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Heavenly Harp & Flute Duo Celia Canty and Debra Harris provided two hours of harp and flute music in the Lobby of the Ashland Springs Hotel each day for A Taste of Ashland, April 25 & 26. We certainly enjoy the acoustics of this elegant hotel lobby and our music sounds extra fine in the venue. Many folks passing through to go taste wine commented on how they wished they had more time to stay and listen. (They were off to the next wine stop!) Others carved out the time to get cozy in the luxurious settees and chairs and indulge in a wide variety of our music – everything from Andrea Bocelli’s Time to Say Good-bye and Webber’s Phantom Medley to Variations on Greensleeves which features Debra’s masterful flute playing. Medford’s KDRV Channel 12 even inserted us into their newscast describing how Taste of Ashland is helping to build  business partnerships with the arts!
Heavenly Harp & Flute – Taste of Ashland 2015 on Channel 12 KDRV

Here’s a press release about our upcoming concert which we are so excited to be playing together on Sunday, November 17, 2013 in Medford, Oregon, part of the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Chamber Music 2013-2014 series…. “La Vie en Rose”

LaVieConcert

It works! I’d previously played Guns ‘n’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine” as a special request for a wedding, only with my violinist colleague.

I’m happy to report that it works just fine on solo harp and the couple that requested it a few days ago for their wedding at Four Seasons Maui was so pleased with it, that they asked me to play it again after the ceremony! 🙂

(& yes, I’m back to my blogging – whew! What a year!)

Wow! Recently I’ve had an assortment of special requests to play on my harp for Maui weddings! Two weeks ago I learned and played Michael Bublé’s Everything, this past weekend I was requested to learn Beyoncé’s Halo, followed two days later by three Marx Brothers tunes played by violin and harp for a very young couple who loved the old standards of the early 20th century. We performed Only You! for the maids’ processional, Ev’ryone Says ‘I Love You’ for the Bride’s Entrance, and When My Dreams Come True for the couple’s Recessional. Many folks who’ve heard us play the traditional classical wedding repertoire and standard love songs for years commented how much fun these Marx Brothers tunes were and that we should play them more! Maybe we will! 🙂

Today I played my first Michael Bublé song for a wedding: Everything. The couple wanted to have it for their Recessional and so I learned it for them. It actually came off quite well. Michael Bublé definitely seems to be a contemporary Frank Sinatra and since I know several of Sinatra’s standards on the harp, this will be a fun twist to mix in when I play those, too.

I’m happy to learn special requests as I can to provide the music that is meaningful for your wedding. I do have to listen to them and look at the sheet music to see if they’re adaptable to the harp…. Everything most certainly was….the couple was pleased to have me play it at their wedding.

As a harpist on Maui, I enjoy playing for many types of events… of course, I enjoy the many Maui weddings and the Lana’i ones, too! I have also been fortunate to also provide music for a wide variety of other occasions, from local fundraisers for such as the Pacific Cancer Foundation to open houses for real estate agents, from Christmas parties to Mother’s Day at the Kea Lani. Recently, I played for Wailuku First Friday – April 1 – for Swan Interiors. It was wonderful providing elegant music in such an elegant interior design-furniture store. They have the most wonderful people working there and the owner, Kristin Holmes, absolutely LOVES what she does and it shows in her store and all of her interior design work.

My oft-times playing partner, Don Lax of Maui Violin, & I performed ceremony music for a very glamorous wedding at the Four Seasons Maui, November 13, 2010. StyleMePretty.com has featured the bride and her many elaborate details as well as an amazing video and has credited us with providing the music. While we don’t happen to be featured in the video, we are thrilled to be mentioned in the credits. Mahalo!

I didn’t know I’d get so excited to watch some of the Royal Wedding – but I did! I loved the elegance and detail and the special touches that came with the day. I enjoyed seeing the beautiful gown and I loved the couple’s second kiss on the balcony!

What was really special tho’ was that they had the Royal Harpist, Claire Jones, play for the several hundred guests at their luncheon that followed their fabulous morning wedding. Claire is sometimes known as Prince Charles’ Golden Girl, as he is responsible for reinstating the centuries-old post of Royal Harpist after a lapse of nearly 100 years. Claire is a beautiful harpist with an amazing harp. Interesting that my harp, having been built in 1913, is about as old as the last time they’d had a Royal Harpist until the reinstatement in 2007…

You, too, can have a beautiful gold harp played for your Maui wedding ceremony; and not only for your wedding ceremony, but also for your post-ceremony function: a harp makes wonderful background music for your cocktail time, reception, wedding dinner, etc. So give yourself the Royal Treatment today and book a fine harpist for your special event!

You can watch this great interview and music by Claire on youtube.

In April, I played for a lovely couple at the Four Seasons Maui venue of Plumeria Point. They had chosen Scott Drexler of Photos On Maui as their wedding photographer and I was delighted to work with Scott again… he’s not only a true artist, he’s also one of the nicest people you will ever hope to meet. He and his business partner, Bill Stockwell are amazing photographers and I always love working on the weddings they’re doing. Check out these beautiful photos by Scott Drexler involving my gold pedal harp. (Click on one to enlarge and there’s a scroll arrow in the right hand corner for moving to the next ones)

Harp Wedding Photo

Photo Through Harp Strings

Romance of the Harp

10/10/10 – A wonderfully symmetrical date that was oh so popular with brides this past year! I imagine 11/11/11 will be equally as busy, so if you’re planning a wedding for that date, start booking your favorite vendors now, especially if you want a sunset wedding.

I played for a lovely couple at the Four Seasons and the bride, Lisa Lum Friedman, wrote to me some weeks later and included these photos. She emailed: “Ray and I just wanted to thank you for being a part of our special day.  Although we didn’t even have a chance to meet you (so unfortunate!), we hope you know that we really appreciated your contribution to our wedding.  You were highly recommended and we can honestly say that we can understand why.  You completely set the tone for our ceremony and it was exactly what we wanted.  I do have to admit that I started to tear up when I heard Air on a G String but, thanks to Denise, I pulled myself together and was able to enjoy my moment walking down those stairs and down that aisle!  It was perfect!

“Ray and I truly apologize for not introducing ourselves after the ceremony.  It went by so quickly and even now (a little over a month later), it all still seems so surreal!  We really want you to know that you were a very important part of our big day and you are someone who will not be forgotten!”