Xavier de Maistre (harpist)

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Concert with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra

Xavier de Maistre (born October 22, 1973 in Toulon ) is a French harpist .

Career

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Notte Veneziana
  AT 68 04/13/2012 (1 week)

Xavier de Maistre comes from a family that has not yet produced any musicians. According to his own statements, he fell in love with his teacher, who also taught the harp, when he was 9 years old. So he began to play the harp at the conservatory in his hometown. His extraordinary talent soon became apparent and he completed his training with Jaqueline Borot and Catherine Michel in Paris . At the same time, at the request of his parents, who were initially skeptical of his musical career, he studied political science at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris and later at the London School of Economics , but did not complete this subject when his career as a musician began to take shape from.

At the age of 22 he already became principal harpist with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks , in 1998 he won the renowned USA International Harp Competition in Bloomington (Indiana) , and in 1999 he became principal harpist with the Vienna Philharmonic . Since 2001 he has held a professorship at the Hamburg University of Music . In 2009 he won the ECHO Klassik Musikpreis in the category “best instrumentalist” for harp. He now also teaches at the Juilliard School New York , Toho University Tokyo and Trinity College London . In summer 2010 he quit his position with the Vienna Philharmonic in order to devote himself entirely to a solo career.

As a soloist, De Maistre endeavors to make the harp and the literature for this instrument better known by performing works for harp by unknown composers on the one hand, and also playing well-known pieces from the piano reductions that were not originally intended for the harp on the other. this adapted for the harp if necessary. For example, there is an arrangement of the symphonic poem Die Moldau by Bedřich Smetana and the Concierto de Aranjuez , the famous guitar concerto by Joaquín Rodrigo . His album Moldau. The romantic solo album (Sony 2015) takes on large orchestral works as solo arrangements for the harp.

Xavier de Maistre is married to a musician and has one daughter.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Chart sources: AT
  2. ↑ New harp sounds suspect hit and soulful , review by Mascha Drost on Deutschlandradio Kultur on June 11, 2015, accessed June 11, 2015
personal data
SURNAME Maistre, Xavier de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French harpist
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Toulon