The Pratté International Harp Academy
2021-02-09
Presentation
Following the success of the First Pratté Harp Festival and Competition in May 2019, which was a celebration to the recently rediscovered great Swedish harp virtuoso and 19th century composer, Anton Edvard Pratté (www.pratteharpfestival.se), I am very happy to announce the launch of a new and exciting project: the Pratté International Harp Academy!
My wish is that this Academy will provide, through its workshops, masterclasses, Q&A sessions, and individual lessons the opportunity to explore all that our unique instrument has to offer. Together, we will study harpistic traditions, explore new repertoire, and examine different schools of technique.
The Pratté International Harp Academy will be a place where students can develop their individual technique, virtuosity and musicality while also learning to be passionate advocates for our instrument!
Our Academy, which will consist of several sessions each year, will be open to applications from all harpists worldwide, and each session will feature a special guest world renowned harpist. Students will enjoy individual lessons with our guest artist and myself, in addition to taking part in group discussions and masterclasses on various timely subjects in the harp world.
Due to the current pandemic, the first few sessions of the Pratté International Harp Academy will be held online on ZOOM, with the goal of hosting future seasons in the beautiful Ostergotland region of Sweden.
The inaugural session
For the inaugural session, we will pay tribute to the French harp tradition in which I was educated thanks to the teaching of Catherine MICHEL! It is such a pleasure to welcome my former teacher to be the first featured guest artist of the Pratté International Harp Academy!
The dates for the inaugural session are Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th of March, 2021.
This inaugural week-end will focus on advanced and pre-professional students and will be held online on ZOOM. There will be a few pre-selected active participants and the entirety of the session (individual lessons, group discussions, Q&A session) will be available to both active and passive participants.
Presentation of our guest artist 06-07th of March 2021: Mrs Catherine MICHEL
The French harpist Catherine Michel is one of the most prominent harpists of our time.
She studied with legendary harp pedagogue Pierre Jamet at the Paris Conservatoire, where she was awarded a First Prize at the age of 15. Numerous prizes at prestigious international harp competitions in Israel, USA and Paris followed, and Catherine Michel launched an active international career as a young soloist.
In 1970, she became a member of the Orchestre National de France, and in 1977 won the Principal Harp position at the Paris Opéra where she went on to play for nearly thirty years.
Catherine Michel has enjoyed collaborations with the greatest conductors and composers of her time, including Leonard Bernstein, Sergiu Celibidache, Mstislav Rostropovitch and Michel Legrand.
In her teaching career, Catherine Michel has been a professor at several esteemed institutions including the Royal Music Academy in Dublin, the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Zurich, and
Detmold as well as serving as ”Prince Consort Teacher” for the London Royal College.
Catherine Michel is active in broadening the harp repertoire and is always searching for interesting forgotten pieces to perform and publish.
She has recorded over twenty solo albums and has been awarded numerous awards for these recordings in France, including the ”SACEM Prize” and ”Victoire de la Musique”.
Schedule:
Saturday, 06th of March: Introduction and individual lessons with Catherine Michel
Sunday, 07th of March: Individual lessons with Delphine Constantin-Reznik.
Please prepare a different piece for each of your lessons.
After the lessons on Sunday 07/03, Catherine Michel and Delphine Constantin-Reznik will together hold a two-hour Q&A session where all participants (active and passive) can ask questions and take part in the discussion. This session will conclude the inaugural week-end.
Exact times for the introduction, lessons and Q&A session will be announced once we know the time zones of our participants.
Registration rules for the inaugural session
The inaugural weekend is open to applications from all advanced and pre-professional students worldwide.
Application deadline: February 23rd, 11.59 PM (CET time).
Application requirements for active participants: A video recording (several minutes) of a piece of your choice that is representative of your playing.
Applications should be submitted to: dcr.harp@gmail.com
In the email, please indicate:
- Your full name
- Your email address
- Your phone number
- Your location on March 06-07 with a specific timezone. Our schedule will attempt to conveniently accommodate as many as possible around the world.
- Titles of the two separate pieces you would like to perform for Mrs Michel and myself.
- A short CV. It is possible to write it in English, French, German, Italian, or any Scandinavian language.
- A link to your video performance.
All valid applications must contain all above information.
The application is free of charge.
Process: After the registration deadline, all applicants will be evaluated solely on their video performance and a few applicants will be accepted as active participants for the inaugural session of the Pratté International Harp Academy.
All applicants will be notified by Friday, 26th of February 2021.
If you have been selected as active participant:
please confirm participation within 24 hours of notification and proceed to payment of the masterclass fee. The payment must be made by Wednesday, 3rd of March 2021.
The fee for active participants is 90 euros and includes an individual lesson with Catherine Michel, an individual lesson with Delphine Constantin-Reznik, as well as access to the entire weekend online.
For optimal quality during lessons, we strongly recommend all active participants use computers (if possible, no mobile phones!) that have an Ethernet cable connection (more reliable than Wifi). We also recommend a USB microphone to tremendously increase sound quality during lessons.
To avoid major technical issues during the masterclass, I invite all active participants to check their connections and sound quality on ZOOM with me during the week leading up to the Academy weekend (February 27- March 4).
As we have a limited number of slots in this first session, you might not be chosen as an active participant at this time. If this is the case, you are most welcome to join as audience for the week-end and also actively contribute in our Q&A session on 07/03!
The fee for all passive participants is 20 euros and must be paid by Wednesday, 3rd of March 2021. We kindly ask that you confirm your participation within 24 hours of selection notification.
It is also possible to join the inaugural session ONLY AS AUDIENCE. To that end, you do not need to send a video in your application. Just write to dcr.harp@gmail.com. The fee is also 20 euros.
Bank details for all payments will be sent by email after the registration deadline, along with selection notifications.
If you have any questions regarding the inaugural session and the application process, do not hesitate to reach out to me at dcr.harp@gmail.com. I am happy to help in any way!
I very much look forward to welcoming you to the Pratté International Harp Academy!
Best wishes,
Delphine Constantin-Reznik, director
Pratté International Harp Academy