Wilmington Harp Day 2025
Join us for Wilmington Harp Day on September 13, 2025! We are thrilled to have Rhett Barnwell present this year's workshops. Come grow in your harp skills, meet new harpists, get your lever harp regulated, shop with Virginia Harp Center's pop-up store, and join the Wilmington, NC harp community!
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Rhett Barnwell's Workshops
The Compleat Harpist–Playing the Harp without Fear
This workshop will focus on mental preparation, how to really learn a piece through “embodying” it, memorization, and actually enjoying performing in front of others! We will also touch on practical matters such as tuning, arranging and repertoire selection.
All levels welcome, harps required. Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Anything Goes – Arranging and Composing for the Harp
In this workshop, we discover there is more than one approach as we look at the methods to the madness of arranging and composing for the lever and pedal harp. Through trial and tribulation, or taking a more left brain approach, we learn how to create beautiful music out of a row of strings. You will discover how to make even simple arrangements of your favorite tunes, by finding your “style,” selecting a mood, a key, a meter and other mechanics from a musical “toolbox." We get down to the nitty gritty of classical forms, look at tricks of the trade, and figure out how to make things sound like they are meant for the harp. In the end, we discover that anything goes – if it sounds good, it IS good!
All levels, lecture and hands-on. Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
The Joy of Bach
An informative and sometimes humorous approach to the harp music of Johann Sebastian Bach, or rather, the lack thereof. Find out why this powdered-wigged master of polyphony seems to have written nothing for the harp, and what has been done to correct this grievous omission. We will explore the life, music and spirituality of Bach, often called the "Fifth Evangelist" and look at clever transcriptions of some of his greatest pieces which can now be readily enjoyed on lever and pedal harp.
All levels, lecture and hands on, using the text “Basically Bach” (available for optional purchase.) Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Wilmington Harp Day
September 13, 2025
Location: First Baptist Activity Center 1939 Independence Blvd. Wilmington, NC
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8:30 AM –9:15 AM Arrivals and check (Smith Room 2)
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10:00 AM –3:00 PM Harp regulations by pre-appointment (Library)
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9:15 AM – 10:45 AM Workshop #1 Compleat Harpist (Smith Room 2)
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10:45 AM –11:00 AM Break
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11:00 AM – 12:30 PM Workshop #2 The Joy of Bach (Smith Room 2)
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12:30 PM – 2:00 Lunch catered by Islands (The Cove) and VA Harp Center Shopping (Library)
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2:00 PM – 3:30 PM Workshop #3 Anything Goes (Smith Room 2)
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3:30 PM – 4:00 PM VA Harp Center Shopping and Departures
Rhett Barnwell
Rhett Barnwell (b. 1962) is a composer, arranger, performer and conductor, and the founder of Seraphim Music, which publishes sacred, classical and meditative music for harp, voice and other instruments. Seraphim Music editions are currently distributed, performed, and recorded by musicians on six continents. He has concertized extensively in the United States and in Rome, Venice, and Florence, Italy, and Ireland. A specialist in classical and sacred music for harp, he has been in demand as a presenter and performer at national conferences of the American Harp Society, the Southeastern Harp Festival, Somerset Folk Harp Festival, Harp in Worship Conference and others. He has also given workshops and concerts for American Harp Society Chapters in Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Nashville, Montana and New Orleans. He is also on the faculty of the internationally based Harp Column Academy. In addition to the harp, he also plays the cello, French horn, and organ, and has performed with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra (Italy), Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife (Spain), AIMS Festival Orchestra (Austria), South Carolina Philharmonic, Charleston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, Orchestra and Chorus of St. Louis, St. Clare Baroque Orchestra, Emory Baroque Orchestra, and others. Mr. Barnwell earned a Bachelor of Music degree in horn from Florida State University and a Master of Music degree in horn and cello from St. Louis Conservatory. He also pursued Doctoral study in choral conducting and organ at the University of Georgia. He has served as a choral director and organist for churches throughout the Southeast since 1984, and is currently Organist and Choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newnan, GA, and Composer In Residence at the Atlanta Harp Center. www.SeraphimMusic.com.
Lever harp regulations from the Virginia Harp Center are available on Friday, September 12, 2025 by appointment.
Please email virginia@vaharpcenter.com to schedule your regulation.