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23.02.2008
The new cd, Travels in Middle-earth is out! Actually, it's been out these past two weeks, and I have just finished mailing off all my pre-ordered cds (well over eighty at the current stage) - but I have been so insanely busy with all of this, and with schoolwork now going into its final phase with our diploma project, that I haven't even found the time to update this news page. I'm now working on creating a new section on my site containing all the information that did not fit in the booklet, but you'll have to be a little patient as I'll have to finish it by and by a page at a time in my scant leisure time after classes.
Go here to order the cd
Read a first review of the new cd
10.12.07
I have now collected just over 80 subscriptions for my new cd, Travels in Middle-earth, and have decided to go ahead with the production despite still being some 40 subsciptions short of covering the printing costs. The release date I am aiming for is 9 February - I aim to have them for sale at the market in Levin. read more or order cd here
A review of the recording has been posted on the Tolkien Music list - read here
Just like previous years I will be performing at the Manakau Medieval Market in Levin on 9 February, and also at the Taupo Joust on the long weekend, 26-28 January. See me there! view performance schedule
01.09.07
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Subscriptions/pre-orders for my new cd "Travels in Middle-earth" are now open! PRE-ORDER TRAVELS IN MIDDLE EARTH CD The cd will be produced as soon as a certain number of pre-orders/subscriptions is reached - I expect it to be ready by Christmas.
The retail price will be NZ$30 / US$22 / Euro 16.50 plus shipping. cover artwork © John Howe |
Newsflash! - 15.12.06 - The course dates for my evening classes in music history, listening appreciation and music theory at Wellington High School Adult Community Education have been announced - please check my workshop schedule for details.
Newsflash! - 23.9.06 - Unfortunately, my participation in the "Ars Nova" concert at St Mary of the Angels in Wellington had to be cancelled due to, well, I guess the polite phrase is "artistic differences with the director". One day I *will* get around to writing and posting an essay on how and how not to treat a musician... sigh. It is a shame, I was greatly looking forward to working with my good friend Pepe Becker and her ensemble Baroque Voices, particularly since I have just been designing their website!
Newsflash! - 10.5.06 - there will be a solo concert with mostly medieval music in Malmö, Sweden - it's taking place on Saturday, 13 May, at 2 pm at the Koggmuseet Malmö. There will also be a medieval harp course at the same place on Sunday 14 May from 10 am to 4 pm (easy introductory). A harp workshop for more advanced players, covering some baroque repertory, is scheduled to take place on Friday, 12 May, but as yet I don't have the details of time and venue. Please contact me for more information if you're interested in attending.
Newsflash! - just confirmed: there will be a baroque harp workshop in Prague on Sunday, 23 April at 1 pm, at Tynska Skola, Melantrichova 971/19, 3. patro. view details here
Artist John Howe - Tolkien illustrator of fame and conceptual artist for the "Lord of the Rings" movies -
writes about my cd 700 Years of Pop on his website! - "A few weeks ago, I received a CD. « 700 Years of Pop», by Asni...
It’s been in the player since I put it in 2 weeks ago, and has to be the most wonderful music for drawing that I’ve heard in
ages. ... It covers, as the title says, 700 years of music, from an anonymous 14th century piece to Howard Shore.
The simplicity of the harp (occasionally accompanied by a baroque guitar) makes it seamless.
... It’s really astonishingly beautiful. Buy it. NOW !! (You won’t regret it, believe me.)"
Read the complete article here
A new edition of the pasacalles from the "Compendio numeroso de cifra para harpa" (Madrid, 1704) by Toledo cathedral harpist Diego Fernandez de Huete will be available soon - check for my LIMITED SUBSCRIPTION PRICE OFFER in my shop
My upcoming tour of Europe is now imminent and still taking shape: apart from the prestigious spot at the Edinburgh Harp Festival from 7-12 April, I will also be performing an Easter eave concert at the Bachhaus in Eisenach, and a concert in the series Six faces of the harp at the beautiful old church in Chotech near Prague. There is also talk about a course and possibly a concert in Malmö, Sweden, a "Rent a Nightingale reloaded" event in Berlin on 19 May, and I will be performing my new programme Travels in Middle Earth near Bielefeld on two dates in May. Please check my concert schedule and workshop schedule for further details and updates!
