Welcome to AHO 2018
Rehearsal dates for the first half of the year...
Feb 5, Feb 26, March 19, May 7, May 28, June 18 .... more later!!!
Rehearsal dates for the first half of the year...
Feb 5, Feb 26, March 19, May 7, May 28, June 18 .... more later!!!
A lovely end to our harping for 2017
Harp in the Park at Blockhouse Bay, Boat Club Reserve in Auckland.
Beautiful day, great company and carols, carols and more carols!
Harp in the Park at Blockhouse Bay, Boat Club Reserve in Auckland.
Beautiful day, great company and carols, carols and more carols!
2017 - see us in concert at Selwyn Heights Retirement Village, August 26th (2pm) - entry $5 - all proceeds go to our music fund - we save and save and commission new NZ music for harp ensemble.
The Auckland Harp Orchestra
We meet three times a school term on a Monday evening from 6.45-8.30 (but we may also pop in a couple of Saturday practices if needed) and we work to build up our repertoire for concerts and Harp in the Park (Carols) in December.
All ages, stages and harps are welcome from approximately Grade 3 to advanced harpists. I arrange music for individual abilities where needed.
In 2017 again we will again run BegEnz, a training orchestra for beginner fingers (of all ages) from 3.45-5 on Thursdays, three times a term. We'd love to see you - come and join us - it's fun!
See the BegEnz tab for more info.
Logo by Warren Ferrari, Photos by Ian Piddington
We meet three times a school term on a Monday evening from 6.45-8.30 (but we may also pop in a couple of Saturday practices if needed) and we work to build up our repertoire for concerts and Harp in the Park (Carols) in December.
All ages, stages and harps are welcome from approximately Grade 3 to advanced harpists. I arrange music for individual abilities where needed.
In 2017 again we will again run BegEnz, a training orchestra for beginner fingers (of all ages) from 3.45-5 on Thursdays, three times a term. We'd love to see you - come and join us - it's fun!
See the BegEnz tab for more info.
Logo by Warren Ferrari, Photos by Ian Piddington
Photo (above) from our Waitakere Library, Henderson, Auckland, Concert on July 9th. (I like this one with the Matariki display in the background.Only in NZ!
AHO News and Updates
09/07/16 Waitakere Library Concert - This was a really fun, low key concert, with a big interested audience, most of whom hadn't expected to see a forest of harps in their local library! The Harp Orchestra played a few numbers, and accompanied the Beginner Ensemble in a few more numbers and we had a trio and duo perform works they are preparing for their ensemble exams in September. There were many people who wanted to try out a harp afterwards, or just hang around and ask harp related questions.
01/02/16 Welcome to 2016 - the harp year has started. We're having out first harp orchestra rehearsal on Monday 15 February and aiming for our first concert in June (unless something pops up that we decide we want to take part in before that!)
I'm also running a Beginner Harp Orchestra starting February 18th for those playing at beginner to Grade 2/3 level - a nice gentle start to ensemble playing, but with plenty of room to develop with out 3 part arrangement book. Contact me for more details and look out for a beginner ensemble tab above once we get some founding group photos!
17/11/15 Come and see, and play some carols with us in Hamilton on Saturday November 28th at 4pm, and at Katikati on Sunday November 29th at midday. Both gatherings are at private residences, so if you would like to come and play, or bring family and friends and listen, please get in touch and I will give you directions to the venues. We'd love to see you!
13/2/15 It may have been 'black Friday' but we just had the best first of the year rehearsal ever. And some really exciting news, composer, Sarah Ballard, came to see what we were up to and she fancies writing some harp ensemble music .... for us!!!! Yay - thanks Sarah - we are so excited to work with you!
30/06/14 We had a huge rehearsal on Saturday - 2.5 hours - it was awesome!!! Some of took some time out to record a selfie (is that what you call it when ten of you are playing together) of a extract from Hine e Hine with harps and whistling harpists, for the Whistling Harps crowd fundraising campaign for WHC. I'll post the 'selfie' here when its edited!
26/03/14 and we're back into AHO again ... a week until our 3rd rehearsal for 2014 and we have some gorgeous new harpists who have joined us this year... our numbers are up over 30 and we have 3 sweet "Belles" who are our training orchestra - they have whizzed through the initial two pieces of music arranged especially for them, and we're now working our way through versions of other AHO tunes - they are speedy learners!
