Maryanne Meyer recently finished her master’s degree, and it was time for the real world, which for Meyer meant finding work as a professional harpist.
She plays with Symphony in C in Camden, N.J., and the Delaware Symphony, and she always keeps her eyes open for side gigs.
I take whatever comes up, she said.
In many ways, Meyer is living her dream, but there is one drawback: She suddenly has a lot less practice time than she used to. That’s why she’s so grateful to be spending part of the summer at the Saratoga Harp Colony.
`It’s such a beautiful setting to be able to focus so completely on playing,` she said. `It’s very valuable to me.`
Meyer first came to the colony five years ago, when it accepted its first class. The colony was founded by Elizabeth Hainen, the principal harpist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who also happened to be one of Meyer’s professors when she was studying for her master’s at Temple University.
Hainan decided to open the colony after a similar one in Maine closed its doors.
`I felt there was a void on the East Coast,` Hainan said.
Familiar with Saratoga since the Philadelphia Orchestra calls the Saratoga Performing Arts Center its summer home, Hainan thought it was the `perfect place` to set up shop.
The colony’s students are generally from high school age to college age. Most have aspirations of being professional harpists. They spend their time at the colony immersed in music — taking lessons from professionals, watching the Philadelphia Orchestra and others perform at SPAC, staging mock auditions and putting on performances. The colony will hold concerts Sunday, Aug. 16, at Skidmore College and Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Adelphi Hotel in Saratoga.
Skidmore is more than just a concert venue for the students. It’s where they live while attending the colony, which offers a one-week session or a three-week session.
It might sound like summer camp, but Hainen shies away from that word, which she thinks conjures up images of macrame.
`It’s not a camp,` she said. `It’s a program. It’s a festival. They’re here to study.`
`It’s a chance to be with our own kind,` said Diana Elliott, who studies with Hainen at Temple. Like Meyer, Elliott hopes to make a career of playing the harp, and she thinks the experience she’s gaining at the harp colony will prove invaluable.
`It’s fantastic. I’m loving it,` she said. `We’re all teaching each other something. Then we get to see the orchestra. You get a chance to see master musicians.`
It’s a chance that Hainen didn’t have as a kid. Her dad was a violinist with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, so Hainen grew up around music. But when she decided she wanted to play the harp after being captivated by the instrument during a performance of `The Nutcracker,` there was no place nearby where she could totally indulge her love of the instrument.
That’s one of the reasons she relished the idea of having a colony where young harpists could study.
`I’m kind of living vicariously through them,` she said with a laugh.
Helen Cerhold, who lives outside of Philadelphia in Lansdale, was just 5 when she was introduced to the harp by her aunt, Yi Liu, a professional harpist who bought Cerhold a tiny Irish version of the instrument. Now 13, Cerhold said she wasn’t taken with the harp right away, but she’s grown fond enough of it that when she learned about the colony, `I thought it would be good experience.`
This is her second year at the colony, and she particularly likes being around other people who take the harp seriously.
Hainen finds those students largely through word of mouth, as well as through ads in harp magazines. Potential attendees must send a recording as well as letters of recommendation. They’re responsible for their own transportation to and from Saratoga, as well as the cost of tuition, which is $1,100 for the one-week session and $2,600 for the full session.
As the colony’s popularity has grown, so has its ability to give out scholarships, Hainen said. Stewart’s has donated money for scholarships, as have some local families.
`We’re really, really thankful for the support,` she said.
She’s called on personal friends to help fill another need at the colony. In its early days, almost every student brought his or her own harp, Hainen said. But since the colony is drawing an increasing number of international harpists, the colony needs to have several of the massive harps on hand for students to rent. Those come from private collections around the region — Hainen has a colleague in Boston, for example, who made four or five harps available this summer.
As intricate as harps are, Hainen said it’s easy for musicians to get caught up in the instrument’s technical aspects. She hopes her students leave the colony having learned to focus more on the harp’s music.
`I want these younger musicians to open their ears,` she said.
She also wants to introduce the public to the beauty of the harp with the colony’s concerts.
`It’s not just some wallflower instrument,` she said. `The sound is completely embracing.`
She promises a varied repertoire at the colony’s shows. The Aug. 16 concert will be in Skidmore’s Filene Recital Hall at 3 p.m. The Adelphia Hotel performance is also at 3 p.m. Both are free and open to the public.
For information, visit www.saratogaharpcolony.org.
“