Victoria Harpist Alison Vardy was in Ladner a few months ago to do a concert there. The setting was spectacular - a turn-of-the-century church with beautiful stained glass and lovely wood. The church was packed and the acoustics were wonderful. Alison brought two harps - a John Westling CitherNova and a Paraguayan harp Alison made herself. And bravo to her for making such a great-sounding harp.

Alison played a great "E&N Boogie" - which she wrote in honour of Vancouver Island's trains - it sounded just like a train going down the track. She also tackled a Greek piece with a wild 7/8 time signature. She wrote a beautiful "Island Suite for Celtic Harp" and a "Tides of Time".

Alison's program included a great variety of Celtic harp music including a lot that she'd written herself - and a song by one of her pupils, Mildred Plant. Mildred was a new harper just a few years ago - so it is great to see her composing - and composing great stuff.

Besides the great playing, one of the most intriguing things of the concert was the sound system. Alison has a fantastic sound system which her husband Stephen operates. You could not tell if the harp sound was coming from the harps or the speakers - that's how subtle the system was - impressive. Contact Stephen if you want to know more about it.

There is such power in a harp on stage - and played in the hands of Alison, it was a delight.

Lori Pappajohn -BC HARPS Newsletter -Summer 2002

Choosing the Celtic and Paraguayan harps for musical expression, Victoria's Alison Vardy - alternating sparkling demeanor, with impassioned mood - set them both 'afire', with playful and masterful fingering, during her recent Yule Tree Gallery concert.

Naturally gifted, and emotionally drawn to the harp, self-taught Vardy began her musical evolution in the folk tradition, while living in rural New Zealand.

In 1993, during a sojourn in Victoria, Australia, she soon found herself in a luthier's workshop, where she built her own Paraguayan harp. Made of Tasmanian blackwood with a Sitka Spruce soundboard, it remains today one of her favourite performance instruments.

Four years later, she released her first CD Harping On. In 1998 having returned home from the South Pacific, she became a much sought-after harpist. Gabriolans were to discover her through Ken Stefanson, who booked her for this year's 'Dancing Man Festival', where she performed at the Surf Lodge.

On this trip, Vardy brought her newly-released Apasionada, from which she selected, for the Paraguayan harp, such diverse pieces as traditional Scotland's 'Moran's Return/Spey in Spate'; Chile's 'La Partida'; Ireland's 'Hornby Hornpipe/Off to California'; and her own '..Something New…!' and 'Peace River Lullaby' from her Dawson Creek days. Charming and elfin-like something wonderfully medieval transits her presence. Still, one senses she is unaware of the depth of her talent. "I'm often inspired by a rhythm, playing and developing it, for a year. As it evolves, it seems to improve with snippet here and there." As her voice trails to a near whisper, she fascinatingly engages her listeners, "I'm always curious as to what others do."

Interspersing her performance with bits of humour, Vardy tickles her audience: "When I tighten my F string, my G string tightens!"

Sensitive and real, Vardy tells us she likes Macedonian and Balkan music, and loves to sing in the shower. While bicycling, she uses handlebars to practice music, and uses 7/8 time as a brain stretcher. "I recommend that children play a lot of music, and learn it by singing. It goes into the body!"

Love of dancing comes to mind.

Vardy's own compositions, 'Animacion'; 'Whimsical Breeze'; which, laughingly, she says caused her difficulty in naming, and 'Carousel', her final piece, won much applause.

Another time, crossed fingers, for those of us who have a passion for the harp, it is hoped she will perform more from her Apasionada disc, which also features music from Brittany, Israel, Macedonia, Northumbria and sounds 'out of Africa'.

Performing her Celtic harp music regularly at corporate, community and private events on Vancouver Island, the B.C. Mainland, and Washington State, Vardy's obvious oneness with her harps affirms her musical demand. With her concerts increasingly well attended whenever she tours the Sunshine Coast, and Northern Gulf Islands, she's not leaving out the Southern Gulf Islands, and the Lower Mainland, where she has a winter concert series in store for her fans.

There was something especially magical about the evening as the Yew Tree Gallery closed. For a moment, I stood in the parking lot, and stared at the breathtakingly beautiful winter moon. Not far above the lemon-gold sphere, three dazzling stars, forming a perfect triangle, made me want to laugh, as I pictured a beach baby wearing a three-pointed hat. Even the smiling face of the man in the moon seemed gentler, and happier, as he shone down on earth and her children. Somewhere in that loving light, the music of the harp reached heaven.

Denise Izzard
Gabriola Sounder
Gabriola Island BC

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