Beginning in the Middle Home Page

March 11-14, 2010

Williamsburg, Virginia

Sponsored by Virginia Harp Center

Program Directors

	Mary Jane D'arville Owner, Virginia Harp Center Richmond, Virginia

Mary Jane D'Arville, along with her husband David, is the founder of the Atlanta Harp Center and the Virginia Harp Center, East Coast harp resource centers with locations in Georgia, New Jersey and Virginia. For several years, Mary Jane taught harp at the University of Virginia, as well as serving as director of the Richmond Public Schools Harp Program. Over the years, she has performed with several regional orchestras including the Richmond, Savannah and Charlottesville Symphony Orchestras, as well as maintaining an active free lance career. In 2003, Ms. D'Arville performed with the Salzedo Ensemble at the World Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. She is a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University where she received her MFA in Harp Performance. Mary Jane and David recently moved back to Richmond, Virginia and are busy raising their two children, Cece and David and keeping the stores running smoothly!

	Liesal hagan Assistant Director Atlanta, Georgia
Liesl Hagan lives in Atlanta where she performs with the Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra and is regularly featured as a soloist. She also performs with various regional orchestral and theater groups, including the Greenville Symphony Orchestra, the Macon Symphony Orchestra and the Shakespeare Tavern in Atlanta. Liesl maintains an active freelance schedule and teaches privately in Decatur, Georgia. She currently serves as president of the Georgia Chapter of the American Harp Society. Liesl began her harp studies with Dolly Roberts in Tampa, FL and continued with Christine Van Arsdale in Davidson, NC. She graduated from Davidson College in 2005. During her time at Davidson, Liesl performed with the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra and volunteered with the Charlotte Hospice program, providing music for terminally ill patients.

Our Faculty

	Lynne Aspnes Classical Harpist and Adult Learning Specialist Phoenix, Ariz
Lynne Aspnes returns to BITM by popular demand. Aspnes serves as Professor of Harp at Arizona State University. She has recorded for the CRI, ProArte, Red Seal, and Virgin Classics labels with VocalEssence (the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota), and has also recorded works of Faure and Grandjany with organist John Walker, and Britten’s The Death of Saint Narcissus with the late Sir Peter Pears for NPR and PBS. But don’t let Aspnes’ impressive bio scare you! Her down-to-earth, common-sense approach to harp technique and learning has garnered the respect of beginners and professionals alike. If you haven’t yet taken a harp class with Lynne Aspnes, now’s your chance. Trust us—you’re going to love her!

	Rhett Barnwell Sacred and Baroque Specialist Atlanta, Georgia
Rhett Barnwell has undertaken a varied career as an organist, composer, conductor, classical and Celtic harpist, cellist, pianist, and French horn player. As a harpist, he has concentrated on music for healing, sacred and meditative purposes, and has played for numerous events in churches, hospices, nursing homes and hospitals. He has also published a number of compositions and arrangements for the harp through Seraphim Music, which are distributed internationally. He has given concerts throughout the Southeast with soprano Victoria Lawson, and has performed in Venice, Rome and Florence, Italy and at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival with soprano Claire Teuber. Mr. Barnwell has released four recordings to date, several of which were included at the International Conference on Healing Music in Athens, Greece. He has also been a presenter at the Liturgical Harp Conference, Southeastern Harp Conference, Somerset Folk Harp Festival, HarpFeste and others. He organized the 2007 and 2009 Liturgical Harp Retreats which drew harpists from all over the country. He is on the Board of Trustees of the Historical Harp Society and is the CD Review Editor for the Folk Harp Journal.

	Robbin gordon-cartier Classical and Motivational Specialist East Orange, New Jersey
Robbin Gordon-Cartier graduated Magna Cum Laude from Montclair State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education. As a young harpist, she spent summers in Dublin, Ireland, studying at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. She was a gold medalist at the Granard Harp Festival in Ireland. She has been a recipient of numerous educational grants and awards. Mrs. Gordon-Cartier maintains a private studio where she teaches students of all ages and regularly freelances in the New York metropolitan area. Performance credits include appearances at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City; the New Jersey Performing Arts Center; the Pablo Casals Music Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico; and the National Symphony Orchestra of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She has appeared on several television shows and recordings and at events honoring Lord Guiness, Cicely Tyson and Sir James Galway. Robbin is a Salvi Concert Artist and most recently, Robbin presented a week of master classes and concert at the French ambassador’s residence in Bogota, Columbia for the Salvi Harp Foundation. Mrs. Gordon-Carti created for the Elizabeth School District and now directs the East Orange New Jersey harp program. She joined the faculty at Kean University in Union, N.J. as Concert Artist/Adjunct Harp Faculty. Robbin is very active in the American Harp Society and is a popular presenter of workshops across the country.

