Lori Pappajohn & Winter Harp – British Columbia

harpist . singer . composer . Winter Harp

Summer. It’s summer and once again I am in the wilderness climbing peaks and joyously swimming in woodland lakes that sparkle in the sunshine. Summer fills me with song. Winter, too, holds a special place with its darkness and inward turning — when I sit by the fire and write about snow, cold, shepherds and a star. – Lori

Back in the 1980s, not many people were keen on going to a harp concert. So Canadian Lori Pappajohn decided to change that. She founded the trio Harps International which pretty much knocked the socks off people in terms of their opinion of the harp.

The trio of classical, Celtic and Paraguayan harps performed a fun, fast-paced transcontinental musical journey that was so popular that they were snapped up by renowned agent George Zukerman, who also organized tours for the likes of Carrol McLaughlin and the New York Harp Ensemble.

While people had heard pedal harps, Celtic harps were rare and Paraguayan harps completely unknown here. Audiences were astounded. The show included three elaborate costume changes and much comedy as one of the members had toured with Monty Python.

In one year the trio’s concerts took them across North America and from Canada’s far north to the southern most tip of South America. And yes, when they were in the north they took their harps dogsledding!

Then in the 1993 Lori Pappajohn founded Winter Harp which has become one of the most popular holiday concerts in Vancouver, Canada.

Sold out concerts and standing ovations are the hallmarks of this world-class ensemble which has been featured numerous times on radio and TV.

Winter Harp features classical and Celtic harps, fiddle, cello, flute, bass flute, hurdy-gurdy, nyckelharpa, rare medieval instruments, percussion, poetry and singing. Special guests have included Kim Robertson, Sharlene Wallace and Patrick Ball.

The musicians, in rich velvet costumes, play a variety of music from well-know carols to rare medieval carols and Middle Eastern and flamenco pieces.  The seven musicians travel with two stage backdrops, 14 costumes, two large candelabras and more than 15 instruments, including three djembes and a bass drum.

A singer, flutist, and Winter Harp’s composer and arranger, Lori Pappajohn is also an award-winning journalist, a former professional mermaid and has released 19 albums to critical acclaim. For years she taught annually at the International Celtic Harp School in Wells,  BC. Her main inspirations are Kim Robertson and Deborah Henson-Conant.

Winter Harp producer and pedal harpist is Lani Krantz, who, among many other things, is the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s acting principal harpist.

Four of Lori Pappajohn’s most memorable concerts include performing in the historical Adair Manor in Ireland, in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, London, in a small First Nations village in Canada’s vast wilderness, and lastly with New York’s Isadora Duncan Dancers in the ancient amphitheatre of Delphi, Greece.

Wherever she has gone, Lori Pappajohn has inspired people to love the harp.

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