PRESS RELEASE – Asni - harps: 2005 Tour of New Zealand

Go here for press cuttings & reviews!

“700 years of pop” is how German-born harpist Asni describes her music, which she will be performing on a tour for Chamber Music New Zealand next month, as well as at several venues in Wellington. Internationally recognized as a specialist on medieval and baroque harps, Asni one day got tired of playing only music written before the year 1750, and picked up a Beatles tune. Rather to her surprize, it sounded really well on the harp, and since then she has been exploring the repertory of contemporary pop and film music more thoroughly.

Improvisation – also called jamming - plays a large part not only in jazz and contemporary music, but also in baroque and medieval music, and it bridges the time gap between songs written and popular at the time of the Crusades, and arrangements from Howard Shore’s “Lord of the Rings” soundtrack. Inbetween are jazzy arrangements of pop songs from the Renaissance, dance hits from the era of J.S. Bach, roots music from the Spanish Golden Age, and a selection of folk tunes from Ireland, Africa and Estonia – the latter are culled from an old and battered book on Estonian folk dance that has been passed down to Asni on her mother’s side of the family.

“As a harpist, people always seem to assume that one has to be some sort of angelic – or spaced-out? – New Age-y sort of person” says Asni, “ but I am much too down to earth for that! I like pieces that have a strong rhythm, a groove, a swing. I also love exploring all the different tone colours one can produce on a harp. Proper phrasing and expression are important – it is all about how the music ‘speaks’, and you can apply that to a modern pop song just as well as to any baroque or medieval piece.”
“I like the unexpected and will often surprize myself in the middle of a performance, with an idea, an expression, a turn of phrase that I hadn’t thought of before. Improvisation plays an important part – most of the arrangements are my own, but they aren’t nailed down and fixed for all time, but will often change over the course of several performances. And I am definitely not trying to be mystical or angelic, except under very rare circumstances! Down to earth and groovy is more my thing, and at times I can be quite the drama queen on stage.”

Asked what made her pick up such an unlikely instrument, Asni’s answer is spontaneous: “Reading too much Tolkien!” Disappointed with the decidedly un-elfish unwieldiness of the modern pedal harp, which she had been learning since a teenager, she took up early harps after finding out about all the fascinating varieties of the instrument that existed during the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque eras. Meanwhile, she has established herself internationally as one of the foremost modern performers on early harps. She was a member of New York early music ensemble ARTEK/458 strings, as well as working with internationally acclaimed ensembles such as Chanticleer (USA) and the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra (Sweden). Later this year she will be representing New Zealand at the World Harp Congress in Dublin, Ireland.
In 2003, Asni came to New Zealand for a tour of concerts, fell in love with the place and stayed. She has been teaching at Victoria University Wellington, as well as getting involved in Wellington’s vibrant cultural life in various other ways. She has performed with singer Pepe Becker and her specialist early music ensemble “Baroque Voices”, as well as with alternative pop group dGare at last year’s Fringe festival. Asni is also an accomplished painter and photographer and is currently exhibiting some of her work at 91 Aro St. in Wellington, which is also the venue for her next upcoming performance.

Little did Asni imagine, when she first went to see Peter Jackson’s “Fellowship of the Rings” in her native Berlin some four years ago, that the movie would spin her life out of orbit and have her end up on the other side of the globe. So impressed was she by the creative accomplishments of the movie, that she decided Wellington was the place to go: “If they can pull off something like that, it can’t be a bad place for someone like me!”
Chance, or fate, assisted her in putting her idea of coming to New Zealand into practice: On an internet fan forum she made friends with a former Victoria University music graduate, who put her in touch with the university’s music department. Eight months and many, many emails later she boarded the plane to embark on a three month tour of the country – and fell utterly in love with the place. It then turned out that one of the music students at Victoria University had an interest in learning about, of all things, baroque harp, and so she was offered a small teaching position. Immersed in Wellington’s creative buzz and delighted by the support that artistic and creative endeavours are currently receiving both from government and City Council, and from the man and woman in the streets – which is in stark contrast to the attitudes she has encountered in her native Germany - she has never looked back.

Asni will be presenting her programme “700 Years of Pop” in Te Awamutu, Tokoroa, Warkworth, and Motueka, as well as in Wellington. In addition, she will be performing her new programme “Travelling in Middle-Earth” in Hamilton, Dunedin and at Old St.Paul’s in Wellington.

Upcoming performances:

Wellington: Friday, 22 April,7 pm at 91 Aro St: “Jammin’ at the gallery – Asni , harp; Rick Jensen – saxophone; Richard Whyte – guitar.
Wellington: Wednesday, 4 May, 1.30 pm, Central Library, Victoria St: “700 years of pop” - as part of the New Zealand Music Month presentations.

Chamber Music New Zealand tour: “700 Years of Pop”:
Te Awamutu, Saturday, 7 May, 2.30 pm – Waipa Council Chambers
Tokoroa, Sunday, 8 May, 2 pm – Putaruru Timber Museum, Pinewood room
Warkworth, Sunday, 15 May, 12 noon – Mahurangi Estate Winery
Motueka, Saturday, 21 May, 7.30 pm – Chanel Arts Centre

For more information visit the Chamber Music New Zealand website

Additional tour dates in May and June: “Travelling in Middle Earth”:
Hamilton, Wednesday, 11 May, 1 pm – Lunchtime concert, Performing Arts Center, University of the Waikato
Dunedin, Wednesday, 18 May, 1 pm - Lunchtime concert, Marama Concert Hall, Otago University
Wellington; Tuesday, 28 June, 12.15 pm – Lunchtime concert, Old St. Paul’s

cd release: Asni – 700 Years of Pop, with Laurie Randolph, guitar, Christian Hagitte, producer – available through the shop and in selected music stores

About Asni

German-born harpist Asni has been an active participant of the European early harp revival since its beginnings in the mid-1980s. Asked what made her pick up such an unlikely instrument, her answer is spontaneous: “Reading too much Tolkien!” Disappointed with the decidedly un-elfish unwieldiness of the modern pedal harp, which she had been learning since a teenager, she took up early harp after finding out about all the fascinating varieties of the instrument that existed during the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Baroque eras.

She has established herself internationally as one of the foremost modern performers on early harps. She has bern a member of New York early music ensemble ARTEK/458 strings, and toured the USA with the Mark Morris Dance Group, as well as working with internationally acclaimed ensembles such as Chanticleer (USA) and the Drottningholm Baroque Orchestra (Sweden). Later this year she will be representing New Zealand at the World Harp Congress in Dublin, Ireland, as well as perform and teach in Prague, Czech Republic.

In 2003 she came to New Zealand to do some concerts, fell in love with the place and stayed. Currently, she is teaching early harps at Victoria University Wellington, as well as performing with a wide range of music ensembles in the creative capital – covering musical styles ranging from early music to alternative pop, performing with dGare at last year’s Fringe festival.

In recent years, she has developed a strong interest in popular music styles, folk and world music, and in film music. Her performances usually include many of her own arrangements and improvisations, and more recently she has taken up composing. She is a big fan of New Zealand music and particularly of NZ reggae, and can be found regularly hanging out at Indigo bar and at festivals such as Womad or the Soundsplash! Festival in Raglan.

Her artistic interests also include photography, painting and writing, as well as looking after her own ever spreading website, www.asni.net. She is currently exhibiting her photos and artwork at Aro Arts, 91 Aro St, in Wellington, as well as on the internet.

Find more biographical information here!

Chamber Music New Zealand tour: May 2005
World Harp Congress Dublin: July 2005

Asni's concert schedule 2005

last updated: 18 April, 2005