By Adam Prudhomme
Staff Reporter
Tranquil music will fill the air around the Macpherson House next Wednesday evening as renowned Canadian harpist Sharlene Wallace performs the first ‘Music in the Garden’ of the season.
The Macpherson House will be a familiar setting for Wallace, who has performed at the historic house before. Provided the weather cooperates, her show will be held outdoors on the banks of the Napanee River, surrounded by the Macpherson House gardens.
“The type of music that I play is really conducive to mirroring the spaciousness of my pieces with the outdoor space that I’m playing within,” said Wallace. “It also allows for space and time to notice the sounds of the outdoors with maybe birds, crickets or the train, whatever that is, it’s all part of the experience.”
With seven CDs worth of material to draw upon, Wallace says she doesn’t have a concrete set list for her show. She did say it will feature mostly her original music, which draws upon the history of the Canadian landscape.
“Macpherson House carries its own heritage and its very Canadiana and that’s part of the reason I’ll be playing my own music, because obviously it’s Canadian,” said Wallace. “I won’t be able to stop myself from playing a jig set from a Halifax fiddler.”
Between songs she’ll mix in stories from her travels as well as offer a brief history on the harp, which has woven its way into several cultures around the world, dating back to 3000 BCE.
Specializing in both the celtic and pedal harp, Wallace serves as the principal harpist with the Kingston, Oakville and Guelph Symphonies.
She’s earned international accolades for her playing, winning the U.S. based Lyon and Healy International Pop and Jazz Lever Harp Competition as well as France’s Concours d’Improvisation de Rencontres Internationales de Harpe Celtique. She has also performed concerts and taught workshops across Canada, the U.S., France and Italy.
When not on tour or recording, she is the music faculties of Wilfred Laurier University and York University, teaching both classical and lever harps.
Tickets for Wednesday’s show are $3 and available at the door. Guests are asked to bring their own lawn chair.
The show will get started at 7 p.m.
Her performance will be the first of a two part Music in the Garden series at the Macpherson House. The second will take place Aug. 30 and feature The Kitchen Gypsies.