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Performance and Travel Schedule

Upcoming Performances/Travel


Please contact me for concert bookings!  I am currently performing for private parties, weddings, receptions, and other private events thoughout the year.  My next public performances or workshops in 2007 will be:
 


 
Date TBA: First Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, UT.  This is part of the Community Concert Series, and will likely be in January or February '08.

March 15: First Methodist Church, Salt Lake City.  This Saturday service is part of the Women Preacher series, and is at 5 pm in downtown Salt Lake.

March 17: Westminster College, Salt Lake City.  This St. Patrick's Day concert is part of the Excellence in the Community concert series, and begins at 7:30 pm.
Past Performances

     2007:
     
     2006:

        2005:
        2004:        2003:           2002:
       2001:
       2000:
       1999 - 1992:
Celtic Harpistry

Celtic Harpistry is a newly formed Celtic harp ensemble under the direction of Cynthia Lynn Douglass. Their mission is two-fold: to share their love and mastery of Scottish and Irish music on the Celtic harp, using traditional Celtic ornamentation and styling, AND to encourage interest and participation in all aspects of the Celtic harp in the Rocky Mountain area.  Come hear the beautiful Celtic music of Celtic Harpistry at our upcoming concerts listed above, or call for booking information.  Members include: (pictured below from left to right): Cynthia Douglass, director; Laurel Wright; David Tomer; Omar Zamrini; Tiffany Draper; Jarom Xochimitl; Russell Wolfenstein (not pictured); and Lindsay Wolfenstein (not pictured).  Biographies for each of the members are below this picture.




Cynthia Lynn Douglass is nationally known as an expert on the Celtic, electric and cross-strung harps.  After twenty years of study on the violin, clarinet, and renaissance recorders, Cynthia discovered the rich harmonies of the Celtic harp and the healing effects it gives her listeners.  Twenty years later, the Celtic harp is still her favorite instrument and her primary focus.

Her work with the harp is broad in scope:  in addition to beginning over 100 students on the instrument, she has formed three harp ensembles: the Augusta Harp Ensemble in Augusta, GA, the Birmingham Harp Ensemble in Birmingham, AL, and Celtic Harpistry in Salt Lake City UT.  Cynthia moved to Salt Lake City last fall with her husband and two sons.

Cynthia offers workshops to harpers and harpists all over the country on subjects ranging from Passionate Playing to Learning a Celtic Tune in a Session and Bass Patterns for Improvising and Arranging.  She has ten solo recordings published to date, which are distributed nationwide and overseas.

Laurel Wright has been playing wire-strung harp since 2000, and is the only wire harp teacher in the state of Utah.  She also teaches wire harp at harp conferences around the country, and is studying an ancient Welsh harp manuscript that was written for bray harp.  Previously, she played bagpipes and bass drum with the Utah Pipe Band, and has competed in Scottish highland and country dancing and athletics.

David Tomer has played violin since age 8.  He was originally trained as a classical violinist and performed extensively with the Granite Youth Symphony and the West Valley Symphony both locally and in venues such as Abravanel Hall, the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.  At age 23, one year after part of his left lung was removed, he fell in love with Irish dance and has since reached the difficult Preliminary championship level.  His love for Celtic music turned him into a fiddler, and since 2000 he has performed hundreds of times with groups such as the BYU Folk Ensemble, the BYU International Folk Dance Ensemble, the Shelley School of Irish Dance, and Leprechaun’s Wail Over.   With a Master’s degree in Molecular Biology, David currently works on pulmonary clinical trials for Intermountain Healthcare.  At night, however, his true fiddler/dancer side emerges!

Omar Zamrini is Cynthia’s son, age 11, and has been performing on the Celtic harp for five years.  He has won first and second place in two Highland Games harp competitions, and prefers to only play fast songs!

Tiffany Draper has been playing piano and other instruments for 16 years, and recently added bodhrán, whistles, Irish flute and uilleann pipes to her musical study.  She has been a member of the Donegal House Band, and currently performs with Stonecircle, Rusted Reel, Kindred Voices, and An Béal Bocht.  “Why do I play?  I play because this form of music is so much fun to play and I enjoy it.  Simple as that.”

Jarom Xochimitl is a student at Utah Valley State College, studying Business Management and Music. He has played the cello for twelve years, and also sings tenor.  He performs with Kindred Voices, the UVSC Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Choir, and a local band, Code Hero.

Russell Wolfenstein has been playing violin since age 10, and is also an accomplished mandolin player. Russell has studied fiddle with Karl Allred, and mandolin with Mark Geslison. Russell served an LDS mission to Chile, and is a BYU student studying Business Management. He has played with BYU’s “Christmas around the World”, the American Fork Symphony, the Utah Valley Civic Orchestra, and the folk ensemble “Back Country, Front Porch.” He also currently plays with Clog America, Kindred Voices and the BYU Folk Ensemble. Russell has toured the south-eastern states, Canada, Poland, Germany, France, Holland, Hungary, Romania, Mexico, and Russia playing fiddle. He is also a gifted graphic designer.
Birmingham Harp Ensemble

The Birmingham Harp Ensemble was founded and directed by Cynthia Douglass in November of 2003, and she directed them until August of 2006.  Members of the BHE come from throughout the state of Alabama.  The purpose of the BHE is to encourage interest and participation in all aspects of the harp in Alabama.  The BHE is working on  becoming an official chapter of the International Society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen.

The ISFHC is a worldwide organization dedicated to meeting the need of the individual folk harper and builder for communication with his or her fellow artists.  The ISFHC began in 1980, is a non-profit organization, and has a yearly membership of approximately sixteen hundred.

Members of the BHE come together once or twice a month for “harp circle,” a time of fellowship, practice of group songs, and sharing of individual works. The BHE performs as a community service for retirement homes, hospitals, nursing homes, and churches throughout the greater Birmingham area.  Members are encouraged to seek professional instruction on the harp, and are invited from both  the folk harp and classical harp worlds.  There is no charge to become a member.

Past performances include:

Aldridge Gardens, Hoover
Avondale Park, Birmingham
Caledonian Society, Hoover
Covenant Place, Gardendale
First Centenary UMC, Chatanooga, TN First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham
Homewood Senior Center, Homewood
Madison Highland Games, Madison
McWayne Center, Birmingham
Montgomery Highland Games Somerby's, Homewood
St. Martin's in the Pines, Eastwood
Unitarian Church, Birmingham


Current harp circle information and performance schedule is available on-line from the Alabama Celtic Association website/, or by contacting Judy Deitz.

Please enjoy these photographs from BHE previous performances!

 BHE collage
                                                                                                     

Zivah Saphirah
Zivah Saphirah is a Birmingham based Middle East dance troupe which I joined in 2004.  I have provided live music for the dancers, performing traditional Arabic selections on the electric harp, accompanied by keyboards and percussion.  While the musicians for this troupe have changed as members have moved away, my interest in Zivah Saphirah has begun to shift as I have incorporated a more mobile approach into the presentation.  I dance with my electric harp, sometimes becoming a dancer, sometimes a musician.  Other dancers sometimes dance with percussion instruments in their hands.  Thus, the experience is one of constantly transforming roles, bringing an exciting and fresh experience to both performer and audience.

          Zivah collage


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