The art of the harp

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:55:00 GMT

Innovative player Rhodri Davies scoops award from prestige U.S. foundation

Rhodri Davies

RHODRI Davies is a leading harpist who has provided backing for Charlotte Church, but also pioneered new techniques and sounds for his traditionally ethereal instrument. For example, he has built wind harps, recorded rain on the soundboard, played metal harp strings with dry ice and dipped a harp into the sea with a hydrophone inside its soundbox. He has even set a harp on fire...

And now this musician whose studies at the University of Huddersfield helped him to develop his radical new sounds and styles has been honoured by one of the world’s most prestigious arts foundations.

Mr Davies (pictured), who completed an MA degree at Huddersfield in 1995, will receive $25,000 (approximately £15,500) from the New York-based Foundation for Contemporary Arts, which was established in 1963 by the painter Jasper Johns and the composer John Cage. It now bestows annual awards to global musicians, artists, writers and performers, so that they can continue their artistic development.

Welsh-born Mr Davies – who now lives in the North East of England – was notified by email that he had been selected as one of 14 recipients in 2012. But he has no idea who nominated him for the award, because the Foundation does not divulge this. “Whoever it was, I am extremely grateful!” he said.

He will use the award money to cut down on his extensive foreign travel for a year, giving him time to develop his latest solo projects. And Mr Davies said he was especially honoured because he has been massively influenced by Foundation for Contemporary Arts co-founder John Cage.

“His compositions, philosophy, writings, art and humour have been hugely influential for me, and I have performed many of his compositions over the years”.

Rhodri Davies has been playing the harp since his Aberystwyth schooldays and he performs the instrument’s classical repertoire, having played with leading UK and European orchestras – and accompanied popular performers such as Welsh singer Charlotte Church.

But in his teens he was also heavily influenced by modern jazz and free improvisation. He was determined to develop an improvisational style on the harp – and it was when he arrived at the University of Huddersfield for his MA studies that he began to experiment with a group of like-minded students.

“That was the turning point,” said Mr Davies, who has frequently performed as a soloist or as part of a small ensemble at the world-renowned Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival – he has been a member of its board of management since 2008. This means he has also kept up his ties with the University and pays tribute to the members of staff who taught and influenced him, such as Dr Graham Cummings.

The Foundation for Contemporary Arts award will free up a year in which Mr Davies will develop two solo projects he has been keen to work on. They will build on his previous solo harp releases – ‘Trem’ (2001) and ‘Over Shadows’ (2007).

“The first new project is a solo harp LP that will work with noise, rhythm and pitches in a way that is open to distortion, random occurrence and chance,” he explains. “In my work, I have sought to avoid the harp’s ‘beautiful’ sounds in order to explore noise, silence, timbre and texture by working with live electronics, preparations, and duration, and this album forms an extension of that aim.

“The second project will form a document of my extended installation and sound-art work, including ‘Room Harp’, ‘Wind Harp’, ‘Fire Harp’, ‘Water Harp’, ‘Dry Ice Harp’ and ’Electric Wind Harp’. This is a project where I have used the elements to sound the harp. This will also be released on LP format next year.

Rhod 2 “My releases will be on vinyl as the CD format has largely come to the end of its popularity and many experimental and improvised musics are still being released on LP format, partly for the sound quality but also the scope for larger artwork on the cover,” added Mr Davies.