David watkins harp biography template

To open file on line click the link and the file will open in a new window - but you need to have Adobe Reader Installed. Sheet Music Publicity Material. When I joined the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, there was another dreaded moment, when, two hours before a performance of Madam Butterfly, I was told that I had to play a score that I had never seen before.

For one hour, the conductor James Lockhart went through the part with me, and I was so impressed and thankful for his considerate precision and patience with me. Fortunately I took quite easily to the "Puccini Rubato" and the performance went much better than expected. James Lockhart worked closely with the wonderful singer Margaret Price, a soprano whose voice was in the stellar league and I always wish that I had heard more of her.

When a conductor, whose musical skills and consideration in accompanying singers, asked me to play in his new orchestra of the Welsh National Opera Company, I eagerly accepted. The atmosphere with so many young musicians in the orchestra was quite wonderful. There were some spectacular productions and remarkable performances of Aida with the title role sung memorably by Pauline Tinsley.

There were also performances conducted by the talented young Joseph Levine. Rudolf Kempe has always been my most favourite conductor, Elgar Howarth, his disciple felt the same, but his musical charisma didn't affect audiences in the same way. When Kempe asked me to join the orchestra, I could hardly resist the offer. He knew my playing from Covent Garden days and always liked my sound.

Unusual for a conductor he was very sensitive to harpistic problems and sometimes gave me the freedom to phrase how I wanted, even going as far as saying that the way I did it would give him an idea of how to continue his next phrase.

David watkins harp biography template

The general orchestral repertoire was new to me and, when faced with the tricky harp part in Straus's Don Juan, I felt completely inadequate. Leonard Brain, the cor anglais player brother of Denis Brain said "Just concentrate on the passage that are quasi solo and do the best you can with the rest". When I had played the work several times and later with Solti, the harp part flowed!

Kempe was especially at home with the works of Debussy, and I still remember those performances also his care when I played the solo part in Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Kyung Wha Chung. In parallel to my orchestral playing there were Chamber Music concerts and, in particular song recitals. With my sister Helen Mezzo- soprano we explored the song repertoire including the Schubert Lieder.

At very short notice, I received a call from the London Philharmonic asking me to play for the Glyndebourne Opera Season. There were not many concerts with the Royal Philarmonic so I accepted. Towards the end of the season, the management offered me a permanent position with the orchestra. I was so shocked and flattered that I accepted and played with the orchestra for almost 18 years.

Again, I was so lucky as it turned out to be another Golden Age in the history of this Orchestra under the batons of Boult, Solti, Haitink and Tennstedt. In the music of Mahler and Bruckner, Tennstedt was the greatest of all interpreters and when he conducted, there was not a part of his body that wasn't involved. His movements were hypnotic and it seemed that he embraced all the energies of the Universe.

This unleashed power was very much in evidence in his recording of Mahler's 8th Symphony. Juliana Mankova, the pianist, had been on tour with him in the United States, told me how great he was so I went to talk with our director, Eric Bravinton and rest is history! There were many recordings, regular concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, and world tours- with of course the "Green Death" as musicians called the Glyndebourne Opera Season.

I loved being in the country where musical preparation was so unhurried and of such a high standard. It was an unforgettable opera experience; With her singing and acting artistry she brought the whole audience into he 'Salon' and made them feel as if they were part of the production. In the famous Sonnet when she accompanies herself on the harp mimed to my playing in the pit everybody thought that she was actually playing.

On the last night, I found her waiting in the pit with a single red rose for her teacher! I loved working with Raymond Leppard in his exciting arrangements of Baroque Operas we named them "Leppardisations" with voluptuously effective but tricky harp continuo parts with lute and two harpsichords. I can still hear Janet Baker's incredible voice in one of these roles, passionate and committed.

We performed Britten's Albert Herring with Haitink conducting, not much memorable music but exciting orchestration and a hilarious production. Lady Billow's Avia is a "Tour de force" for the harpist, pages of continuous arpeggios and many pedal changes for the sharps and flats. Haitink repeated it several times, not giving me much time to change the pedals back to the beginning of a passage.

On one occasion I was slow on the uptake. When I look back at the work load of an everyday orchestra player, I can hardly believe that we had so many three session days: morning and evening at the Royal Festival and perhaps an afternoon recording at Wembley or Watford. A World Tour was not much different especially if one wanted to practise.

The harp was always the last instrument to be taken off the van, and by the time it was on the platform, the Brass would be practising loudly and it would be difficult to tune. Once, on a tour of the United States it was particularly difficult to find any practice time, so I just had to sit in my hotel bedroom and memorise my scores. That night the Television news announced that "David Watkins was in town.

For several years I received a cheque in repeated fees. I always had a problem with "Avant Garde" music and although I admired Pierre Boulez, I found it difficult to keep my cool in a performance with so many complicated subdivisions, and then, after several days of "snatch and grab" my usual sonority would become thin and mean. Richard Arnell was asked to write a Harp Concerto for me, but after several bottles of my whisky and several visits there wasn't enough music to justify the title of concerto and the work was rejected.

The performance had already been scheduled and I had just finished writting my "Concertino Pastorale", commissioned by Victor Salvi, the harp maker: and so we performed this work instead, conducted by Walter Susskind at the Royal Festival Hall. One of my most memorable concerts was performing with Princes Grace of Monaco. Serene in every way, she dominated the stage.

With an actor, they recited poetry and I provided musical interludes. She particularly liked my "Fire Dance. Lady Diana was wearing that famous black velvet dress which had to be "adjusted" rather frequently. Leaving the orchestra after 35 years of London orchestral playing was quite a shock, not only for the lack of regular income but for the discipline of the schedule.

In the end the results were extremely positive as I was able to concentrate my enthusiasm on looking for early harp repertoire, composing and practising. In , he published one of the first Methods for the pedal harp entitled 'An Essay on the correct manner of playing the harp'; the English version was published in As with Handel, his instrumental suites include dance movements of the period.

This Sonata is for the flute or the violin with keyboard accompaniment which also sounds well on the harp. I have eliminated the last largo and minuet; they are rather weak endings for concert performance. Michael Bochmann and I thought it would be great if we could involve two talented young musicians - Giles Thirkettle violin and Verity Thirkettle harp.

This Largo is one of the most beautiful slow movements ever written and the ingenious counterpoint between the two solo violins combine to create music with the greatest emotional impact. However, it is only quite recently that his creativity in operas and oratorios has revealed his exceptional genius in these genres. Throughout his life he was a brilliant keyboard player and published many harpsichord pieces.

This Aria and Variations appear in a suite of pieces published by Walsh in He regularly gives concerts and master classes in France, Germany and Italy as well as the UK and has recently formed a Duo with the distinguished violinist Michael Bochmann. Previous Page. Specialist Publishers of Harp Music. David Watkins Although born and educated in England, David Watkins is very much aware of his Welsh heritage, and can re-trace his paternal ancestry to mid-eighteenth-century Wales.