Last modified: Monday, July 19, 2010
2010 USA International Harp Competition winner announced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- After 10 days of fierce competition amongst 39 harpists representing 15 nations, a gold-medal winner was chosen in the 2010 USA International Harp Competition Saturday night at the Musical Arts Center (MAC) of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Gold-medal winner Agnès Clément (left) with Susann McDonald, competition founder and artistic director.
Agnès Clément of Lyon, France, won the gold over two other finalists in front of a crowd of more than 1,400 people.
The 20-year-old Clément led a field that included Rino Kageyama of Japan, 20, who won the silver medal, and Russian harpist Vasilisa Lushchevskaya, 21, who took the bronze.
The eighth triennial contest, which opened July 7, featured an all-female field. After traveling thousands of miles and memorizing over two hours of required repertoire, competitors vied for more than $100,000 in cash and career assistance.
The fourth- through eighth-prize recipients were:
- 4th Prize: Coline-Marie Orliac, France
- 5th Prize: Jimin Lee, United Kingdom/South Korea
- 6th Prize: Ruriko Yamamiya, Japan
- 7th Prize: Gwenllian Llyr, United Kingdom (Wales)
- 8th Prize: Marta Marinelli, Italy
Special Prizes went to:
- Jan Jennings Prize for Best Performance of Awakening Stillnesses by Michael Maganuco: Coline-Marie Orliac, France
- Mario Falcao Prize for Best Performance of Concerto for Harp and Orchestra by Reinhold Glière: Rino Kageyama, Japan
Clément, who has been studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur Musique et Danse, put the final touches on her series of solid performances with Marcel Tournier's La danse du moujik and Reinhold Glière's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra, which was performed with the Jacobs School's Summer Festival Orchestra, conducted by David Effron.
Clément's first-place finish has earned her an array of prizes, including:
- Commemorative Lyon & Healy Gold Concert Grand Harp -- value $55,000 -- sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps
- Two debut recitals, sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps
- Artistic management, sponsored by the Victor Salvi Foundation
- $5,000 David and Linda Rollo Award, in memory of Mindee Rollo
The awards were announced by Charles Webb, Jacobs School dean emeritus, along with Susann McDonald, the competition's founder and artistic director. Soprano Sylvia McNair served as master of ceremonies for the evening's performances.
About Agnès Clément
Born in 1990, Agnès Clément started studying the harp at the age of 7 at the Conservatoire of Clermont-Ferrand (France) in Liliane Thalamas's class. A few years later, she started studying the bassoon in the same conservatoire, in Olivier Buisson's class.
She continued her musical studies at the Conservatoire of Boulogne-Billancourt (France), in Daniel Douay's and Pascale Schmitt's harp class and in Geneviève Grisenti's bassoon class. She completed her studies with a DEM (Diploma of End of Musical studies, the highest degree delivered by a French conservatoire) with honors for both instruments in 2007.
In 2008, she was admitted to the Superior Music Conservatoire of Lyon (France), in the harp class of Fabrice Pierre, Park Stikney, and Sylvain Blassel. She also continued her bassoon studies at the Conservatoire of Lyon, in Jean Pignoly's class.
At 20, she is already the winner of numerous national and international prizes: Second Prize of the International Harp Competition Valentino Bucchi ("L'Arpa nel 20 e 21° Seccolo") in Rome (Italy) in 2009, Third "Grand Prix" of the International Harp Competition Lily Laskine in Paris (France) in 2008, Raynaud-Zurfluh Prize and a French scholarship from "Royaume de la Musique" in 2007, and a Second Prize of the Young Bassoonist Competition ("Concours des Jeunes Bassonistes") in Aulnay-sous-Bois (France) in 2001.
Those various awards enabled her to be regularly invited to play recitals: by the French Association "Les Amis de Lily Laskine" (Lily Laskine's Friends), the International Association of Harpists and Friends of the Harp, the "Harpe en Avesnois" (Harp in Avesnois) festival of Maubeuge (France), in Four (France), the festival "Harpe en ciel" in Nancy (France) and the festival "J'arts com" (France), among others.
Clément has a very successful collaboration with flutist Julie Moulin. They are invited for the radio program Dans la Cour des Grands, presented by Gaëlle LeGallic on France Musiques; for the festival "Les Journées de la Harpe" in Arles (France); and for the festival "Déclic" of Radio France.
As soloist, Clément played the concerto by Zabel with the French orchestra Orchestre de la Garde Republicaine and the concertos by Boeldieu and Haendel with her five brothers and sisters, all high-level musicians, during a summer 2006 38-concert tour and an 11-concert tour in 2010. The success of those projects led them to record two CDs, titled Musique en Famille (Music in Family).
For more information, visit https://www.usaihc.org.
