Harp Summer School Concert

Or Cyngerdd Ysgol Haf y Delyn, as the concert was introduced in Welsh and English.
On Saturday evening, I got to the Clocktower just as the Dial-a-Ride bus pulled up to take me to Brecon. All eleven seats were taken, and it was very nice to go along with people I knew at least slightly - including the wife of one of the organisers, who I know from Stitch and Bitch.
When I booked my ticket, I chose a seat on row D - and I wasn't expecting to be in the front row! However, they needed to make room for 38 harps on stage, including a space at the front for a harp, double bass and drums trio for one part of the performance, so there I was, practically sitting on the stage myself!

Just some of the harps on stage

I wasn't completely sure what to expect of the concert, and some of the little girls who filed on to the stage at the beginning of the performance were really quite young, with adults further back. There were all sorts of harps, too, from a tiny bright green knee harp to huge concert harps with lots of pedals. A lot of the audience, I think, were the families and friends of the performers.
The summer school had been held at Gwernyfed School over four days, and there were so many performers that they had learned their pieces in different parts and hadn't heard them all together until rehearsals at the Theatr Brycheiniog that day - which made it all the more impressive that they were so good.
The first soloist was eleven - and she'd asked for one of the tutors to sit beside her because she was a bit nervous. She played something classical, and was very good.
The second soloist was eighteen, and about to go to the Guildhall in London to study music. She also played something classical, and apparently quite technical (I am very ignorant about music - all I can say is it sounded wonderful!).
In the second half, the summer school students came to sit in the audience, and the tutors performed. This was where the double bass and drums came in, as Harriet Earls performed jazz harp with them. Gwenan Gibbard was a much more traditionally Welsh player - and then there was Diego Laverde Rojas, who had come all the way from Colombia and plays South American harp. He'd been teaching the summer school some Latin American rhythms over the four days. He borrowed the double bassist and drummer to play with him, too.
And finally there was Katherine Thomas, who had been so busy organising that she hadn't been able to rehearse with the other tutors, so was playing for the first time with them that evening. ("If in doubt, tap the soundboard or play G," she said, which was her advice to the students if they got lost in the middle of a piece!).
It was an absolutely marvellous evening - and next year, if they do it, I want to go to the Have a Go session!