Chamber Music New Zealand tour: May 2005
Chamber Music New Zealand ***
700 Years of Pop ***
Travelling in Middle Earth
I almost forgot to mention that I'll be performing at the Medieval tournament/market/event up in Taupo this weekend, 4/5 February - and I'll also be at Ye Olde Manakau Medieval Market which, just to confuse everyone, will this year be held at the showgrounds in Levin. Love to see you there! :-)
For the first time in I don't know how many years, I have managed to take a *4 week holiday* (not counting the actual Christmas holidays, which brings it up to five) in the middle of summer - I think I was actually a bit frightened by the concept, because in the end the original 4 simmered down to just over 3 weeks of glorious outdoor summer bliss, but it was still the longest holiday (as in - proper holiday, not ladden with a harp or a purpose beyond having a holiday) that I've had in a very very long time. And it was glorious. I was a little too short of cash to go to the South Island, as I had originally planned - but then, now that I've got my residency stamp in my passport, I can always go next year.
Instead, I decided to head up north - spent a few nights in Gisborne and Tolaga Bay, then drove up to the very tip of the Coromandel peninsula, and finally made my way up to Northland, to the very tip of the tail of the fish, and stayed at an absolutely glorious campsite just two bays over from Cape Reinga - Te Rerenga Wairua. And since I've finally managed to update my photo equipment to a beautiful Sony 5 megapixel 12x zoom camera, of course there will be photos to upload to this website. It might take some time though, since I've got a pretty full plate what with preparing my trip and tour to Europe, all the classes in Edinburgh, and meanwhile trying to finally find a decent job as well!
But the nicest thing that has happened to me lately is this: John Howe's newsletter - scroll down to where it says "Busy Ears" and you will know why it is that when I finally managed to find an internet shop after being bush for about a week up north, to my very greatest surprise, I had as many orders for my cd 700 years of pop sitting in my inbox as I usually sell in a year, through my website.
Maybe I'll go platinum one day after all. :-D
So I've had my precious residence permit stamp in my passport since September 23, and never managed to put up a note in my diary... o dear o dear me. The last few months have been full of work (of the boring, money-earning kind) - apart from my caregiver job I've also been venturing into a NZ primary school, to do some teacher aiding (apparently I'm now some sort of specialist on autism, hmm interesting). It was a good experience on the whole - really nice kids and all - and it's good to see what songs they sing and what books they read and what kind of stuff they are taught in primary school, if you want to make yourself at home in a different culture. But somehow I doubt that I was cut out to be a primary teacher (or teacher aide for that matter) - o well.
Next, I'm planning to head north back to the East Cape and on to Northland - and perhaps pick up some fruitpicking work on the way - I got the whole month of January off work, which wasn't exactly planned but it's actually quite nice now that it's happened. I was trying to get away before the New Year (that is, later today...) but seeing that I'm still sitting up at half past four in the morning working on my website, I'm not sure if that's still an option. O well, I can always head out to the Wairarapa and have a new year celebration at the Putangirua pinnacles... which is a place that lends itself to that sort of stuff. Which reminds me, I need to put up that photo gallery... it's the location that Peter Jackson used for his Paths of the Dead in Return of the King.
Meanwhile, I've also got myself a new photo camera for Christmas (many thanks to my parents!) - which is much better quality so I can go shooting away and will hopefully bring back a bag of goodies from my trip. Meanwhile, I've got quite a bit of painting done during the Christmas holidays, and will put up some new artwork shortly... but that WILL have to wait til after my trip. And then I need to urgently start preparing my tour to Europe...there's a few more concerts happening now, I will update my schedule before I go. My travel dates are now 3 April to 6 June, and yes I *am* available for additional bookings - and teaching - and so on.
