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Rhett Barnwell is an organist, composer, conductor, cellist, pianist, and French horn player when he’s not wearing his hat as a classical and Celtic harpist. As a harpist, he has concentrated on music for healing, sacred and meditative purposes, and organized the 2007 Liturgical Harp Retreat. He has also published a number of compositions and arrangements for the harp which are distributed internationally and has four recordings, several of which were included at the 2002 International Conference on Healing Music in Athens, Greece. A particular interest in Gregorian chant and early music has led him to study at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, Italy, the Abbey of St. Pierre, Solesmes, France, and Westminster Choir College and he is now on the Board of Trustees of the Historical Harp Society. He is the general manager of the Atlanta Harp Center.

Performer website: Seraphim Music

Those of us who have tried it know how hard it is to combine singing and playing the harp, but Denise Bennett adds skillful storytelling as well. ‘Timeless and flawless’ are words that have been used to describe Denise Bennett’s performances in which she combines harp, singing and story-telling. Performing widely in community settings, she has also been a featured ‘teller’ at the Williamsburg Storytelling Festival. She is a member of the Tell Tale Hearts Storytellers Theatre in Richmond. Creator of the one woman show “The Heart’s True Scale: An Original Fairytale for Adults,” Denise Bennett’s skills offer another avenue for harpers to consider.

Performer website: Denise Bennett

“My Muse, tho' hamely in attire, May touch the heart." Robert Burns
There is nothing ‘hamely’ about Debbie’s artistry as a musician and singer, and the combination of these skills with her passion for Robert Burns results in music that echoes ‘the wood note wild’ as Burns describes the natural and unpretentious singing he liked best. An experienced performer and teacher, Debbie’s repertoire also includes many traditional Scots ballads and Scottish jigs, reels, and strathspeys as well. To date, she has three solo CDs, Dream of Caledonia, Roots and Wings, and Love Came Down at Christmas, a mix of original and traditional songs. Cofounder, with Kathy DeAngelo of the Harper’s Escape (and co-author of the associated publication Ten Years of Tunes) Debbie has also published two song and harp arrangement collections: Burns for Bairns and Wood Notes Wild.

Performer website: Debbie Brewin-Wilson

A life-long musician, trained classically on piano and cello, Pamela was drawn to the Celtic harp nearly two decades ago and found her true love, particularly as it felt like the perfect accompaniment to her singing. Along with performing, Pam works as a life-coach and, in one workshop, she combines her teaching and music skills to help musicians overcome their hesitations: ‘Creating Music with Love, not Fear’ has been called ‘life-changing.’ Pamela also writes and arranges music, and has released over a dozen CDs and books,including the acclaimed Play the Harp Beautifully, a self-teaching package on book and DVD. One comment about her teaching book was, “this is clearly one of the finest method books available for harp.” With her husband, Dave Woodworth of Heartland Harps, she also helps to design harps and creates and paints artwork for the soundboards.

At home in two cultures, Nicolas Carter was raised in Asuncion, Paraguay, where he learned to play the Paraguayan harp and in Minnesota (where he is currently settled). His principal teacher Isidro Caballero (Father to Paraguay's harp genius Nicolasito) taught him in the traditional folk style of learning by ear, an “ideal way for me to learn, every note I have to hear and feel it.” Playing professionally since 1988 in a variety of settings, as accompanist to singer Lizza Bogado, to playing in a various trios and groups from “Son del Sur” (Song from the South, Latin-American folk music), and “Los Amigos” (traditional Mexican music) to ” Nube” (New World Fusion). As a solo harpist Nicolas has had concerts in Europe, the United States and Latin America. Nicolas combines his passion for music with a deep interest in theatre, and indeed, holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Direction from the University of Minnesota. His CD’s, more than a dozen, reflect the several musical idioms from Latin to Fusion in which he is fluent.

