
Heavenly Harp & Flute – Taste of Ashland 2015 on Channel 12 KDRV
Touch of Aloha for Southern Oregon
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”
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!)
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.
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)
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!”