Lastly, I've been the recent victim of a harddisk crash which explains (a) why I haven't written here, (b) why I lost half my email addresses and (c) one really needs to back up regu-regularly because I also lost a whole stack of my photos. Very, very sad... still, I may put my hope in the data recovery guy.
Happy New Year everyone - and sorry for the rather short and inadequate entry, there's so much to catch up with, and I promise I will, by and by.
I've added some new goodies to my website though - and am seriously revamping the Harp & Hobbit pages - so check it out, here's all the new stuff.
I just got asked to do a lunchtime concert at Victoria Unversity Wellington this coming Thursday, 22nd September, at 1.10pm at the Adam Concert Room as usual. I'll be playing my new "Travelling in Middle Earth" programme, containing, as the title suggests, much music by Howard Shore, as well as traditional and older music, and some doodles of my own - so if you haven't heard it now is your chance! I'm filling in for another musician who had a "kitchen accident" (ouch!), hence the extremely short notice.
Also, congratulations to Prime Minister Helen Clark on what appears to become her third term in office. As an artist, I can't be other than happy about the outcome of that election! :) Keep up the good work.
Well, so much has happened ... I have completed my New Zealand tour in May, which was a great success (I can tell by the number of cd's I sold!) and good fun too - I got to bathe in hot springs near Matamata, pop by Kim Webby's workshop in Whangarei, beat the road record for driving from Warkworth north of Auckland, back to Wellington in just under 10 h (and I didn't even speed...much), meet some very lovely people in all sorts of places, practise on a campsite and find that I had an audience, freeze my nose off in Dunedin, bathe in more hot springs at Maruia, take some gorgeous photos and sleep in my car parked under an old beech tree, go on a hike in the Abel Tasman park, get caught in the dark and almost find no space in the hut, watch dolphins in Golden Bay, walk half way up Farewell spit, and visit the Wearable Art museum in Nelson (I tell you it rocks!) - and these were only the highlights.
Coming back, unfortunately I found that my flat (the one with the famous view) was falling apart - apparently the guys couldn't really cope with having had no flat mum to clean up after them for three weeks, or something - so I had to move in a hurry, then move AGAIN because the new place was no good - but now I found somewhere really really nice, with good people - and good food, hehe - and lots of space - and a native bush project in the backyard - in Newtown, and the address is Harper St, which is even funnier! :-) So I hope this place will last for a while. It's been a long time since I've been able to conduct discussions on feminist theory in my kitchen - and I'll get a chance to work on my tikanga Maori too, seeing that my flatmates are all Maori, and take that seriously (in a good way). So, for once, I'm pretty happy... I've started a new job too, at a school, so now I'm in a position to *save money* (or at least I hope so!) for a Christmas holiday on the South Island. And my residency application is in the process of being processed, though they told me it can take another 3 to 6 months, so the word is patience.
I will *so* have a party when and if I get that stamp in my passport finally... oh and let's pray that the upcoming elections go well for the current government, too! As an artist, I had to say that.
In have spent the last few days compiling press releases for my upcoming tour, finishing off programme notes and conducting interviews with myself (an exercise in shizophrenia! It is times like those that I wish I could afford a manager!) - so I would like to make available the rich fruits of my work. Check out the press release for my upcoming tour here.
I will be touring two different programmes - at Te Awamutu, Tokoroa, Warkworth and Motueka I will be performing an updated version of my "700 Years of Pop" programme - I will also b presenting a short version of this programme in Wellington at the Central Library on Wednesday, 4 May, at 1.30 pm.
And in Hamilton, Dunedin and at Old St. Paul's I will be "Travelling in Middle Earth" - a programme that focuses on music that was inspired, or possibly served as inspiration, for Tolkien's Middle-Earth and Lord of the Rings.
