What an amazing moment.
You’ve just played the performance of your life, the crowd goes crazy and golden confetti fills the air.
A dream is coming true…
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Blues Jam HARP Challenge - July 1-8
That’s the moment pictured above for Romanian Harpist Daria Batschi-Beleca after a show-stopping performance in her country’s equivalent of “America’s Got Talent.” When she’s done, the judges ask her what she’s played and – even though it’s in a language I don’t speak, I hear it loud and clear: “Baroque Flamenco” by contemporary composer Deborah Henson-Conant.”
Am I crying? Of course! I’m moved by her performance and honoured to have succeeded in creating a piece that lets her show so much of herself as an artist and a woman. A piece I created first, to be able to share that much of myself – and now seeing it provide that for others.
I’m immediately back in my room in Berkeley, CA with my first harp, only a few years older than Daria, looking at the harp and the possibility of life as a concert artist and thinking: but where’s the fiery repertoire?? Where’s the piece that stops the show, where’s the music that ignites the audience to spontaneously jump to their feet and bursts into cheers?
I swore to myself at that moment that I would create those pieces, that I would play them and work to give them a place in the harp repertoire – to give harpists a way to bring down the house with music that combines bravado, virtuosity, whimsy and tenderness. Seeing Daria wow both judges and audience I felt a moment of completion. The baton made it to her hand.
You don’t need to speak the language to see the emotion and excitement from Daria, the judges and her family backstage, tell a universal story of accomplishment – and now you know that every time someone plays that piece and embodies their dreams in the process – they’re completing a dream for me as well.
And here’s another thing I’m really proud of:
Last Sunday, I taught this same piece to nearly a hundred harpists of all ages and abilities as a distilled “Blueprint” – a way for any player to get the concept of the piece into their hands, regardless of their skill level. The workshop was a free intro to “Blueprints for Creativity” program called “Structure is Freedom” and you can watch it – and play it right here.
Feel free to watch even if you don’t play the harp – and then compare what you learned in the workshop to what you see Daria doing on Romania’s Got Talent.
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The genius of Deborah Henson Conant speaks through Daria’s performance of Baroque Flamingo. What DHC offers in her academy is so much more than thecomposition.
Judges faces
Amazingly beautiful, what I saw and heard in this performance. The piece was exquisitely executed by her own hand and interpretation. Brava. And of course the media setup in Romania was unparalleled!!
Wonderful, Wonderful Performance, and what a tribute to Deborah Henson Conant!
The judge seemed surprised when she told him it was a modern piece.
What an extraordinary performance. It’s heartwarming to see that this dazzling composition “Baroque Flamenco”, by America’s very own Deborah Henson-Conant, has reached all the way to Romania and inspired this gifted young artist. Congratulations to Daria on her win, and to the composer for the win-win! I have a feeling you’ll be sharing a concert stage someday with a full-fledged orchestra. Thank you for sharing.
I was also in tears. I was born in Romania and had my beginnings at the harp in Bucharest at the age of 11. The judge who hit the Gold button said there was a combination of fineness and agitation back and forth… that in art we find the questions and answers we need that help us find ourselves. Then he proposed that together they can engage the whole world because the harp and the arts are the future the world needs, they are not just relics of the past…. Daria’s playing was angelic, even we remember the world we live in, this is the beauty in life:that passionate dreams like that can come true….. Daria goes to the finals.
Thank you, dear Deborah Conant!
The first time i heard Baroque Flamenco i was simply amazed by this original composition. I could never imagine that the harp could do this similar flamenco sounds and Debora Henson Conant became one of my favorites composers for the Harp. Congratulations for both performer and composer, i also had tears in eyes! Well deserved golden buzz!!!!Thank you