MORGANTOWN — Paraguayan harpist Nicolas Carter will perform in Morgantown as part of a tour today-March 25 in West Virginia and surrounding states. At 7 p.m. Friday, he will perform at the Morgantown Church of the Brethren, 464 Virginia Ave.
Carter was raised in Paraguay, where the harp was introduced centuries ago by Spanish missionaries. A U.S. citizen, he and his family spent one of every five years in Minnesota during his childhood, and as a result, he is bilingual in English and Spanish.
During and after his college years in Minnesota, he became established as a professional musician, performing live and also on a dozen albums in the United States, Europe and South America.
His compositions reflect an inspiration from nature and from moments of everyday life.
He has been featured as a concert performer and master teacher at festivals in the U.S. and abroad.
Nicolas holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater directing from the University of Minnesota. He has received Fulbright awards in France and in Uruguay.
North American music-lovers are generally surprised to learn that Latin America is by far the world’s richest area for traditional and popular harp music.
The harp came to the Americas with the Spanish conquest, 500 years ago. Meanwhile, in Europe, the invention of the keyboard (harpsichord, piano, organ) brought something new: Chromatic music. The harp, with just seven strings per octave, was not as well suited to the 12-note chromatic scale. The harp therefore fell out of favor except in remote regions such as Ireland and Scotland. In Latin America, the chromatic musical revolution never overtook the well-established harp traditions.
This will be Carter’s third performance in and around Morgantown, sponsored by the Baquianos program of Harping for Harmony Foundation (HHF). This program is dedicated to presenting Latin American harp music to new audiences in North America.
He will also play at 7 p.m. today at the Wilkins School Community Center, 7604 Charleston Ave. in Pittsburgh.
On Saint Patrick’s Day, Saturday, he will be featured all day at the Irish Spring festival in Ireland, W.Va. At 7:30 p.m., he will perform in Elkins at Randolph County Community Arts Center, 1 Park St.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, he will perform at The Station at Shepherdstown, 100 Audrey Eagle Drive in Shepherdstown.
He will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Westminster, Md., at Little Baker Chapel, on the campus of McDaniel College.
He will present a program from 12:30-1:30 p.m. March 23 at Samuels Library, 330 E. Criser Road in Front Royal, Va. He will perform for diners at Taqueria Guadalajara in Winchester, Va., that evening; and the evening of March 24, he’ll play for diners at Thunwa Thai restaurant in Front Royal.
At 3 p.m. March 25, he will perform at Goose Creek Friends Meetinghouse, 18204 Lincoln Road in Purcellville, Va.
Carter performed at Morgantown’s South Middle School in March 2014, and at Morgantown Church of the Brethren in October 2015.
Info: harpingforharmony.org/march2018tour.