My travel plans for the summer are also slowly taking shape, the dates in Prague have been all but confirmed, there will be a concert on 18 August and a masterclass on the following day, if all goes well. And I need to start thinking about buying a ticket to Ireland! I am still waiting for the results of my application for funding through Creative New Zealand though, the decision is supposed to be made by the end of May.
And again March is gone without a new journal entry... shame on me and my slack.
I am, however, glad to report that I did indeed sell two of my photos at Aro Arts, so does *that* mean I can call myself a professional? :-P - musically, things have been quiet (literally) and I have been struggling with that old cold for the best part of March - the one that kept me flat on my back for weeks last winter - it made a re-appearance at the end of February, which is *really* too early in the year for one's first winter cold! It's still sitting in my throat, and rather than spending all night surfing the web, I really ought to be in bed and cure myself. O well, excuses, excuses.
I can sigh with the poet, though, that "the muse flees me" - I've been meaning to come up with some of my own pieces of music for that upcoming tour of mine, and I know it's there, just simmering right under the surface, but it doesn't want out - meanwhile I have discovered another arts community on the internet and for some reason getting involved there seems so much easier than squeezing myself behind that harp.
O well, this is beginning to sound like a rather depressing journal entry - on the upside, I did get to go to WOMAD in lovely Taranaki in the middle of March, and that was, in a word, f a n t a s t i c ! So many great musicians from all over the place, and the audiences! If I'll ever in my life be blessed with an audience nearly as into it and enthusiastic as this one, it will have been worthwhile! One of the organizers said, in his little farewell speech, that we were the best audience he's ever experienced, and I believe he was not exaggerating (at least not much). I got to camp on the grass strip on the side of a parking lot - arriving about an hour late on Friday night, every other spot was already gone, it was that crouded - but there was never a feeling of claustrophobia, the whole event was extremely well organized and apart from the fact that they'd run out of printed programmes just as soon as the thing started, there were no major hitches. They didn't even run out of wine or anything! :-) But the food stalls are a whole other story... I also got to get a back massage from a lady specializing in Maori healing, that was quite a strange and soothing experience. One doesn't often get to have a karakia - prayer - said just for oneself! :-) And besides I'm a sucker for massages, I should get them way more often. And the venue - Brookland's Park in New Plymouth - was just out of a fairytale, no kidding. I'll post some photos eventually, so you'll all believe me.
So much for WOMAD, but did I also mention my trip to the Soundsplash! festival in Raglan in early February? I believe not... well, compared to WOMAD, Soundsplash! was small, restricted to "only" New Zealand Reggae & Roots bands - but hey, they've got quite a few real good ones of those over here! It was also the last-but-one gig of my current favorite band, Trinity Roots, who have since split up - and the way people here grieve about that band split-up was quite a thing to witness. I also got to go to their very last gig right here in Wellington (they are Wellingtonians, after all!) and that was even more emotional - had the lead singer choke in what was apparently a fit of tears on his very last song - awwwwwwww ---
I did post some photos from Raglan, they can be found here - the background music feature doesn't work as well as it should but I hope you'll get the idea, and I'll fix that eventually - promise!
But for now, I really need to get busy preparing for my grand tour d'New Zealand - there is music to (re)-learn and advertising and PR to organize and a travel itinerary to be sorted out and program notes to be written and as usual, I am running awfully late - though I do have a better excuse than usual, having been sick and all - so send me your good vibes and some musical inspiration! :-) I've decided to take time off my part-time job for the time being - for a luxurious total of two months - of course this means that I may starve but then luck has it that I've just axquired a new student, a lovely lady who's pre-booked a whole bunch of lessons and so helps me weather the worst - maybe I should be more like the lilies in the field, for apparently the Lord does provide - I certainly can't complain all that much. ;-)
If he'd only made better guys... maybe he should have created Eve first and taken that rib from *her* :-P - But I better be silent on that subject! :sigh:
Just got invited on *very* short notice to perform at the Medieval Market in Manakau (Kapiti Coast) tomorrow 12 February at 10.15 and throughout the day - come along if you can make it! :-)
Hello and welcome in the new year! About time to ban some of my older entries to a news archive page, to help unclutter this one. Well, things are shaping up nicely for this year, expect a lot more musical activity than in slothful (well, at least as harp playing went) 2004.
