BWW Interviews: Yolanda Kondonassis - Have Harp, Will Travel

Yolanda Kondonassis wants to change people's mind about what the harp sounds like when the world renowned harpist performs with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra on May 15 and 16 at the Southern Theatre (21 East Main Street in downtown Columbus).

Kondonassis, who has recorded over 18 albums with the harp, will be performing Alberto Ginastera's "Harp Concerto" and Claude Debussy's "Danses sacree et profane" during her two performances with the CSO. Both pieces showcase different sounds the harp can make.

Those who expect to hear the quiet, serene sounds of the harp could be blown away by Ginastera's concerto.

"I love to show the Yin and the Yang of what the harp can do," Kondonassis says in a telephone interview from Cleveland. "It's nice to be able to present both those extremes of what the instrument can do in one orchestral concert.

"The Ginastera is a more fiery piece that utilizes more of what the harp can do. The Debussy's "Danses Sacree Et Profane" has a very traditional harp sound. It's the musical equivalent to a Monet painting. I think the audience will enjoy it. It'll be like a sorbet after the main course."

The performance will force Kondonassis to shift gears between the two pieces.

"By the end of the Ginastera, your heart is racing because it closes with this powerful rhythmic ending," she says with a laugh. "I'm going to need to slow that heart rate down and get into a more tranquil mindset for the first of the two Debussy dances. That's going to be kind of a trick but I'll make it work."

Since performing with the New York Philharmonic when she was 18, Kondonassis' world has revolved around getting audiences to be open to the possibilities of the harp. She has written three books on the harp, serves as the head of the harp departments at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and at the Cleveland Institute of Music, and played exotic venues in Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, and Twaiwan. One of Kondonassis' great thrills was playing as a part of the orchestra for 70s icon Barry Manilow.

Kondonassis played the piano and the harp all through high school at the famed Interlochen Center for the Arts in northwestern Michigan. She remembers sitting down and doing some "soul searching" about what instrument provided the best future for her in music.

"As much as I loved the piano, there was so much uncharted territory with an instrument like the harp in terms of repertoire," she says. "I've always loved how the harp feels and how the harp sounds. I wanted to be a little bit of an ambassador for the instrument."

One of the lessons Kondonassis learned early on was that a good harp ambassador needs to continually learn and improve on her skills, share her love with others and have a car with plenty of trunk space.

The size of the harp can range from 25 to 76 inches and have 15 to 47 strings. Kondonassis learned the hard way that transporting the bulky instrument can be a challenge after she and her parents bought her first harp in Oklahoma City and drove it back to Norman.

"It was an old gilded harp and it was quite a challenge getting it into (my parents') Ford Pinto," Kondonassis says with a laugh. "The car seat was pushed in as far as it could go and my chin was pretty much resting on the dash board and the base of the harp was sticking out the back of the car. And then it started to rain on the way home. We pulled out under an overpass (to keep the harp dry.)

"My harp study had sort of inauspicious beginning with Mother Nature. It was a pretty decent harbinger of what was to come when it relates to the logistics of playing the instrument."

Kondonassis, who plays two concert venues a month, estimates most of her administrative work involves arranging transportation or borrowing a harp for concerts.

"One of the things I love about coming to Columbus is I get to use my own harp," says Kondonassis, who estimates she uses about 50 different harps a year. "(With a borrowed harp, you have to get used to) the tension, the spacing, the pedal action and all the different things that go into it. It can almost feel like a different instrument. You have to factor that in."

But in the end, Kondonassis believes the administrative duties and the transportation headaches are worth it. She hopes to open audiences' ears to the potential of what the harp can do.

"Harps are thought as this heavenly, light, salon type of instrument, played by little aristocratic girls in providential homes in France," she says. "It can be many different things. It can be very assertive and powerful and inspiring like it will be in Ginastera. It can be very elegant, serene and graceful like it will be in the Debussy dances. It can

"I don't want to hit anyone over the head and say 'No, No, No! The harp isn't elegant; it's a powerful instrument' It can be both. It's not just one thing."

Yolanda Kondonassis will perform with The Columbus Symphony at the Southern Theatre (21 E. Main St.) on Friday and Saturday, May 15 and 16, at 8pm. Tickets start at $10 and can be purchased at the CAPA Ticket Center (39 E. State St.), all Ticketmaster outlets, and www.ticketmaster.com.