Tribute to Jurgen Gothe

Jurgen Gothe tries his hand at playing the harp with a little encouragement from Winter Harp members (right) and Detroit jazz harpist Christa Grix (left).

Harp Tribute Concert Thanks Jurgen Gothe of CBC Radio

Winter Harp had the honour of playing in a multi-harp concert in September that was a tribute to CBC Radio’s Jurgen Gothe. Over the years, Jurgen has played a generous amount of harp music on his show -- and harpists wanted to thank him for it. When you think about it, other than CBC, there aren’t a lot of stations that play harp music. By playing harp music, Jurgen helped raise awareness of the instrument and he also helped further the careers of the harpists he played.

Jurgen played Winter Harp frequently -- and for that we are forever grateful. Thanks to him, people nationwide learned about our ensemble.One Christmas Jurgen played our entire CD -- Child’s Christmas in Wales. And that was a real honour for us. Jurgen also played a lot of music by Detroit jazz harpist Christa Grix. And she was so thankful to him that she flew out from Detroit to be in the tribute concert held in North Vancouver.

The concert brought some tears, for as we know, Jurgen’s famous Disc Drive show is no longer on CBC Radio. The concert closed with a jazz version of Disc Drive’s theme song featuring harps, drums and bass. It was a nostalgic moment. And as harpist Alys Howe said before she played: “Jurgen -- we miss you!”The concert was a fundraiser for the World Harp Congress which will be held in Vancouver in 2011. The congress will showcase the world’s greatest harpists in a week-long harp extravaganza. Performers at the tribute concert included: Elizabeth Volpe-Bligh, Lani Kranz, Josh Layne, Kaori Otaki, Alys Howe, Christa Grix, Blanche Olivar, Lauri Lyster, William Fawcett, Rong Jun and Winter Harp with Lori Pappajohn, Janelle Nadeau, Joaquin Ayala and Lauri Lyster.