13th Contest 1998 – Gwyneth Wentink, Holland

Gwyneth Wentink, First Prize Winner of the 13th International Harp Contest in Israel, is renowned for her passionate performances, amazing range of colours and incredible technique. At 28 years of age, she has performed solo recitals and solo concertos with top orchestras all over the world. In addition to her concerto performances, Gwyneth is a dedicated chamber musician.

“Gwyneth plays straight from the heart, without pose or for effect. It is solely about the music” NRC 2008

 

Highlights of the 2010/2011 season include a concert tour with the Kirwani Quartet through India in January 2011 and the United States in the fall of 2011. In November 2011 Gwyneth performed the harp concerto of A.Ginstera with the Balearic Symphony Orchestra under Salvador Brotons in Palma de Mallorca. Other highlights will be solo- and chamber music performances in New York, Boston, Frankfurt, London and Paris.

 

In past seasons, Gwyneth has performed as a soloist with the Israel Philharmonic, the New York Chamber Symphony, the Philharmonic Orchestre of Bergen, the Helsinki Philharminic, the San Diego Chamber Orchestre, the Orquesta Sinfonica Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho, the Brussels Philharmonic, the National Orchestre of Belgium,the World Youth Orchestra, the Sudwest Rundfunk Orchestre, the National Orchestre of Bucharest, as with many orchestras in The Netherlands, such as the Rotterdam Chamber Orchestra, Gelders Orkest, Brabants Orkest, Residentie Orkest, Orkest van het Oosten, Limburgs Symphony Orkest and more. Conductors Ms Wentink has worked with include Joel Lévy, Simone Young, Peter Eötvos, Jorge Mester, Roberto Benzi, Mikko Franck and Ed Spanjaard.

 

Gwyneth played solo recitals all over the world. She performed extensively in Europe and

throughout the USA in more than 16 states. In 1999 she gave her recital début in New York (Merkin Hall) as well as in London (Wigmore Hall). In March 2002 she gave her debut concert at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.

 

Gwyneth Wentink plays with great passion in a variety of chamber music ensembles all over the world and is dedicated to exploring new sound scapes and repertoire for the harp. She forms duo’s with renowned cellist Larissa Groeneveld and with flutist Felicia van den End and forms ensembles with the Rubens Quartet and the Dutch Harp Trio. A variety of compositions have been written for Gwyneth by, among others, Marius Flothuis, Sergei Natra and Roel van Oosten.

 

Since 2005 she plays with the world famous Indian bansuri player Pt.Hariprasad Chaurassia, saxophonist George Brooks and tabla player Vijay Gathe in the “Kirwani Quartet”and brings the harp into the world of classical Indian music.

 

In addition to her performances as a soloist and as a chamber musician, Gwyneth is principal harpist with John Eliot Garndiner’s Orchestre Révolutionaire et Romantique.

 

Gwyneth’s solo CD, issued by Egan Records, was selected by the Dutch CD Magazine ‘Luister’ as the month’s best buy. In the fall of 2006 Naxos brought out a CD of Gwyneth playing three Harp Concerto’s by Rodrigo. ´Rhapsody´, her second solo CD was extremely well received by the critics.

 

Daughter of Dutch-Hungarian musicians, Gwyneth started playing the harp at the age of five and had her first performances at the age of six. Her extraordinary talent was soon discovered and she studied with Erika Waardenburg from the age of eight until completing her studies with highest possible marks and was awarded a distinction at the age of nineteen.

 

Gwyneth has won numerous first prices. In The Netherlands at the Prinses Christina Concours, The SJMN and others. Internationally she won first prices in Japan at The International Nippon Harp Competition in Tokyo, the Torneo Internazionale di Musica in Rome. In 1998 she won the most prestigious Contest of all, The International Harp Contest in Israel, where she became the youngest contestant ever to win this competition and was given the special Gulbenkian Prize for the best performance of the Concerto for harp and orchestra by R.M.Schafer. In 1999 Ms. Wentink gained first prize at the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York at the age of 17. She is the first solo harpist ever to be awarded this distinction in Young Concert Artists’40-year history. She has been awarded the Beracasa Foundation Prize, the Mortimer Levitt Career Development Award. In 2000 Gwyneth received the Aaron & Irene Diamond Soloist Prize followed by the Netherland-America Foundation Prize in 2001. The VSCD Classical Musicprize `New Generation`has been awarded to Gwyneth in November 2007. In April 2007 Gwyneth received the Dutch Music Award 2007, which is the highest distinction awarded to musicians in The Netherlands.

 

Gwyneth plays on Salvi Iris Harp, from the collection of the Nationaal Muziek Instrumenten Fonds.

For more information on Ms. Wentink, please visit

www.gwynethwentink.nl