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Preview: Musician Melsky breaks stereotypes

Harpist+Ben+Melsky+poses+with+his+harp%2C+the+instrument+he+has+played+since+he+was+eight.+He+will+be+performing+at+8+p.m.+in+Wallenberg+Hall+on+Saturday.%0APhoto+courtesy+of+Ben+Melsky.
Harpist Ben Melsky poses with his harp, the instrument he has played since he was eight. He will be performing at 8 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Ben Melsky.

Harpist Ben Melsky poses with his harp, the instrument he has played since he was eight. He will be performing at 8 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Ben Melsky.
Harpist Ben Melsky poses with his harp, the instrument he has played since he was eight. He will be performing at 8 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall on Saturday.
Photo courtesy of Ben Melsky.

Musician Ben Melsky has been playing the harp since he was eight, when he asked his mother for lessons in the instrument he used to fall asleep to.
He has performed with over seven different organizations, has debuted his first album and has performed in the pit for numerous award-winning musicals, all on his only instrument, the harp.
Melsky will perform at 8 p.m. in Wallenberg Hall on Saturday.
The first half of the performance he will be soloing, but the second half he will be joined by Augustana professor Doctor Erin Freund for a harp duet.
He and Freund met in 2006 at Northwestern University.
“I think Erin and I both like to do this, which is to expand (the harp’s) repertoire to find the new things we can play and the new sounds we can make,” said Melsky.
One part of his process is that he transcribes works from the guitar to be played on the harp.
“I think that the harp has a really great sound profile that is great in a lot of different applications, and I just love playing it, and I always loved playing it,” said Melsky.
One piece Melsky will be performing will have its North American premiere called “À-Fini One.”
“I can guarantee it’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before,” said Melsky. “It’s all about resonance, and you’re sort-of hitting all of the instruments at the same time, and you have to prepare the harp in a certain way with rubber bands and silk so you get these really interesting sounds out of it.”
He will also perform songs off his album, “Sommeil,” featuring mostly Latin American music he transcribed for the harp.
“For me, it’s my first venture into putting something out to the world that’s mine, my voice in terms of how I want the art picked out,” said Melsky. “I try to show some of the different sides of the harp on the album.”
During the duet portion of the concert, Freund and Melsky will perform a piece off of Freund’s new album, “Orchestral Transcriptions,” that features a song originally meant for the piano that Melsky and Freund recreated for the harp.
The piece is called “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, who wrote the piece in 1874.
“It’s crazy hard, almost too hard to attempt, but it’s so much fun to play with, and it comes off really beautifully,” said Freund. “There are lots of little movements that suggest an art gallery viewer looking at different paintings.”
Since the harp program at Augustana is three years old and has three students currently, Freund saw this as a great motivator for her students to see a professional harpist and to break some of the stereotypes associated with the harp.
Fruend said one stereotype people have is that the harp can only play the boring and pretty music people hear at cocktail parties and weddings.
She believes that the harp can be more much more than just the stereotypes.
“It can be rugged or edgy, or it can also be really beautiful but in a broader way than what you might have first thought,” said Freund.
She said that Melsky will also be holding a harp workshop for her students and for local harpists in addition to performing with Freund.

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Preview: Musician Melsky breaks stereotypes