Chetham's School of Music

Sponsored by Salvi

In partnership with Chetham’s School of Music and RNCM

The Manchester Harp Festival team is delighted to announce the inaugural Manchester Harp Competition at Stoller Hall, Manchester, to take place Friday 19 – Saturday 20 January 2024 as part of Manchester Harp Festival.

We would like to thank Salvi Music London for its generous sponsorship, prizes and performance opportunities.

The cost of entering also includes entry to the 2024 Manchester Harp festival on Saturday 20 January (excluding headline performance) which includes workshops, performances and demonstrations throughout the day.

Entries and Submission of videos close 10 December 2023.

Please read on for the full competition details.

Competition Categories

Open Class

All abilities encouraged, looking for interesting musicality, interpretations and unique creative ideas. All types of harp welcomed. No age limitation, open to young and old.

Free choice programme of up to a maximum of 10 mins. There is no minimum length of entry, and you may play the same rep in both rounds.

Entry price: £15

Enter the Open Class

Please note that the date showing during the entry payment process is the final deadline for entries – you can enter at any time up until this point.

Advanced, Senior Musician Class

Open to grade 8+ and young professionals up to age of 30.

Free choice of programme up to a maximum of 20 mins. There is no minimum length of entry, and you may play the same rep in both rounds.

Entry price: £40

Enter the Advanced, Senior Musician Class

Please note that the date showing during the entry payment process is the final deadline for entries – you can enter at any time up until this point.

Competition Details

First Rounds: Initial digital recorded entry. You will receive details on how to send in your recorded entry via email once you have paid for entry.

Deadline: 5pm on 10 December 2023

Finals: Live performances in The Stoller Hall Manchester, as part of the Manchester Harp Festival 2024, Saturday 20 January 2024

Adjudicators for initial recorded entries: Esther Swift, Tanya Houghton and Richard Allen

Adjudicators for the Finals: Anneleen Lenaerts, Tom Redmond (Director of Music, Chetham’s School of Music) and Chris Hoyle (Head of Strings RNCM).

Prizes

OPEN

• First – Salvi £500 vouchers
• Second – Salvi £250 vouchers
• Third – £100 Salvi vouchers

ADVANCED

• First – Salvi £500 vouchers and performance at Salvi’s London
• Second – Salvi £250 vouchers and performance at The Stoller Hall
• Third – £100 Salvi vouchers

MORE DETAILS

This competition is open to all varieties of harp and harp playing styles.

In the final round, entrants are invited to verbally introduce the programme.

All finalists will also be invited to play on a competition Salvi or Lyon and Healy harp of their choice, kindly loaned to the competition by Salvi Music London. Entrants needing to play a different type of harp i.e. a chromatic, or electric harp, should bring their own instrument.

Entrants must provide the adjudicator with a clean copy of the music for each work to be performed.

Every entrant will receive a written adjudication sheet and a certificate of participation.

Before recording your video entry, please refer back to the website for the full details of your class, including maximum time allowed.

Once you are happy with your video entry, please upload it as directed in the pdf attached in your entry confirmation.

Email a link to the video to the email address provided in the same pdf.

Please ensure that you use the same name and email address as used to sign-up and pay for your entry. This is so that we can match your video to your competition entry.

Entries that are submitted without a matching name and/or email address will not be judged.

You cannot submit multiple entries. If you feel that there is an error with your video entry, please contact stolleradmin@chethams.com.

If for whatever reason you cannot submit your video via the above system, please let us know well before the deadline.

Entries submitted after the deadline of 5pm, Sunday 10 December 2023 will not be judged.

Planned Timings for Round 2 Adjudication On Saturday 20 January 2024.

• • • • • Open competition:
          • 9:00-9:10: competitor 1
          • 9:20-9:30: competitor 2
          • 9:40- 9:50: competitor 3
          • 10:00-10:10: competitor 4
          • 10:20-10:30: competitor 5
          • Break
        • Advanced competition:
          • 11:00-11:20: competitor 1
          • 11:30-11:50: competitor 2
          • 12:00- 12:20: competitor 3
          • 12:30-12:50: competitor 4
          • 1:00- 1:20: competitor 5
          • 1:30 END

(Banner Image Credit: Claire Farrugia)