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HARPIST goes ELECTRIC: Sat. Feb. 1st at TCAN in Natick!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Run through Feb. 1, 2020
MEDIA Contact: Joy Monteverdi / info (at) hipharp.com
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She strides on stage like a rock-star, strapped into a futuristic electric harp, with 32 multi-color strings.

She’s the woman who changed the way the world sees the harp.  

She’s Grammy-nominated electric harp legend and innovator, Deborah Henson-Conant – known as “DHC”  — with the instrument she invented: the “DHC Electric Harp.”  She’s coming to TCAN, The Center for Arts in Natick, one of New England’s greatest intimate listening rooms – for a single SOLO show Sat. Feb. 1, 2020 at 8pm with special guest, cabaret star, Ute Gfrerer.

On stage Henson-Conant combines movement, humor and stories with music inspired by Blues, Latin, Flamenco, Jazz and Musical Theater. Her voice has been compared to Carly Simon and Joan Baez; her playing to Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix; and her humor to musical comedian Victor Borge and Eddie Izzard — all spoken and sung ‘from the harp’ – in stories and music about romance, failure, food and how to navigate life.

WHO – WHAT – WHEN – WHERE:

• WHO: Deborah Henson-Conant (electric harp, voice, movement & story)
• WHAT: LIVE Performance with special guest, renowned cabaret star Ute Gfrerer
• WHEN: Sat. Feb. 1, 2020 at 8:00pm
• WHERE: TCAN (The Center for Arts in Natick), 14 Summer St. Natick, MA 01760
• TIX: Member $24, Public $26 – Box Office: 508-647-0097 – Online: http://www.natickarts.org/performance/deborah-henson-conant-2020-02-01

“She plays stuff you just wouldn’t think could possibly come from the instrument that St. Peter hands out to new arrivals at the pearly gates.” (Grand Rapids Press)

If you’re thinking ‘’Celtic Woman” or “New Age Background music,” you’ve got it wrong.  DHC was the primary female instrumentalist on the GRP jazz label in the 90’s. Her original Latin/Blues music is enhanced by her use of a looper pedal to create spontaneous soundscapes, layer upon layer, building them in front of the audience in real time – and then using them as a bed for virtuosic improvisation.

As a technical innovator, DHC has collaborated for more than two decades with the world’s cutting-edge harp company, CAMAC harps in France, to develop what’s become the most popular electric harp in the world, a 32-string carbon-fibre wearable electric harp named after her, the “DHC.” In her TEDx talk “From the Harp” she tells the story: https://youtu.be/EOtEkRtk5IA

She’s toured – internationally with her one-woman shows, in collaboration with symphony orchestras like the Boston Pops and Baltimore Symphony, and with legendary musicians like guitarists Steve Vai and Mason Williams. She opened for Ray Charles at Tanglewood, jammed onstage with Bobby McFerrin and offstage with Steven Tyler. She been featured in major media from NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon to NBC Today Show — and her original music special, “Invention & Alchemy” appeared on PBS stations throughout the US. She’s performed throughout the world from the theaters of New Caledonia, France and Hong Kong, to the Edinburgh Fringe, Wolftrap, Tanglewood, Boston Symphony Hall and so many more.

DHC is a 2-time winner of the prestigious Massachusetts Artist Fellowship award – an artist who continues to reinvent her style, her music and even her instrument.

Since her last performance at TCAN in 2018 she’s completed a new musical, created an international online improvisation school for harpists (Hip Harp Academy). She’s also developed a slew of new material she’ll be sharing Feb. 1st, along with beloved audience favorites like her Grammy-Nominated “The Nightingale.”

“Virtuoso out-of-the box harpist…known as the rockin’ bad girl of the harp world. She took the ancient instrument off its pedestal, cocked it on her hip, and made it play everything…” (NPR: On Point)

“Her gorgeous storytelling is as theatrical as it is musical.” (Boston Globe)

Her special guest, Ute Gfrerer is an international cabaret star, considered a world’s expert in the music of Kurt Weill. A recent IRNE Nominee for “Best Actress in a Musical,” Ute has sung in theaters from the Salzburg Music Festival to Tokyo’s NHK Hall. As a special feature of this Feb. 1st show, the two will share a side of DHC most audiences never see: a 3-song preview from DHC’s one-woman musical “The Letter.”

The Center for Arts in Natick “TCAN” is the the official go-to place for music, theater, visual arts and movies in the Boston suburbs. The renovated historic firehouse is located in the heart of Natick Center, just outside Boston.

MORE ARTIST INFO:

• ARTIST’S WEBSITE: https://www.hipharp.com/
• ARTIST’S PRESS PHOTOS: https://www.hipharp.com/press-photos
• ARIST’S MEDIA ROOM & VIDEOS: https://www.hipharp.com/video
• INFO SHOW INFO BLOGPOSTS on Artist’s Blog: https://www.hipharp.com/blog/30332
• TEDX “Reinventing Freedom with Electric Harp”: https://youtu.be/EOtEkRtk5IA

TICKET LINK FOR THIS SHOW:  http://www.natickarts.org/performance/deborah-henson-conant-2020-02-01

ARTIST SOCIAL MEDIA:

• Facebook Artist’s Page: https://www.facebook.com/HipHarp/
• Artist’s Blog: https://www.hipharp.com/blog
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/HipHarpist
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hipharpist
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hipharp
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hipharpist/