Harp Column
October 2021

The Jackson Symphony Orchestra (JSO) in Michigan will feature a harp concerto to kick off its new Equal Billing Project supporting the music of under-represented composers. Chen-Yu Huang, JSO principal harpist and professor of harp at Michigan State University, will give the American premiere of French female composer Fernande Decruck’s Harp Concerto. The performance will take place Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be livestreamed on JSO’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

JSO Music Director Matthew Aubin invited Huang to perform and record the rediscovered harp concerto. “This piece was written for Pierre Jamet, who was one of the most significant harpists in France in the middle of the 20th century,” Aubin notes. “It was also written during Decruck’s ‘mature’ period, around the 1940s, in which she was writing some of her best music.”

Huang explains her process of learning the concerto. “In some sections Decruck used bi-tonality. This was tricky to figure out the proper pedals for the harp, but it created a very cool sound,” she says. Huang offers a few highlights to listen for in the concerto, adding, “Decruck’s style is very lighthearted and similar to Germaine Tailleferre’s, but with a little more warmth. Parts of the concerto sound like children are playing or like childhood themes. In the second movement, you will hear a motherly warmth rather than the typical theme music between lovers.”