Today, April 2nd at 7:30 pm Mountain Time harpist Rebecca Moritzky becomes the 4th person to ever perform my concerto “Soñando en Español.” She’ll take the stage of  the Lakewood Cultural Center – in the Denver Area – with the Lakewood Symphony Orchestra where you can see her below in last night’s rehearsal.  [BUY TIX TO THE CONCERT HERE.]

mortisky-rebecca-rehearsal-02b

Many harpists play the fiery 3rd Movement, “Baroque Flamenco,” as a standalone concerto – and if you tuned your radio (or computer) to Colorado Public 88.1 FM Denver this morning during the 7AM-8AM MDT Guest DJ Segment you got to hear a little of that movement recorded at CPR’s studio along with an interview with Rebecca.

How it all starts

moritsky-rebecca-baroqueflamenco-shtmsc_800pxFor Rebecca, it all started years ago.  “This (Soñando en Español) is pretty much the culmination of what I have wanted to do on the harp since I first learned Baroque Flamenco a decade ago,” she told me.

Rebecca an I met in 2011, when I signed her copy of the solo version of “Baroque Flamenco.”

That publication began the process of harpists around the world being able to play this piece —  but it’s rare for the full 3-Movement work to be performed … because only the solo version of one movement has been officially published.

That means that when harpists want to play the concerto version, we work directly together.  And that can lead to some …

Composer Issues …

So … what’s it like to compose a concerto and have it performed while you’re sitting at home blogging and playing with the cats?

Well, it can get a little hairy sometimes. Here’s the transcript of a text between the soloist, Rebecca, and me yesterday afternoon:

Rebecca: Hello, the third page of the bass trombone part in Mvt 1 is missing

Me: Hmmm…can you tell me what’s the last measure he DOES have in his part?

Rebecca: He has through 8 measures of “R”

Me: OK, checking the original files now. Do you have only 2 trombones or 3?

Rebecca: We have 3

Me: So, the fastest thing is to have Bass Trombone double the Trombone 2 part if you don’t get this PDF I’m emailing.  And here’s a photo of page 3 of the original Bass Trombone part. [Whereupon I TEXT her the original Bass Trombone part on my iPhone]

Rebecca: Awesome, thanks!

I wonder how Beethoven dealt with these kinds of things …

Have Harp Will Travel … to Public Radio Studios

Earlier this week, Rebecca visited the studios of Colorado Public Radio where she played a solo version of the 3rd movement (clever, eh – to write the 3rd movement so it could be played solo?  For all those times when you can’t bring the rest of the orchestra with you.)

If you’re in the Denver Area, catch the show – and give Rebecca a hug from me!  Buy Tix to the show here

moritsky-rebecca-with-dhc_smlr

 

 

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