Emmanuel Ceysson & Friends

The French harpist presents a programme of music by French composers, designed to display the full beauty, power and complexity of the instrument.

The solo harp can seduce, inspire and astonish, and never more so than in music by French composers. Emmanuel Ceysson, multiple prize-winning soloist and principal harp of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, is determined to sweep away all the clichés of the instrument’s image.

Reviews praise his ‘jubilant spirit’ (NY Concert Review), while comparing him and his harp to ‘a human body and an instrument merged into one’ (Berlin Tagesspiegel). In this all-French programme, Ceysson includes solo versions of two beloved masterpieces involving the harp. Charles Debussy’s elegant and sensual Danse sacrée et danse profane (Sacred and Profane Dances) contrasts with Maurice Ravel’s airily freespirited Introduction and Allegro.

Alongside them, Ceysson casts fresh light on works by some of their lesser-known contemporaries, including Henriette Renié, André Caplet, Marius Constant and Marcel Tournier.

Tom Service explains how Emmanuel Ceysson seeks to challenge preconceptions about the harp in a concert that displays the true versatility of the instrument.

0 Stars

both his technique and his musicianship are virtually flawless

Washington Post

Supported by

Programme

Emmanuel Ceysson Harp
Rakhvinder Singh Violin
Donald Grant Violin
Ruth Gibson Viola
Christian Elliott Cello
Charlotte Ashton Flute
Maximiliano Martin Clarinet

Renié Ballade Fantastique
Caplet
Conte Fantastique
Constant
Harpalyce
Debussy
Danse sacrée et danse profane
Tournier
Sonatine Op 30
Ravel
Introduction and Allegro