Panta Rhei: Celtic & Mediterranean Music for Harp by Diana Rowan

Diana’s exploration of the intersection between art and traditional music inspires her work, acknowledging the harp’s ancient past while building a bridge to its modern voice.

MORE BIO & PROJECTS

Having played piano since childhood, Diana classical training culminated in receiving a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance, under her mentor, Tchaikovsky prize winner Roy Bogas. Special studies in Baroque performance practice and piano literature were taken with Stephen Schultz of Philharmonia Baroque and Betty Woo of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. During this time Diana gave numerous classical piano recitals as well as piano duo concerts, including a performance of the Poulenc Concerto in d minor for Two Pianos with orchestra with Becky Boblak.

Meanwhile, Diana’s love for Celtic, Balkan and Middle Eastern music found a perfect voice in the harp, and intensive studies with leading lights of these music genres followed, after an initial focus on early music with historical harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton. Currently Diana studies with Alice Giles, one of the world's leading classical and avant-garde harpists.

Collaboration is a huge source of inspiration for Diana, and she currently works with Bon Singer, founder of acclaimed ensemble Kitka and premier conductor of Balkan choral music in the US, in the original music ensemble Ya Elah. Diana’s harp trio Trillium, also featuring harpists Maureen Brennan (Diana’s original harp teacher) and Patrice Haan, has been garnering rave reviews throughout the Bay Area, performing works from the Middle Ages to new music in innovative arrangements showcasing the harp’s versatility. Diana recently toured nationally with Deepak Ram (bansuri), Neva Ozgen (kemenche) and Tupac Mantilla (percussion) as the Hindustani-Turkish- jazz group Seher, and has several other exciting projects in the works.

Reviews

This first offering by Diana Rowan is a delicious piece of work, both in arrangement and performance..."Panta Rhei" is a brilliantly conceived program, mixing the familiar and (for most of us) the exotic, shifting from contemplative to dancelike, to romantic, from solo to ensemble, from vocal to instrumental. Upon hearing each selection, one never has the thought, "oh, another one of these." It is, of course, excellently mastered, and beautifully packaged...

- Mitch Landy, Folk Harp Journal

The CD does exactly what I've always wanted someone to do with the Nova [Diana's custom-built harp]...touch it, feel it, start playing it, and guide it out into the open, then turn it loose and hang on. My intuitive connection with this harp always has suggested that it needs to be let free, to take you on a journey, to change on a whim, then take off again.

- John Westling of Sandpiper Instruments, and the maker of Diana's harp

A host of wonderful musicians accompany, including Karl Franzen on guitar & whistles; Gari Hegedus and Paddy League on bowed tambur, mandocello, oud, lyra, & violin; Peter Maund on percussion; and vocalist Sonja Drakulich...Diana celebrates the allure of the islands and the dynamic cultures that thrive along the sea through a well-arranged selection of song sets with intriguing names likes "The War & Peace Set", "The Teasing Set" and "The Holy Trinity".  The rich textures of folk music from Ireland, Scotland, Greece, Cyprus, Israel and Eastern Europe weave a subtle spell as Diana draws on contemporary as well as traditional arrangements...this CD is a treat. 

- Shawna Spiteri, Harpbeat

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