Harp Music Festival Returns to Rio de Janeiro This Month

By Beatriz Miranda, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – From May 1st to June 3rd, Rio hosts the thirteenth edition of RioHarpFestival. The concerts will bring talented international harpists to Rio’s most privileged venues, like the Corcovado and Copacabana’s Fortress, and also promote free harp workshops.

RioHarpFestival is the most important harp event in Brazil, and one of the greatest in the world. Born from the “Música no Museu” (Music in the Museum) classical music project, the free festival aims to promote the erudite music to the diverse Carioca audiences.

Like the previous editions, the festival will host free concerts everyday, both in Centro and Zona Sul. The concerts’ repertoire will range from European medieval music to Brazilian modern and contemporary music, also encompassing pieces from the romanticism and impressionism movements.

This year, RioHarpFestival will include the participation of the cello players from the social projects Orquestra de Cello das Comunidades Pacificadas (Cello Orchestra from the Pacified Communities) and Orquestra Infanto Juvenil da Ação Social pela Música (Infant-Juvenile Orchestra from the Social Action for Music). Both orchestras will play along with some of the international harpists.

Opening the festival on Tuesday, May 1st, at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, in Centro, was French harpist Claire Le Fur and Argentinian musician Athy, who thrilled the audience with his electric harp. On Wednesday, May 2nd, the venue hosted the concert of Mexican harpist Baltazar Juarez.

This weekend’s line-up is expected to please all classical music lovers: on Friday, May 11th, the Chilean harp and guitar duo Fabiola Harper & Cesar Moya will perform at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, at 12:30 PM. Following, the American pianist Vedrana Subotic will go up on the stage at 6:30 PM.

On Saturday, May 12th, New Orleans harpist Patrice Fisher will be gracing the stage of Copacabana’s Fortress at 3PM. Additionally, Paraguayan duo Zaracho will play at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil at 6PM.

The Paraguayan duo will also be performing on Sunday, May 13th, at the sumptuous Ilha Fiscal island, at 5:30 PM. What’s more, renowned musicians like Prem Raman (India); Edith Gestaiger (Austria); Kobie du Plessis (South Africa); Martin Albarracin (Colombia); Diane Pauvert (France) and Kristan Toczko (Canada) will be participating at RioHarpFestival on the following days.

Apart from the concerts, on May 31st the festival will offer a free masterclass with Belgium musician Jacques Vandevelde. The class will be held at Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, at 3PM.

What: XIII RioHarpFestival
When: May 1st to June 3rd – time varies according to the concert.
Where: venue varies according to the concert.
Entrance: FREE