	Frank Voltz Pop and Jazz Specialist Piedmont, North Carolina
Frank Voltz began playing the harp as an adult. After playing the harp for only 5 years, he competed and won Second Prize in the Lyon & Healy International Jazz and Pop Festival Competition, Lever Harp Division in 1997. Frank is a concert pianist, organist, and harpist; and is a highly sought-after harp clinician. He has recorded four CDs as a solo harpist, two CDs as a solo pianist, and his publishing company, Chiera Music, represents gospel/jazz arrangements, hymn arrangements, original compositions, and ensemble repertoire for pedal and lever harp. Frank’s last CD, Celestial (recorded on lever harp), was released in October 2009 and exclusively features his original compositions. Frank is a member of the Piedmont Chapter of the American Harp Society.

	Janet Witman Celtic Specialist Cochranville, Pennsylvania
From the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music to the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Janet Jackson Witman has successfully crisscrossed the realms of classical and celtic harp music for over thirty years. She is a classical protege of Marilyn Costello, former principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the renowned teacher, Alice Chalifoux. Janet has been featured soloist with the Allentown Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, Concerto Soloists of Philadelphia and was resident harpist in the Green Room of the Hotel Dupont for over twenty years. In 1999 she won the U.S. National Scottish Harp Championship and the All Eastern Scottish Open a year later. Her trip to the Edinburgh Harp Festival in 2000 inspired her to form the Brandywine Harp Orchestra, a performing ensemble of 17 celtic harpers. In April 2009, the ensemble was the first American celtic harp orchestra to perform at the EIHF. Janet's harp ensemble arrangements are sold nationally and internationally.


Guest Artists

	Howard Bryan Harp Repair Specialist Lynchburg, Virginia
Howard Bryan has been building and restoring harps for nearly 20 years. He retired early from Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power where he designed filtration equipment, and started his own business restoring pedal harps. At this point he has built over 40 new pedal harps, and has restored well over 300 different pedal harps ranging from late 18th C crochet action instruments to very recent Lyon & Healy, Salvi, and Camac harps. The list of restored instruments includes over 50 antique harps with Erard designed mechanisms, and over 250 Lyon & Healy harps, including four that were built before 1899.

	Ivan Gardner Certified Harp Technician Charlottesville, Virginia
To schedule a harp regulation appointment with Ivan, e-mail jhdjm4@earthlink.net

	Rosyln Rensch Guest Lecturer
Musician and art historian Roslyn Rensch studied harp with Alberto Salvi and Joseph Vito. She has authored several books including The Harp; The Harp: Its History, Technique and Repertoire; and Three Centuries of Harpmaking; but she is probably best-known for her classic text Harps and Harpists. Originally published in 1989, Ms. Rensch has released a revised edition and will be on-hand to talk about her book and sign copies.

	francis sporer Massage Therapist Virginia Beach, Virginia
Treat yourself to Francis's remarkable skills in permanently getting rid of pain and restriction, or simply indulge yourself with a deep-relaxation chair-massage session. His Cayce/Reilly training, nationally certified, 25-year background in bodywork has been taken advantage of by such notables as tennis-pro John McEnroe, and international ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. Add to that hundreds of professional musicians (especially harpists!), performers and athletes, and you've put yourself in good hands! Francis has been sole "resident" therapist at “Beginning in the Middle” for 6 years, at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival for 3 years, and at the 2005 National Harp Convention, in Philadelphia in 2005. "I work so that you can play!"

	Leah Trent Guest Artist Ronceverte, West Virginia

Leah Marie Trent grew up in Cleveland Ohio, where she began her study of harp by taking a harp class at John Marshall High School. She continued her study of harp at the University of Colorado, where she earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music. For eight years, she was on the faculty of the Classen School of Advanced Studies in Oklahoma City, the University of Central Oklahoma and Southern Nazarene University. She has played with many orchestras and chamber groups, and for several years was a member of the Arioso Duo, a flute and harp performing duet. Leah maintains a private harp studio in Lewisburg, West Virginia, where she performs regularly at the Irish Pub on Washington Street. She is the Education Director at Carnegie Hall, a non-profit arts and education center in Lewisburg. In addition, she serves as the choir director, harpist and organist at Ronceverte Presbyterian Church. Her latest CD, entitled “For Mrs. Cole” was released in August 2009. This CD features solo celtic harp music, tunes by O’Carolan, other traditional Irish tunes, and one original piece written by Leah.

	John wickey Guest Artist San Francisco, California

John Wickey began study of the harp at Cass Technical High School with Patricia Terry-Ross and received a Bachelor of Music degree at Boston University with Lucile Lawrence and the Master of Music degree at the University of Michigan with Lynne Aspnes, attended the Tanglewood, and Eastern Music Festivals and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Summer Institute, was a prize winner in the 1993 American Harp Society National Competition Young Professional Division appeared as soloist with the Boston Symphony Pro Musica, the International Symphony Orchestra in Sarnia/Port Huron, the Windsor (Ontario) Symphony and with the Detroit Oratorio Society. Mr. Wickey’s professional orchestral credits include working with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony. John moved to San Francisco in 1995, where he quickly established himself as a premiere software developer, web devloper and information technology specialist. On the harp horizon John will be performing at the 2010 AHS National Conference in Tacoma, Washington.