USA International Harp Competition concludes

The harp melodies quieted and a gold medal was awarded as the 2010 USA International Harp Competition came to a close Saturday night.

The eighth triennial competition has been running since July 7 at the Musical Arts Center. Out of 39 harpists from 15 countries, all of this year’s participants were women.

Six of these contestants were IU students, while four were alumnae of the IU harp department.

“The field from top to bottom was exceptionally talented,” said Andrew Bratton, executive director of the competition. “There were a lot of tough decisions in cutting the field down. In each of the three stages, they did eliminations because they were so strong.”

Agnes Clement from Lyon, France, won the gold medal. Clement has been studying the harp since she was 7 years old. She has been studying at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris.

On the second day of the competition, Clement experienced a debilitating muscle injury in her back resulting in a trip to Bloomington Hospital. She performed the rest of the competition sporting a back brace.

“That was definitely overcoming adversity in order to find her moment in the sun,” Bratton said.

As Clement dealt with her injury, the judges obviously found nothing painful about her harp playing.

“The thing we heard time and again was she just played everything so well,” Bratton said. “Her aptitude was very high, her ability to take the notes on a page and play, her interpretations were strong. ... A lot of the errors that you might hear and be judged and docked points for, she just didn’t have because she was just so skilled and played so cleanly.”

Clement’s prizes include a $55,000 commemorative Lyon & Healy gold concert grand harp, two debut recitals and a CD recording, both sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps, and the $5,000 David and Linda Rollo Award in memory of Mindee Rollo. She will also receive artistic management sponsored by the Victor Salvi Foundation.

Following Clement with the silver medal was Japan’s Rino Kageyama, who will receive the $5,000 Dick Johnson Memorial Prize. Bronze medalist Vasilisa Lushchevskaya of Russia was awarded the $4,000 Jung-suk Han Memorial Prize.

Fourth- through eighth-place winners include Coline-Marie Orliac from France, Jimin Lee from the United Kingdom and South Korea, Ruriko Yamamiya from Japan, Gwenllian Llyr from the United Kingdom and Marta Marinelli from Italy.

Each of the fourth through eighth places received various prizes ranging from $1,000 to $3,000.

Two special awards of $1,000 were also given. France’s Coline-Marie Orliac won the Jan Jennings Prize for Best Performance of “Concerto for Harp and Orchestra” by Reinhold Gliere, and Japan’s Rino Kageyama won the Mario Falcao Prize for Best Performance of “Awakening Stillnesses” by Michael Maganuco.

These special awards were given to harpists who did not necessarily place but were thought to have played in a way that Bratton said exceeds the technical requirements.

“At the same time they’re selecting the percentages and giving scores, they’re considering what they’ve heard,” Bratton said. “They’re giving points for interpretation as well as mastery of the challenges of the piece itself, playing with artistry as well as skill as well as fewest mistakes.”

The competition had four stages, each with specific time and repertoire requirements.

Each harpist ultimately performed two hours of music if she made it to the competition’s final stage.

Seven judges from varying countries were involved in making decisions throughout the competition.

Bratton said he hopes the 2013 will see an expansion, especially among South American and Central American harpists to compete. None were present at this year’s contest.

“We always want to grow, so if we can get as many or more participants, we’d like to expand,” Bratton said. “We want to have as much quality as we can and as much diversity in the field as possible.”