Each year the winning songs from the Eric Stokes Song Contest are widely varied and always delightful. This year is no different! Today we shine the spotlight on 2016 youth winner Meridith Henke. Meridith is a senior at the Math and Science Academy in Woodbury, MN and a full-time PSEO student at Century College. She will perform her winning composition, Nocturne in G Major (for solo harp) at Zeitgeist's Playing it Close to Home concerts Feb. 18-21.
My love of the harp began when I started listening to my mother’s harp CDs as a young child. When I visited Orchestra Hall for the Kinder Konzert series in preschool, I was astounded by the harp’s elegance and beautiful sound, and it solidified my dream to learn to play the harp. While in kindergarten, I began taking harp lessons with Terry Gibson. Since I had no previous music-reading experience, she taught me to read music through the use of color. I began studying with Shari Rothman at the Minneapolis MacPhail Center for Music in 2012. I currently perform around the metro area at churches, nursing homes, and business events and am a member of the Arpeggio Harp Ensemble.
I have enjoyed composing music for the harp since I was six years old. In 2015, I entered the Minnesota Harp Society ARCH Awards and won an award for composing an original piece of music for harp.
One evening while I was sitting by my harp, the melody of Nocturne in G Major began to flow from my heart to the strings of my harp. Nocturne in G Major begins with a thoughtful theme and intensifies to a climax with more complex harmonies. It then recedes into a lighter, simpler section and returns to the peaceful theme, drifting into the calmness of night.
--Meridith Henke
My love of the harp began when I started listening to my mother’s harp CDs as a young child. When I visited Orchestra Hall for the Kinder Konzert series in preschool, I was astounded by the harp’s elegance and beautiful sound, and it solidified my dream to learn to play the harp. While in kindergarten, I began taking harp lessons with Terry Gibson. Since I had no previous music-reading experience, she taught me to read music through the use of color. I began studying with Shari Rothman at the Minneapolis MacPhail Center for Music in 2012. I currently perform around the metro area at churches, nursing homes, and business events and am a member of the Arpeggio Harp Ensemble.
I have enjoyed composing music for the harp since I was six years old. In 2015, I entered the Minnesota Harp Society ARCH Awards and won an award for composing an original piece of music for harp.
One evening while I was sitting by my harp, the melody of Nocturne in G Major began to flow from my heart to the strings of my harp. Nocturne in G Major begins with a thoughtful theme and intensifies to a climax with more complex harmonies. It then recedes into a lighter, simpler section and returns to the peaceful theme, drifting into the calmness of night.
--Meridith Henke
PLAYING IT CLOSE TO HOME
Feb 18, 9:30 a.m.
Inver Hills Community College Black Box Theater
2500 80th St E, Inver Grove Heights, MN
$10 / free for students
Feb. 19-20, 7:30 p.m.
Feb 21, 2 p.m.
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
$15 / $10 students & seniors
Tickets & Details
Inver Hills Community College Black Box Theater
2500 80th St E, Inver Grove Heights, MN
$10 / free for students
Feb. 19-20, 7:30 p.m.
Feb 21, 2 p.m.
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
$15 / $10 students & seniors
Tickets & Details
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