Help send a harpist to Aspen
elizabethbawel.com
Recording of Debussy's Dance Sacree used in my Aspen audition
There's a question I am asked when I reveal that I play the harp. "Why?" This question usually sounds like this: "What made you decide on the harp?" This question is easy to answer because I decided to play harp just as I decided to be born. It simply happened without decision, and that's how I answer. The follow-up question usually goes: "What is it about the harp, then?" I don't have a satisfactory answer for that in words alone. And so, I hope to answer through playing harp.
I auditioned for and was accepted to attend the 2014 Aspen Summer Music Festival, running from June 18th to August 17th. I am incredibly honored and excited to have this opportunity before me. I know that I will be challenged in the best ways and I will be a better musician for it. I am excited to bring back all that I will accomplish and learn to the rest of my graduate studies and into the professional realm. I am even more excited to answer the question "Why the harp?" with an experience I can effectively translate in performance. I want to give my joy and passion to others this way and through a sharing of knowledge. I have enough of that now to accomplish that well. What I want is to accomplish that so completely that I and those who listen come away knowing something indescribably wonderful. Aspen is a necessary stepping stone to do this.
I attended my first music festival in 2006. Attending a music festival was at first a challenge. I suffered from big-fish-small-pond syndrome and the shock of finding out what the standards actually were temporarily disabled me. The repertoire was more involved, the skills more refined, the musicianship astonishing. I had never known anything like this. After a week of crying to my parents over the phone that I didn't belong, the festival began in earnest and I was expected to play. I had played in youth orchestras, but I had never experienced anything before like I did when so much talent came together. It was beautiful, when we all rehearsed and performed. There's a shared energy that builds until you, the group, have reached a place that observers can experience with you. I desperately wanted this in my life, so I vowed to learn the things that make musicians great: subtlety, variety, expressivity, proficiency, versatility, and plenty other "“ty's. The festival was where I really understood the difference between notes and music.
I had grown so much since then. Between the Interlochen Arts Academy and the University of Toronto, I had to rise with the standards. I am about to do that again. This time is different. This time, I will have to be a professional, not a student training to be a professional. The talent is exceptional in the truest sense of the word, and I have to be just as exceptional.
As many of my generation can attest, it is difficult to find the funding necessary for educational needs. Scholarships are scarce, especially for harpists, and while I have been fortunate in having the most loving and unconditionally supportive parents and a wonderful community, I need your help. Any little bit helps. Even passing along this information helps. Whatever you can offer, be it financial support or words of encouragement, I am so, so grateful. Whatever knowledge I take in at Aspen, I hope to give back in music. Why the harp? So I can give the greatest thing I have to offer to you: An experience. The most satisfying kind.
Recording of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermore cadenza used in my Aspen audition
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Breakdown of funds:
Tuition: $3,550
Room and Board: $3,550
Health Service: $185
Security Deposit: $100
Practice Room (required for harpists): $90
Ravel's Introduction et Allegro performed May 29th, 2013 at the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto.
Harp - Elizabeth Bawel
Flute - Jessica Leung
Clarinet - Kishan Chouhan
Violin I - Colin Repas
Violin II - Erica Williamson
Viola - Christopher Arnold
Cello - Beth Sil
