Folk music and tunes from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic music eras are part of a special concert by UK-based Kiwi harpist Robin Ward in Napier next Friday.
Ward, who performs on a triple harp he made himself, will also play his own transcriptions and music originally written for the instrument.
He has played with various orchestras and ensembles, and is now establishing himself as a solo artist. Four years ago he independently released his first solo CD, No Pedals Attached, and is currently working on his second.
Ward learned to play the lever harp before moving on to the pedal harp, on which he completed a BMus at Victoria University, guided by the principal harpist of the NZSO. He went on to complete a Masters of Music in Performance on the triple harp, a chromatic instrument with three rows of strings instead of one, with no pedals or levers.
He took a Kiwi DIY approach - in order to continue his studies he built his own triple harp and taught himself how to play it from surviving sources.
