ARTISTS short bio Aarielartists.com/epk/HannahLash_15-16-PressKit.pdf · ARTISTS Ariel FRACTAL: ......
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HANNAH LASH harp
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ARTISTSAriel
“The standout piece of the evening was the premiere of Hannah
Lash’s Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra. Lash, who is a
composer and a harpist, joined the orchestra on stage to perform
as the soloist… The harp writing was particularly stunning, with
beautiful melodies and moving cadenzas permeating the piece…
After the final note resonated through the hall, Lash’s piece
received three curtain calls (and it was only intermission!).”
–Sam Reising, I Care If You Listen
short bio
press
As a soloist, harpist Hannah Lash has been presented by Carnegie Hall, the Cabrillo Festival, Miller Theatre, the Alabama
Symphony, the Yale School of Music, and the Bennington Chamber Music Conference. She recently premiered her first harp
concerto at Zankel Hall with the American Composers Orchestra under the direction of George Manahan. Lash will give the UK
premiere of the concerto with the Orchestra of the Swan under David Curtis in England in 2016.
Lash’s playing has been praised for its virtuosity,
described by critic Michael Huebner as “technical
wizardry,” as well as for her musical depth of
expression. Lash’s music has been commissioned
and performed by the LA Philharmonic, Carnegie
Hall, the LA Chamber Orchestra, Miller Theatre,
the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Cabrillo
Festival of Contemporary Music, and others.
She has received numerous honors and prizes,
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters,
the Fromm Foundation Commission, and the
Copland Foundation.
Lash will be releasing her debut CD in 2016 on
the New Focus Label. Other upcoming projects
include a concertino for harp with chamber
ensemble, commissioned by Chamber Music
Northwest. She will also be playing her music at
the NY Philharmonic Biennial concert in 2016, as
well as a faculty recital at the Yale School of Music.
Lash holds degrees from Harvard University (Ph.D),
the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Eastman
School of Music, and the Yale School of Music.
Lash currently serves full-time on the composition
faculty of the Yale School of Music.
“…at times creating a harsh and ominous dreamscape, at
other times a soft impressionistic palette. Equally impressive
was Lash’s virtuosity on her instrument, not only for her
technical wizardry of pedal shifts and arpeggios, but for
her mood shifts.”
–Michael Huebner, AL.com
P H O T O B Y R O N C O H E N M A N N
HANNAH LASH harp
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ARTISTSAriel
FRACTAL: UNE CHÂTELAINE EN SA TOUR
About the “Fractal” program, Hannah Lash says, “As a harpist,
I have struggled a great deal with the fact that my instrument’s
solo repertoire is limited. The harp has not yet been fortunate
enough to have a major composer advocate for it and develop and
expand its voice. I have dropped nearly all the standard solo harp
music from my own repertoire in favor of music written for piano.
But there is one piece that was written for harp which I will always
love, and that piece is Fauré’s Une Châtelaine en sa tour. I decided
that because my position in rejecting all harp music except for this
one piece is so dramatic, I wanted to compose a large-scale piece
formed by a set of ideas inspired by those ideas in Fauré’s piece.
I wanted to evoke something like a set of variations, where Une
Châtelaine en sa tour would serve as a theme, and my own varia-
tions would then grow from it.” The program is performed without
breaks.
Works to be performed on the “Fractal” program include:
Gabriel Fauré, Une Châtelaine en sa tour, Op. 110
Hannah Lash, Fractal (2015-16)
THE HARP IN COLORS
In this program, Hannah Lash explores the experience of sound
color in the music of Scriabin, through performances of both his
work and her own. Scriabin’s Piano Sonata No. 1 was composed
in 1892 after Scriabin had injured his right hand and was told he
would never play again. The piece has been described as his per-
sonal outcry against God at the loss of his hand. (He actually
did recover full use of the hand eventually.) Hannah Lash’s Sonata
for Harp is a large piece in four movements that plays with the
idea of sonata form in the classical sense, re-imagining it in a
non-tonal context. The piece and its “tonal” centers are largely
focused on different colors that the harp can produce, and how
these colors are integrated and also contrasted together.
Works to be included on “The Harp in Colors” program in-
clude:
Alexander Scriabin, Piano Sonata No. 1 in f minor, Op. 6
Hannah Lash, Sonata for Harp
MOSAICS
“Mosaics” is a recital which comprises pieces that are each very
short, either as stand-alone miniatures, or together as a set of
small pieces. The word “mosaic” implies many colorful frag-
ments making up an interesting whole. Lash selects these
pieces to be the tiles in her larger picture because each piece,
despite—perhaps even because of—being so small, is highly
characteristic and concentrated in its musical journey. To Lash,
composing a miniature successfully is one of the most difficult
and rewarding things a composer can do. The harp is particu-
larly suited to conveying these highly pigmented little pieces,
with its nuanced sound and endless capability for sudden,
extreme, or subtle changes in sound color.
