Press Release - Harp Concert May 21 Promotes Music and Healing

    Morgantown, WV, May 5, 2010. Local harpists will offer a concert at 7:30 PM on Friday, May 21, 2010, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Morgantown. Featured local performers are Christine Mazza and Howard Emerson. John Lozier will demonstrate the Venezuelan arpa llanera and briefly discuss his visit there last year. Also performing will be Mazza's Morgantown Harp Ensemble and the Almost Heaven Harp Circle coordinated by Cindy Lewellen.
    
    Tickets are $10 for adults, two for $15, and free for children under 12. Tickets are available in advance or at the door. Send order to HHF, 345 Virginia Avenue, Morgantown, WV 26505. You also may call 304-599-8233 or 304-276-5141 or email jl@harpingforharmony.org

    Christine Mazza teaches harp at WVU. She performs regularly with opera, ballet and symphony groups in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and also in schools and hospitals through the West Virginia Commission on the Arts and the Arts in Education Program.

    Howard Emerson is a Certified Music Practitioner in the Music for Healing and Transition Program (MHTP), and has served on the staff at Ruby Hospital since 2002.

    John Lozier is Executive Director of Harping for Harmony Foundation, established in 1995. Sponsored by the WV Department of Education, he has visited many schools where he offers music from many lands, and particularly from Latin America.

    This year's concert call special attention to the comforting and therapeutic benefits of harp music, and will benefit programs of Harping for Harmony Foundation. Local activities include helping to fund MHTP training for local harpists, and sponsoring the Almost Heaven Harp Circle, under the direction of Cindy Lewellen. The harp circle meets on the third Thursday of each month at the Church of the Brethren, 464 Virginia Avenue. The group consists of musicians of all ages and skill levels, and newcomers are always welcome.

    The mission of Harping for Harmony Foundation is to promote harmony and community, locally and globally, through harp music. In 2000, the foundation began offering Millennium Harper Awards to recognize individual harpists around the world who have completed a "worthy quest" involving live performance, local public service, and personal growth. Through this program, HHF has given away more than 40 small harps. Financial and other support has been provided to harpists and harpmakers in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, Northern Ireland, Haiti, Russia, Mexico and Cyprus.

More information: John Lozier, 304 276 5141