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The North London Festival would like to thank the UKHA – United Kingdom Harp Association for its generous sponsorship of the harp competitions at the North London Festival from 2022.
The Festival is very grateful to Salvi Music London for providing harps for competitors to use in all the harp competitions
This year’s adjudicators: Rachel Wick and Lucy Wakeford.
The harp competitions were held in North Bank Rooms , Muswell Hill Methodist Church, Pages Lane, Muswell Hill, London N10 1PP.
A quote from Erica about this year’s Harp Festival, “The North London Festival is one of the best organised festivals with the kindest people.“
Classes are open to lever and pedal harpists, but entrants for any of the harp competitions should be studying or resident in the United Kingdom or Ireland and must provide the adjudicator with a clean copy of the music for each work to be performed.
In the recital classes, where a grade is specified, the own choice repertoire is not limited to pieces from graded exam syllabi but should be of equivalent standard.
If an entrant has been a pupil of the Adjudicator in the year prior to the Festival or is well-known to the Adjudicator, they should contact the Section Head before entering.
Harpists are eligible to enter some string competitions and may be interested in performing their own compositions. See String and Composition sections.
Harp chamber ensemble competitions will this year be combined with string chamber music competitions. Non-classical harpists should look at the folk music classes, 514 and 515. Both these competitions can be found in the Chamber Music, Ensemble and Folk Music Section.
Full details are in the Harp Section Syllabus (link on the right or below).
Click on the links below for information on how to apply or to apply online. The first time that you use the entry system, you will need to register.
The closing date for harp classes is Friday 5th April 2024
Until 2021, CAMAC Harps sponsored the harp competitions of the North London Festival.
We had to cancel our harp competitions in London in May 2020 because of the Covid-19 crisis – but offered a video competition instead. This is the first time we have run such a contest, and it went viral in more than one sense of the word! With over 170 entries across the board, we have been thrilled by the response. Huge thanks go to our jurors, Caryl Thomas and Sally Pryce, who have certainly been kept busy! Click on the ‘Read More’ button for full results.
2020 COMPETITION WINNERS
Camac Competition – Llywelyn Ifan Jones Winner of the 2020 Camac Competition at the North London Festival / Camac video competitions 2020, plays Visions in Twilight by Garrett Byrnes (*1971), and Fantasy op. 12 on Gounod’s ‘Faust’ by Albert Zabel (1834 – 1910).
Grades 7-8 Recital – Matilda Whates Winner of the Class at the North London Festival / Camac video competitions 2020, plays the first movement of Handel’s Concerto op. 4 no. 6, and Nataliana by Deborah Henson-Conant.
Grades 5-6 Recital – Meredith Hau Winner of the Grades 5-6 Recital Class at the North London Festival / Camac video competitions 2020, plays Danza de Luzma by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, and Presto by J C Bach.
Grades 3-4 Recital – Dulce Tilley Winner of the Grades 3-4 Recital Class at the North London Festival / Camac video competitions 2020, plays Prelude in C Major from JS Bach’s ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ BWV 846, and Two Guitars by Linda Wood.
Grades 1-2 Recital – Melanie Hau Winner of the Grades 1-2 Recital Class at the North London Festival / Camac video competitions 2020, plays ‘Mountain Stream’ and ‘Swing Time’, both by Skaila Kanga.
Llywelyn Ifan Jones Photo: Keith Morris
First Prize: Llywelyn Ifan Jones Second Prize: Lise Vandersmissen Third Prize: Clara Gatti Comini Commendation: Clara Garde UKHA Prize: Aimee Lam
G05, grades 7 – 8
First Prize: Matilda Whates Second Prize: Hannah Runting Third Prize: Arwen Withey-Harrison
G04, grades 5 – 6
First Prize: Meredith Hau Second Prize: Heather Stark Third Prize: David van Wingerden
G03, grades 3 – 4
First Prize: Dulce Tilley Second Prize: Sophie Lam Sze Kei Third Prize: Isabella Cook-Northcott
G02, grades 1-2
First Prize: Melanie Hau Second Prize: Rosie Wang and Anya Dutta ex-aequo Third Prize: Emilie Akpeki and Lily Ghaffari-Gandy ex-aequo
G06, Study 13 and under
First Prize: Erin Fflur Jardine Second Prize: Meredith Hau Third Prize: Emira Kangesan and Caitlin Liew ex-aequo
G07, Study 18 and under
First Prize: Sabrina Savenkova Second Prize: Ella Gummow
The video below shows performances from the 2019 CAMAC Harp Competition, together with an interview with Helen Leitner, the then festival section head for harps.
The North London Festival would like to thank the UKHA – United Kingdom Harp Association for its generous sponsorship of the harp competitions at the North London Festival from 2022.
The Festival is very grateful to Salvi Music London for providing harps for competitors to use in all the harp competitions