1/12/13 Awww, AHO, you were absolutely awesome in concert - we had more than 100 people in the audience and so much positive feedback about the performance. The only criticism I heard was that the concert was too short!!!! Rehearsals start again on the first Friday of February and we've got 5 new members in AHO and some new harpists who will be the founding members of the training AHO.
30/11/13 Auckland Harp Orchestra Concert. 3pm at St David in the Fields Church, 202 Hillsborough Road, Auckland, NZ. Exit by donation. Also featuring soloists Emily Roughton, violin, and Shane Stewart, Scottish Small Pipes. Our programme ... if you want a sneak peek.... click on the button
09/07/16 Waitakere Library Concert - This was a really fun, low key concert, with a big interested audience, most of whom hadn't expected to see a forest of harps in their local library! The Harp Orchestra played a few numbers, and accompanied the Beginner Ensemble in a few more numbers and we had a trio and duo perform works they are preparing for their ensemble exams in September. There were many people who wanted to try out a harp afterwards, or just hang around and ask harp related questions.
01/02/16 Welcome to 2016 - the harp year has started. We're having out first harp orchestra rehearsal on Monday 15 February and aiming for our first concert in June (unless something pops up that we decide we want to take part in before that!)
I'm also running a Beginner Harp Orchestra starting February 18th for those playing at beginner to Grade 2/3 level - a nice gentle start to ensemble playing, but with plenty of room to develop with out 3 part arrangement book. Contact me for more details and look out for a beginner ensemble tab above once we get some founding group photos!
17/11/15 Come and see, and play some carols with us in Hamilton on Saturday November 28th at 4pm, and at Katikati on Sunday November 29th at midday. Both gatherings are at private residences, so if you would like to come and play, or bring family and friends and listen, please get in touch and I will give you directions to the venues. We'd love to see you!
13/2/15 It may have been 'black Friday' but we just had the best first of the year rehearsal ever. And some really exciting news, composer, Sarah Ballard, came to see what we were up to and she fancies writing some harp ensemble music .... for us!!!! Yay - thanks Sarah - we are so excited to work with you!
30/06/14 We had a huge rehearsal on Saturday - 2.5 hours - it was awesome!!! Some of took some time out to record a selfie (is that what you call it when ten of you are playing together) of a extract from Hine e Hine with harps and whistling harpists, for the Whistling Harps crowd fundraising campaign for WHC. I'll post the 'selfie' here when its edited!
26/03/14 and we're back into AHO again ... a week until our 3rd rehearsal for 2014 and we have some gorgeous new harpists who have joined us this year... our numbers are up over 30 and we have 3 sweet "Belles" who are our training orchestra - they have whizzed through the initial two pieces of music arranged especially for them, and we're now working our way through versions of other AHO tunes - they are speedy learners!
1/12/13 Awww, AHO, you were absolutely awesome in concert - we had more than 100 people in the audience and so much positive feedback about the performance. The only criticism I heard was that the concert was too short!!!! Rehearsals start again on the first Friday of February and we've got 5 new members in AHO and some new harpists who will be the founding members of the training AHO.
30/11/13 Auckland Harp Orchestra Concert. 3pm at St David in the Fields Church, 202 Hillsborough Road, Auckland, NZ. Exit by donation. Also featuring soloists Emily Roughton, violin, and Shane Stewart, Scottish Small Pipes. Our programme ... if you want a sneak peek.... click on the button
30/10/13 Here's a link to an article in the Central Leader about some of my students, Cleo and Sascha, their dad, Bernie, who's writing a book with me, and the Auckland Harp Orchestra. http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/central-leader/9337289/Harps-sound-sweet-right-from-the-start
7/6/13 The Auckland Harp Orchestra was formed in June 2013 as a result of a fantastic-time-had-by-all at a harp ensemble workshop called Harpenz. We decided the skills learnt and the time already spent practising could be further developed, and the friendships made could be further indulged. Although it’s an effort for some of us to get to regular Friday night monthly rehearsals, it’s been a lot of fun playing together, and worth the hard work!
7/6/13 The Auckland Harp Orchestra was formed in June 2013 as a result of a fantastic-time-had-by-all at a harp ensemble workshop called Harpenz. We decided the skills learnt and the time already spent practising could be further developed, and the friendships made could be further indulged. Although it’s an effort for some of us to get to regular Friday night monthly rehearsals, it’s been a lot of fun playing together, and worth the hard work!