After an acclaimed London debut in Wigmore Hall in 2003, Varvara Ivanova is set to make her American debut with a tour that starts in New York City's Merkin Hall and includes Salt Lake City. The 17-year-old harpist will play in Libby Gardner Concert Hall this Friday.
It's not often that harpists get as much notice as Ivanova has in the past two years. But with her virtuosity and technique, the young Russian is poised to take the musical world by storm.
The year 2003 was an important one for Ivanova. Not only did she debut in London with the London Chamber Orchestra, she also took first prize at the influential International Harp Contest in Israel. "Winning the International Harp Contest . . . helped start my career and brought me prestige and recognition," she said in an interview with the Deseret Morning News conducted via e-mail. Since Ivanova isn't fluent in English, her answers were translated from Russian by Igal Kesselman, the executive director of the Victor Salvi Foundation in Chicago, which is sponsoring her nine-city U.S. tour.
Salvi is a noted harpist who contributed key technical improvements to the instrument that increased the durability and overall sound quality of the harp. His foundation, established in 2000, promotes the careers of young harpists through concert sponsorship and support of harp competitions throughout the world.
Locally, the Victor Salvi Foundation has given the International Harp Archives at Brigham Young University grants that have provided scholarships to students who videotape concerts and process music donated to the archives.
Ivanova was only 5 when she began playing the harp. "I saw a harp at my mom's friend's place, (played) a glissando and fell in love with the instrument," she said.
In truth, Ivanova comes to the harp naturally — her mother is also a harpist. And, in fact, Ivanova's entire family consists of successful artists. "I grew up in a family of musicians," she said. Her late father was a singer, her sister is an award-winning artist, one brother is a cellist and another brother, Gleb Ivanov, just won the Young Concert Artists auditions in New York.
Besides mastering the intricacies of the instrument, harpists must also contend with an extremely limited repertoire. Few composers have written for the instrument. Many of those who have, such as Marcel Tournier, were also noted harpists themselves. Consequently, harpists rely extensively on transcriptions.
The program Ivanova will play on her U.S. tour consists almost exclusively of transcriptions of works originally written for keyboard. But what distinguishes her program is the fact that she transcribed most of the pieces herself. "I feel there is such a wealth of repertoire written for other instruments that lends itself well to the harp, including masterpieces by Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Tchaikovsky and others."
Except for Liszt, all of these composers are represented on her recital. Ivanova will also play Ravel's "Jeux d'Eau," Tournier's Sonatine, op. 30, Wilhelm Posse's "Carnival of Venice" and Mikhail Mchedelov's Variations on a Theme of Paganini. "By playing this repertoire, I expand my horizons as a musician and I have the opportunity to expand the existing harp repertoire," Ivanova said.
