Stereo Embers The Podcast 0359: Lara Somogyi

“Breathwork”

The Hawaii-born, New York raised and London Royal Academy of Music-educated Lara Somogyi is one of the most gifted harpists on the planet. A traditionalist and a modernist, Somogyi is an inventive instrumentalist who isn’t afraid of exploring new creative possibilities for her instrument. As a composer, Somogyi has experimented with blending electronica and pedal effects and the results have yielded the boldest and most dynamic sonic leaps in the history of the harp. She has single-handedly recontextualized an instrument whose last great leap forward was probably during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, when its popularity led it to evolve into different iterations. Somogyi has emerged in recent years as the most in-demand session harpist around–she’s not only recorded for movies like The Lion King and Coming To America 2 and television shows like Bridgerton and Little Fires Everywhere, she’s played with John Legend, Kelly Clarkson, Ariana Grande, Josh Groban and Rufus Wainwright. Awarded as an honorary Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) for her contributions to her field, her latest effort is an expanded edition of her exclamation mark album. That’s right, it’s just a single blast of punctuation, which is perfect, because it’s a very singular album. Redolent with thrilling textures and virtuoso playing, ! is a stirring blend of sweeping soundscapes, moving crescendos and poetic subtlety. It’s just gorgeous work. Lara is a thoughtful and fascinating musical practitioner, and she also happens to be an incredibly nice person.

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