A visit to Cynthia’s superbly organized and informative web site will fill you with an instant desire to play the clarsach, the wire strung harp, of Scotland and Ireland. In lucid prose Cynthia presents herself with anecdotes and practical information as well as giving a taste of her teaching style in pieces on such topics as how harmonics work and how to handle accidentals on a lever-free harp. You can also listen to a selection of her playing which has been described as ‘Clear, pure and glistening… bell-like…’ and giving the ‘impression of very fine china.’ It is no surprise then to read of Cynthia’s multiple awards and accomplishments, among them being a two-time winner of U.S. National Scottish Harp Competition and recognition that she is one of the world’s foremost experts on the wire strung harp. Cynthia has recorded two CD’s, Alchemy of a Rose and Joy to the World and has four books, including Pathway; A Primer for the Wire-Strung Harp (with CD), From my Music Stand and Traditional Beginnings for the Gaelic Harp .

Marta Cook brings to Somerset her energy, experience and fearlessness at working across genres and at the cutting edge of performance in harp, dance and composition;  immersed in the traditional harp traditions at a young age, Marta studied classical harp with Sarah Bullen in Chicago.   Nowadays, Marta has moved beyond easy classification:  improvising, collaborating,  and creating new works exploring the boundaries of music, movement, and reality, often in the company of such musicians and artists  as Yo-Yo Ma, Natalie Macmaster,  choreographer/film-maker Marisa Hayes, Def Jam Poet Nikki Patin. She was a collaborator with Yo-Yo Ma on his Songs of Joy and Peace, recognized in the categories of  "Best Classical Crossover Album" and "Best Production, Classical" in this year's Grammy Awards.

Performer website: Marta Cook

Christina Cotruvo introduces a new ‘note’ to Somerset, with offerings for teachers working with students with disabilities as well as methods and ideas for working and would-be working harpists who themselves might be held back by accessibility issues. A committed musician and teacher, Chris’s life work began in the late ‘80’s when she paired up with a vision-impaired music student who was daunted by the idea of learning Braille as an adult. To assist him, she was inspired to create a method for transcribing sheet music onto audio. Her interests now include wider issues of accessibility for those with disabilities as they relate to learning, teaching and performing music. The lever harp is her primary ‘soul’ instrument.

Performer website: Christina Cotruvo

Few can claim as widely distinguished a harp career as Stephanie Curcio of New Hampshire, trained in both classical and lever harp. For her constant and steady career as a solo and orchestral musician, a teacher, lecturer and organizer of events, as well as an arranger and composer, her musical and artistic contributions were officially recognized by the state of New Hampshire in 2008. At Somerset Stephanie will be offering her expertise at reading and understanding musical notations, especially for the harp. Her publications and arrangements are too numerous to mention here so a visit to her a booth in the Vendor Mall is going to be a must. Don't forget to put time in your schedule to spend time in the Vendor Mall!

Performer website: Stephanie Curcio Publications

Interwoven with Candyce Dunham’s lifelong engagement with the harp is her commitment to the Suzuki method which was at the core of her own musical training as a child when she was taught by her mother (among others) herself a respected Suzuki teacher. An early award-winner, Candyce won a scholarship to the Eastman School of Music for Harp Performance. Her journey has led her to learning more than the harp, for teaching purposes she has studied bagpipe and tenor drumming, and is certified in Suzuki Harp and Piano. She judges for the Scottish Harp Society, teaches at a variety of celtic workshops around the country, and has created several harp programs, including The Dunham Harps Ensemble. Not stopping with those accomplishments, Candyce and her husband Benjamin rolled up their sleeves and have been building their own harps since 2001. When she's not presenting her workshops, she'll be at the Dunham Harps booth in the Vendor Mall.

Performer website: Dunham Harps

Sometimes a particular experience will connect with existing skills in such a way that a person will embark in an entirely new but inspired path. Such is the case for Edie Elkan, who with a strong background in music, experience as a teacher of piano, and an an early grounding in playing the harp, found herself first, returning to the harp to assuage her own grief, and then discovering that the harp was being used in medical environments which in turn led her to found Bedside Harp in 2002, a New Jersey, hospital-based harp therapy program. In 2005 Elkan was recognized by the Society for the Arts in Health Care for her work at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s cancer center, where, in a research project, she discovered that patients who listened to live harp music while receiving chemotherapy were less anxious that those patients who did not. Edie has published Everything You Ever Wanted to Know (about Harp Therapy) and her master’s thesis: The Edie Elkan Method of Teaching Folk Harp as an Instrument of Healing. Also available is a 4-set CD Oodles of Noodles, a recording of a workshop on ‘noodling’ presented by Edie in 2006.