An Exclusive Sony Classical International Artist, Harpist Lavinia
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An exclusive Sony Classical International artist, harpist Lavinia Meijer performs solo concerts from Carnegie Hall NYC to the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, being one of the most important, pioneering and exciting harpists of our times. In October she performs twice in Israel. Lavinia has been labeled as 'the Jimi Hendrix of harp', and her importance for the instrument can be compared to what Yo-Yo Ma did to the cello or Miles Davis to the trumpet. Lavinia adds new meaning and relevance to the instrument, opening doors in music that haven't been opened before. Born in South Korea, Lavinia Meijer is now based in the Netherlands. She studied at the conservatories of Utrecht and Amsterdam where she received her Bachelor and Masters degrees with the highest distinction. Her passion to broaden the possibilities of the harp is noteworthy. Not only does Mrs. Meijer search for hardly known classical solo & orchestral repertoire, she is also on the lookout for contemporary cutting edge music, while maintaining her roots in the classical music. It has lead to artistic acclaim and commercial success: numerous awards, extensive touring all over the world in classical and rock venues, 2 gold records, and a certified platinum record for the Philip Glass’ music dedicated album Metamorphosis / the Hours. In May 2011 she had the honor to meet Philip Glass for the first time. Mr. Glass himself gave permission to Mrs. Meijer to transcribe his Metamorphosis for harp. Since then she has transcribed various other Glass’ works, including Opening Piece, various movements from the Hours, and the main theme from Koyaanisqatsi. In 2014 Lavinia joined Philip Glass for the 2nd time on stage for a sold out concert. All over the world, Lavinia mesmerizes audiences with intense and groundbreaking renditions of the Glass repertoire. This year she will join Philip Glass in the USA for concerts. Besides performing the classical standard harp repertoire, Mrs. Meijer experiments with electronic music, theatrical music, jazz and avant rock. Composers like Garrett Byrnes, Paul Patterson, Carlos Michans, Konstantia Gourzi, and JacobTV wrote pieces for Mrs. Meijer. JacobTV has written for her the suite Cities change the songs of birds for harp and boombox. This piece, about the lower class of New York, consisted of music put to samples of conversations by drug-addicted women with a criminal record. It caused an instant scandal and sensation among the international harp societies, triggering lengthy and heated debates about the artist’s right to perform this kind of music on an instrument as ‘angelic’ as the harp. Mrs. Meijer has performed in prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, NYC; Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Musikverein, Vienna; Philharmonie, Berlin, Cité de la Musique, Paris and Jerusalem Theatre. As a featured soloist she performed harp concertos with renowned orchestras, like Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, working with conductors like Andrew Grams, Thierry Fischer, Charles Floyd, Frans Brüggen, Hannu Lintu, and Marco Boni. Mrs. Meijer played Bryce Dessner’s exciting piece Aheym as a special featured soloist with Kronos Quartet. Mr. Dessner will write her a new composition, to be premiered in November 2016. Lavinia Meijer is the only classical artist hitting the top 10 in the Dutch rock album charts with three consecutive albums. She starred in a TV-commercial for the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum in 2014. Her last two albums were recorded in Berlin by the noted 'Tonmeister' and 15x Grammy Award winner Andreas Neubronner. Her album Passaggio entered the UK classical charts at no. 5. Recently she released Voyage, her seventh solo album with music by Debussy, Tiersen, Satie and Ravel. .