Harp

Sharing and exploring the endless possibilities and features of the harp have been deep rooted in the Dutch harp tradition for decades. With an international team of teachers with a wide range of expertise, the CvA harp department offers an environment for students to excel in their musical and technical abilities and find their unique musicianship and creative voice - no copy-cats. Each student is invited to explore and deepen their tone forming, expressivity and clarity within a structured curriculum to develop their autonomous, and independent musical identity.

Besides lessons from the harp faculty teachers the harp curriculum includes masterclasses from renowned international guest teachers, audition training, weekly groups lessons, eight harp faculty students’ concerts a year, orchestra projects, a yearly harp chamber music festival, competition preparation and fruitful collaborations with other CvA departments for crossover or collaborative projects.

Special attention is paid to orchestral performance, avant-garde, period performance practice and the small harp. Another feature of the harp programme is special audition training

Admission requirements
Audition candidates will be selected on the basis of a video recording to be submitted digitally via the application form. Recordings must be received by February 1st at the latest. The video repertoire consists of a diverse selection from the required audition repertoire of maximum 15 minutes.

Audition

the exam will take 15 minutes playing time
at least one work is to be played from memory
if the candidate does not meet the requirements for the bachelor programme, he/she may be admitted to the preparatory course
scales and triads may be tested
sight-reading may be tested

Audition repertoire

The programme to be prepared (duration: 25 minutes) should comprise:

required work: C. Salzedo - Chanson dans la nuit for harp solo
etudes: two etudes, one with scales and one with broken chords
sonata or sonatina from the 18th century or the first movement from G.F. Händel's harp concerto
pieces: two works from different periods (18th/19th/20th/21st century)

The student will concentrate on the further mastering of all aspects of harp playing. After two years, the student will be ready to enter the professional music world at the highest level as a soloist, chamber player and orchestral musician.

Audition repertoire

1. The exam will take 30 minutes playing time. The candidate is required to play at least half of the exam programme from memory.

2. The candidate must submit a list of repertoire with a proposed programme for the entrance examination to the CvA study secretariat before 15 February. The programme to be prepared (duration: 45 minutes), should comprise at least:

first movement from a solo concerto of the candidate's choice
a J.S. Bach suite or C.Ph.E. Bach - solo sonata in G
a Romantic virtuoso piece
an impressionist piece
a modern piece

Gwyneth Wentink section representative & principal subject
Erika Waardenburg principal subject
Sandrine Chatron orchestra & audition training
Miriam Overlach chamber musi