The Future Blend Project was launched in 2015 by harpist Fran Barsby. This project is already enriching our harp repertoire with many new works over the past two years. It is an annual competition that brings composers and harpists together to create brand new music for the harp. Ten finalist compositions are chosen from anonymous scores, the composers then have five months to work with their harpist to create the best piece possible for the instrument. The Hidden Gem Concert in the first week of January is the showcase and World Premiere of these ten new works. In addition to the performance at the FBP concert, winning pieces are given video web presence on the FPB website, plus publication so they are available to all to learn and perform. 'FBP' was founded to increase the amount of music composed for the harp and is inspired by the difficult path young professional musicians and composers face in order to succeed in the music industry.
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Following on from its inaugural concert last year, the second Future blend concert was another success, this time bringing together harpists and composers from not just Birmingham, but all over the world, to premiere new pieces for solo harp at the beautiful Lord Leycester Hospital in Scenic Warwick. An excellent and much-needed initiative set up by Fran Barsby to address the lack of contemporary solo harp repertoire, this project pairs up each composer with a harpist. The two work on a piece together, with all pieces performed and the chosen ones (those selected to receive either the audience prize or one of the judges' prizes) published by Poppyharp publishing in both digital and physical editions.
As the concert featured no less than 13 new pieces it's hard to mention them all in name, though the result was an incredibly varied concert, performed by great harpists from all over the UK and attended by the majority of composers taking part – some travelling all the way from the US. |