The biggest event in the nearer future is, without a doubt, my Chamber Music New Zealand tour, which will be happening in May. Check my concert schedule for tour details, or go straight to my page on the Chamber Music New Zealand website. The programme will be an expansion on my earlier "700 years of Pop" programme, incorporating some wonderful Kiwi - or at least, Kiwi-related - music that I have had a chance to learn in the meanwhile. It coincides with New Zealand Music Month, and anyway I am definitely looking forward to being given yet another excuse to drive around the country, and even be paid for it! This is times when you know, or remember, why you're in this job in the first place...
I have been invited to perform - and represent New Zealand - :-) - at the Ninth World Harp Congress in Dublin, Ireland, later this year - there will be a lecture-presentation focusing on the Spanish harp on July 22, 2005. There is also some talk about me going to either Brno or Prague (or possibly both) in the Czech Republic, in August - which would be extra lovely because it brings me close to "home" in my beloved little village in Bavaria.
And since last Sunday, I am an exhibiting painter and photographer! A colleague of mine at my dayjob at the childcare center runs a little gallery in Te Aro (a very fancy and Bohemian part of Wellington) - called simply "91" after its street address, 91 Te Aro St. in Wellington. Their aim is to promote art (any sort of art) locally produced in Wellington, by offering it for sale with a very low markup, hence keeping the pricing reasonable. He accosted me one day, suggesting that I bring in some of my cd's (which I, of course, gladly accepted) - so I boldly took the opportunity to promote some of my photos and paintings as well. So many people have been complimenting me on my photos lately that it seems like an overdue move, and wouldn't it be great if I actually sold some? Also on display and for sale is my painting of Fangorn Forest (let me tell you, this is a really crappy replication, the original is much, much nicer!) and if that goes well, I'll put in some more of my artwork. So all you potential buyers out there, now you know where you can get my stuff! Hehe.
Privately, things have been going so-so - I did have a great Christmas break, driving all the way up to Gisborne and taking the coast road around the East Cape, stopping by at some gorgeous beaches - then up to Tauranga, where I climbed Mount Maunganui on New Year's Day (which seemed to be an appropriate, slightly spiritual thing to do, sorta like climbing Mt. Purgatory somehow). From there I drove across the Waikato, stopping by in beloved Matamata once again, bathing in a real natural hot spring and re-visiting Buckland Road - and then on to Raglan, which turned out to be a lovely place. I'm intensely looking forward to going back there for the Soundsplash! Roots music festival on Waitangi weekend.
Speaking about Raglan, I'm still reeling from my clash (if you call it that) with a certain gorgeous guy last winter. I'm not sure if what went wrong was a matter of culture clash (he happens to be Maori, which didn't help, seeing as I have absolutely no idea where he is coming from, in terms of upbringing and life experience), or if it was just not meant to be, but for some sentimental reason I still hesitate to simply add him to my gallery of jerks and uber-jerks, although there is plenty of indication that that is where he firmly belongs. A well, we'll get there in the end - wouldn't it be nice, though, if it turned out he was a good guy after all? It would just be sweet to know that I am able to be attracted by nice guys after all. (((heaves big sigh))). Well, maybe the whole thing is at least good for some inspiration... if for nothing else. Gack. I would rather have had the man. :-(
It is a sad occasion that makes me write today: less than two weeks ago I received an email from my mother ...
check older entries in the news archive.
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last updated: 23 February, 2008