Harp Radiance Retreat ~ Wales 2025 ~ Workshops & Concert

From Paris to Wales

From Paris, I’m heading to Wales which means a train under the Strait of Dover via the Eurotunnel – one of my favorite legs of the journey.  But it means arriving in St. Pancras station and transferring to Paddington Station.  Where …. I met a big celebrity! Paddington Bear.

T’Harp Radiance Retreat’ in Wales

From Paddington I took another train to Cardiff  and sold-out “Harp Radiance” retreat with one of my favorite creative partners, harpist Shelley Fairplay.

Shelley and I developed the “Harp Radiance Retreat” concept over many years and many conversations about the kinds of training we’d love to be able to do live together.

This retreat was the first of the “Power of Two” live in-person retreats Shelley and I are collaborating on to expand harpists’ skills in improv, self-expression and the freedom of embodiment in their playing.   As both Shelley and I have vibrant online harp schools – my Hip Harp Academy & Shelley’s Fairplay Harp School, we wanted a chance to bring members of both schools together to play LIVE.

We launched the concept this year with Shelley masterminding the Cardiff retreat at Court Colman Manor in Wales — while I’m hosting the Boston-Area Harp Radiance Retreat in July, which focuses more on individual performance (with a maximum 8 people) at my studio.  Both retreats sold out quickly, but we’ve currently got a waiting list for an alternate date. Learn more about the Boston-area retreats here.

Our goal was to make each retreat different logistically, but to both focus on the development of performance techniques and confidence. The retreat in Wales is for a larger group (there were over 50 attendees), at a fabulous venue with gardens, hotel rooms, daily trainings, nightly events and a gala final-dinner – including my “Invite-Only” command performance for the attendees – and the one in Boston to be more intimate: in my harp studio — a bit like a 3-Day Creative Slumber Party.

In the images below, you can see Shelley & me during a Q&A (note to self: stop slouching in the chair!) and one of the powerful play-along sessions during the Harp Radiance Retreat.

You can also see in this 180-degree view all the harpists who participated in the Harp Radiance Retreat.

Throughout the 3-day retreat, Shelley and I collaborated to deliver an immersive experience designed for harpists of all levels seeking to deepen their creative expression and performance skills – and playing in a large group, nobody has to worry about being singled-out and can simply learn and play with freedom.

Featuring “The Nightingale”

This was such a beautiful moment from the Harp Radiance Retreat:

After three magical days of playing together, in this farewell moment, I showed the group how to create a simple accompaniment to my song “The Nightingale” – one they could play almost instantly without reading a note.  Then we all played and sang it together – something I have never experienced before – nor ever even tried — but it happened so beautifully and smoothly and was the perfect ending to three gorgeous intensive days together.  THANK YOU SHELLEY!!!

Missed the retreat? Check out the next events on my events page or the next 5-Day Harp Improv Challenge April 21-27.

 

A Concert within the Retreat 

One of the highlights of the Harp Radiance Retreat was the “Invitation-Only” Command Performance in a space so intimate I could almost see the face of every single person in the audience.

Take a look at these sweet photos of me taken during my concert performance.

With two of my Great Adventure Harpist Friends (GAHF)

One thing I love about touring Europe is getting to reconnect with really important harpists I’ve known for decades – many of them since the beginning of my career.

Robin Huw Bowen is one of those:  the world’s pre-eminent Triple Harp Player – (Note: They’re called Triple Harps because the players are three times as crazy as normal harpists … well, and also the harps have THREE rows of strings … thus proving the players are crazy). Robin and I once shared the bill at Europe’s largest Celtic Festival, L’Orient. For the encore, he entered the stage in sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt, stepped up to his harp, and – to my amazement – licked it. I kid you not. He claimed it was my bad influence, as I was in a black leather mini-skirt and bustier at the time.

Shelley Fairplay is another of my Harp Adventure colleagues. Shelley and I once got stuck in an elevator in France with two Frenchmen and a bottle of wine. She was 6 months pregnant at the time, so the bottle of wine was moot but once we knew we were stuck, I off-handedly said, “Whew, it’s a good thing I just visited the toilet.” To which she glared at me with evil in her eyes. Did I mention she was 6 months pregnant at the time? Or was it 8 months?

It was a joy to get to be with them both in the same place and time.

Below: Shelley Fairplay (left) and Robin Huw Bowen (right) and me center.

And finally …. 

A lovely photo on the grounds of Court Colman by photographer

Harpists Who Dare

Ready to liberate yourself from the notes on the page?