All of us who hear frequently Ray Conniff recordings are familiar to his use of
a harp in the arrangements. Also, in some the shows we heard and saw harp solos
done by Elaine Seely and Stepahnie Bennett.
 
Ray have used the harp as part of the orchestra since the very begginning and I
believe he was the only conductor that had done it. As far as we know, Janet
Putman and Stella Castelucci were in the first recordings.
 
Is quite uncommon to see an harpist playing nowadays, but to my surprise some
weeks I saw a harp concert in the television and learned it was part of the IV
Rio Harp Festival held during the last week of May in Rio de Janeiro.
 
I got impressed with the performance of a turkish harpist. She had a so gentle
touch that seemed her fingers didn´t even hit the strings. In the repertoire
classical works from US, european and an Iranian composers.
 
Unfortunately, this young lady was aboard of the Air France Flight that
dissapeared in the Atlantic Ocean on June, 1st. Her name was Fatma Ceren
Necipoglu.
 
If any of you have the opportunity of watching or hearing one of her recent
concerts I think its worth.
 
Best to all of you guys 
 
 
 
 
 




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