Harps and voices cast spells with seasonal music

It's the season of the year when days are short and weather is chilly. As humans have done for eons, we brighten the winter with our midwinter ritual celebrations of music and light.

Last weekend, I was fortunate to hear two wonderful concerts. Both combined harps and voices. On Saturday evening, Harpistry, led by Mehlinda Heartt, played Christmas music with a women's choir called Ensemble Etoile.

Photo: Winter Harp image from royalcityrecord.com, Nov 29, 2010

As we didn't have advance tickets, it was fortunate that my friend and I arrived early at St. Mark's Trinity Church on Larch Street. The concert was packed; after we were seated, many more chairs had to be brought out as the pews were full.

Under the able artistic direction of Roseanna Chu, sixteen women's voices swelled both alone and with the seven-harp group, which included two very young harpists. The concert also included a voice solo by Sarah Ann Chisholm and a harp solo by Heartt.

The artisan who made had made some of the harps was in the audience; he was asked to stand and be applauded.