The Brahms Intermezzi, composed in 1892, is a set of three
small lyrical pieces in E-flat, B-flat minor, and C-sharp minor
respectively. The first of these pieces takes a Scottish lullaby as
its point of departure. Schumann’s Waldszenen, composed
1848-49, is a set of charming pieces that have characteristic and
colorful titles. Composed in 1919, Fauré’s Une Châtelaine en sa
tour was inspired by a poem by Paul Verlaine of the same name,
from his collection La bonne chanson. Hannah Lash’s own
Imaginary Preludes for Harp, composed in 2015, plays with the
program offerings
P H O T O B Y R O N C O H E N M A N N
HANNAH LASH harp
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ARTISTSArielprogram offerings (cont.)
concerto offerings
musical genre of the prelude. Each works out one musical idea,
sometimes manifest as a texture. Finally, Lash’s Stalk, composed in
2008, was written after the composer had a dream where she was
trapped in a maze of white flowers. The piece uses some melodic
fragments from the song White Coral Bells and works this material
out through contrasting textures and tempi.
Works to be performed on the “Mosaics” program include:
Johannes Brahms, 3 Intermezzi, Op. 117
Robert Schumann, Waldszenen, Op. 82
Gabriel Fauré, Une Châtelaine en sa tour, Op. 110
Hannah Lash, Imaginary Preludes for Harp
Lash, Stalk
SONATAS FOR HARPThis is a program that showcases sonatas written for the harp.
The term “sonata” is sometimes very specific in the classical sense
– a three- or four-movement piece whose form in the first move-
ment (and often other movements as well) is a particular out-
growth of ternary form – and came to represent a large and
serious genre, a soloist’s analog to the orchestral symphony.
But this is not the way the sonata first was born, nor how it
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major, K. 299 (1778)
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Danse sacreé et profane, for solo harp and string orchestra (1904)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Introduction and Allegro for flute, clarinet harp,
and string quartet (1905)
Hannah Lash (b. 1981)
Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (2015)
developed past the classical and romantic periods: “sonata”
could mean any number of things to a post-tonal composer.
However, what remains intact is often the multi-movement form,
and the sense of compositional ambition.
Lash offers three sonatas written for the harp from different
time periods: a three movement sonata by C.P.E Bach exempli-
fying the “sensitive style” or “Empfandsamer Stil,” featuring
intricate ornaments and contrasting musical affects. This work is
followed by a three-movement sonata by Paul Hindemith which
reflects the classical sonata form in many ways. The final piece
on the program is a large-scale new sonata in four movements
by Hannah Lash, which plays with the idea of tonal hierarchy
and classical sonata form, but introduces a high degree of
chromaticism, resulting in an ultimately mobile harmonic palette,
with a great deal of contrast between movements.
Works to be performed on the “Sonatas for Harp” program
include:
C.P.E. Bach, Sonata for Harp in G Major (1762)
Paul Hindemith, Sonata for Harp (1939)
Hannah Lash, Sonata for Harp (2015)
P H O T O B Y B O B H A N D E L M A N
HANNAH LASH harp
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HARP IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC AS PART OF A CONTINUUM
Hannah Lash‘s philosophy in approaching new music is that it is
part of a musical continuum rather than a whole different species
of music from our standard repertoire. In practicing and rehears-
ing new music, one can adjust one’s strategy to be sensitive to
the particular challenges presented, but always from the basis of
producing a beautiful sound, maintaining a relaxed and sustainable
technique, and above all being a whole and sensitive musician.
When she teaches how to practice, rehearse, and perform new
music, she does so in the context of an approach to standard
repertoire. Students are asked to bring a piece of new music and a
piece of standard repertoire, both of which will be worked on
in juxtaposition.
PLAYING PIANO MUSIC ON THE HARP
Harpists play many transcriptions of music written for other instru-
ments, particularly piano. Hannah Lash believes that transcribing
is incredibly important, and that harpists can always push them-
selves and their instruments further than they might imagine.
When teaching transcription, she challenges students to bring in
scores they might not feel are possible to play on the harp, and
she helps them re-imagine the music to make it possible and
comfortable on the harp.
WRITING FOR HARP
This lecture demonstration is geared specifically toward com-
posers who wish to learn more about the harp and how to write
their music in a way that will work with the instrument’s unique
constraints and qualities. Hannah Lash brings in a range of ex-
amples, from standard repertoire to transcriptions to new music,
to demonstrate what the instrument is capable of and how to
exploit its strengths.
additional offerings
P H O T O B Y R O N C O H E N M A N N