Between performances, a man wearing black gloves wheels a dolly across the stage and slides the harps off to the left. The judges sit at the front of the audience in Merrill Hall, scribbling down their final comments as another set of strings rolls out.
On the walls to their sides are the busts of famous classical composers — Mozart, Wagner and Tchaikovsky, among others — omnisciently gazing forward as the next performer takes the stage.
“It’s like the Olympics,” said Erin Brooker-Miller, the competition’s program director. “The people who win this competition go on to be the professionals of the harp world.”
The 10th USA International Harp Competition is taking place at various Jacobs School of Music buildings. The first stage began June 8, and the competition’s finals will play out June 18.
“On that final day, someone’s life is going to change,” said competition volunteer Andy Miller, Brooker-Miller’s husband. “You’re propelled to international fame in the harp world, and it’s like a well-deserved career being given to you.”
Forty harpists from 16 different countries comprise the triennial competition, which debuted in 1989.
The first place prize package includes a debut recital in Chicago, a CD recording and a Lyon & Healy concert grand harp worth up to $55,000. The winner will also receive a five-city concert tour in China and $5,000.
Natalie Hoffman is the competition coordinator, and she explained all the competitors select songs from the same repertoire of music, but the performances often sound distinctly different.
“You’ll hear a pop singer, and then you’ll hear many different covers that aren’t the same,” she said. “We don’t have the same liberties — we can’t change the music — but we can put ourselves in it. Everybody has their different twist on it.”
Hoffman’s experience with the instrument spans 18 years, and she is currently in the first year of her master’s in harp performance at IU.
She explained the competition’s preparation process is different from preparing for a school recital, which usually consists of learning and performing five or six songs a year.
Brooker-Miller said competitors must instead memorize roughly two hours of music in about two-and-a-half years.
“People come here and even if they don’t make it past the first round, the preparation, mentality and work they put in makes them come out feeling improved,” she said. “I don’t think you would push yourself as hard to learn the amount of repertoire in another situation.”
The age range for the competition is 18-32, so Hoffman still has a few more she could apply to be in should she choose to. She said the door is still open, but she’s just glad to be a part of a group that spreads harp music.
“We play weddings and people say it’s the first time they’ve seen a harp,” Hoffman said. “But here we are in an area where 40 contestants are playing the harp, plus more with all the concerts we have going on with this competition.”
The competition’s full schedule can be found at usaihc.org.
