PORTRAIT OF CHANTAL THOMAS D’HOSTE

PORTRAIT - INTERVIEW

How do you discovered the harp ?

It was at the Louvre. I was seven and I used to spend much time admiring the Egyptian antiquities. Among them there was a harp which fascinated me. Looking at it I realised that my destiny was to play the harp

What is it that fascinates you in the harp ?

Everything, its song, its form, its colour, its verticality, its character, its potential, its warmth, its voluptuousness and its divinity, its unpredictable side, its nonchalance, its sublety, its softnes and its strengh . It is moving and seductive.

How do you approach a work ?

Always intuitively. I play it without pre-analysis . I let myself be impregnated with it. I listened I try to hear its soul. Naturally there is also technical work which is necessary in order to play the music freely.

What inspires you to play ?

The harp requires regular work, but it is not only time spent on the stool by which we make progress. So many things can enrich musical study, admiring an exhibition, smelling a vase of flowers, reading a good book, dancing rock, swimming, looking at the sun-rise, listening to this birds flying, all things inspire me.

What are your plans now ?

To continue to transcribe works for piano or harpsichord, for the harp. But also to travel with my harp through out the world…. And since the harp is a magnificent passport with unlimited validity, I count on travelling for a long time to come