live' at TivoliVredenburg. The Utrecht music temple, the festival's permanent venue for years, will once again be completely transformed into an enchanting Planet Harp.
Host and festival founder Remy van Kesteren, himself now established as an artist of world stature, presents in this 7th edition once again the most exciting, colourful, versatile and experimental harpists in the world, proving once more that the Dutch Harp Festival is one of the most innovative festivals of the moment!
Nzayisenga and Mazaher
Unchanged is the pioneering role of young makers – with personality and boldness – and the future of (harp) music. New this time is the emphasis on the origins of the harp. In this edition we follow the route the harp took along the Nile region; via various harp-like instruments, such as the Rwandan inanga (with Rwandan star
Sophie Nzayisenga in the lead role) and the qanun, we arrive at the North African tambura, played by the renowned Egyptian ensemble
Mazaher with the flamboyant frontwoman
Umm Sameh.
DHF World Harp Competition
In the DHF 2022 we encounter, alongside the very best semi-finalists from the previous edition of the prestigious DHF World Harp Competition – part of the Dutch Harp Festival – the newest generation of harp talents. During the closing gala, the three finalists demonstrate their worth and the prizes are announced during the festive conclusion of the festival on 8 May!
Opening Concert & Highlights
The DHF opens on Saturday 7 May with a festive
opening concert featuring highlights from the festival. Harp luminaries making their live appearance this year include American harpist
Mary Lattimore, who made an impression at Le Guess Who in 2019,
Andrew Lawrence-King and his unparalleled
Harp Consort breathe new life into Irish baroque, the live improvisation collective
Orchestra Elastique, which provides a live soundtrack to the original
King Kong film, Norwegian
Sunniva Rødland presenting her
Vortex Room with no fewer than 36 surround speakers, and her fellow countryman
Uno Vesje, winner of the World Harp Competition 2021, with an impressive self-written work on domestic violence, which he performs with a Norwegian Women's Choir. There is also the Breton Renaissance man and beloved guest at the DHF
Nikolas Cadoret with his supergroup
Descofar, as well as the dreamy indie pop band
Goldmyth, led by Utah-born
Jenessa Smith, and Italian
Kety Fusco, who conquers experimental festivals with her harp-horror.
Learning Orchestra
The crowdfunding initiative launched last year in collaboration with the
Leerorkest from Amsterdam-Zuidoost to finance 300 new, affordable harps has been a great success. Result: a concert on Sunday morning 8 May, in which a large number of children from the Leerorkest play their new harp and present it to the public for the first time.
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