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News
Feb, 24th, 2012
Dear friends,
Hope you are all well as Winter slowly comes to an end and Spring rises once again. . It has been a wonderfully active
time for the last few months with performances in the Seattle area and a new recording. I have been performing with an extraordinary violist named, Justin Lader for the last year. In the summer of 2011, we performed at the first Newport Celtic Festival in Newport, OR on the coast and recently played three shows at three libraries in the Seattle area and had a wonderful time. We just finished a brand new CD of all acoustic, original harp and viola music called " After the Rain." We will have information about the CD on the site shortly. We are planning a short Northern CA tour for July and have been invited to perform at a very special Inn called Rim Rock Inn in Joseph, OR in August. We will be closing our summer time performing with a very special show featuring music from " After the Rain " at the Masonic Cemetery Mausoleum in Eugene, Sunday, Aug 26th. All our shows will be listed in the Upcoming Performances section of the site.
Best wishes, David
May, 2011
Here I am with Justin Lader performing at the Newport Celtic Festival June 12, 2011
Video from March, 2011 KVAL TV broadcast
Dear friends,
I was interviewed on local TV in March about a little concert I was going to play at a library with violist, Justin Lader.
The concert was in relation to Saint Patrick's Day. We performed a newer piece of mine called
" Waiting by the Shores of Tomorrow ." The video is below. Hope you enjoy..
http://www.kval.com/news/interviews/118017654.html
Dear friends,
I was invited to perform at the Oregon Jewish Museum as part a Sunday Afternoon Concert series. The museum is in Portland. My concert was on Mother's Day. It was a very intimate beautiful little theater where the concert was held. My good friend, Justin Ladder performed with me on viola and our very special guest was Justin's mother who played percussion. . I was interviewed for an article for the Jewish Review that showcased my event. The article is below. We had an incredible time performing at the museum and hope to perform there again next year.
http://www.jewishreview.org/special/Jewish-Museum-books-Eugene-harpist-for-Mothers-Day
3/13/11
My heart goes out to all who have suffered in Japan.
On a very positive note I am really excited to announce that the NPR nationally syndicated radio show, Music From the Hearts of Space will play two pieces from my latest CD, " First Light ." Locally in Eugene, Oregon it can be heard on KLCC, Tuesday March 15th at 10:00 p.m. The show is aired on over two hundred National Public Radio stations nation wide. This will be my national airplay.
On Monday, March 14th, locally on KVAL TV, I will be featured on Shelly Kurtz 12:00 p.m. noon time news program
performing a piece with violist, Justin Lader. We will be advertising our Tuesday, March 15th concert at the Springfield Library which starts at 7:00 p.m.
Best wishes,
David
2/3/11
Dear friends,
Hope you are having a good year so far. As the winter winds blow and much of the land is covered with snow, I send you
my warmest wishes for a year of joy. At the end of January, I had a wonderful experience watching my piece " First Light "
danced to by the Eugene Modern Dance company at the Dance for Reason event at the Hult Center in Eugene. My good friend
Peggy Soomil was the choreographer and she created a beautiful dance to my piece. There is a version of the dance that was performed at her studio on You Tube. I have just been booked to play at the Author and Musicians series at the Springfield Library March 15th and will be performing with my good friend Justin Lader who is a brilliant violist. We will also be playing on Mothers Day, May 8th at the Oregon Jewish Museum in Portland, Oregon. Hope to see you at one of our events.
Until then, I send you my very best wishes, David
October, 2010
Dear Friends,
Hope you have been enjoying the flow of the seasons with Fall turning once again to Winter as the great wheel of time turns once more. Life has been full with music, my music programs for adults with developmental disabilities and planning for the future.
A good friend of mine named Peggy Soomil who is a wonderful choreographer and runs a dance studio called Eugene Modern Dance created a beautiful dance piece to my musical piece " First Light " which is the title track on my latest CD, First Light. I was honored to be at the first performance of her dance piece at her wondrous studio set in the wooded hills of Eugene.
The performance was filmed and put on You Tube. It can be seen on You Tube by typing in "Eugene Modern Dance First Light" (or using the link below). Another friend of mine named Risa Bear added my music from my " Memories and Stardust " CD to a video that was created documenting his profound journey to becoming a woman. The trailer can be found on You Tube. There is a potential that one of my older pieces of music called " Callings From the Quiet Grove " will be used in a theatrical production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in California this summer.
I will be performing in November at Sam Bonds Garage in Eugene with the Majestic Ensemble and the Hillsboro Public Library near Portland , OR in December as a duo. This Spring I will be performing a show at the Portland Jewish Museum and it will be added to my site when a date is set. I hope to finally perform in New York in the near future and will add information as events are arranged.
Info on all concerts and events will be on my Upcoming Concert section of the site.
Thank you for your interest in my music, I wish you all the best and hope to see you at one of the shows.
DavidOctober, 6, 2009
Greetings, I am thrilled to announce that my brand new 2009 CD release,
" First Light " has arrived. After two years of work, I am very happy to finally be able to share this music with you all. It will be sold through my web site, CD Baby and Amazon.com. There is more info about the album in the album section of my site.
I am also very happy to announce that my piece of music " At the Edge of the Cornish Sea " was included in a wonderful pod cast called Celtic Myth Pod show produced in England. My piece is included in episode 13 relating to the ancient Celtic harvest festival,
Lughnasadn. It can be found at www.celticmythpodshow.com/episodes
A few of my other pieces from Beyond the Sea of Reeds will soon be included in a wonderful project in connection with the virtual reality site Second Life. More info about this will come at a later date.
Thank you all for listening. I send you all my very best wishes,
David
April, 23rd, 2009
Greetings to you all. I am very happy to say that I am about a month away from releasing my new CD " First Light ". After a year and ten months of recording, mixing and producing, I am very excited to present my latest work. This album was a major production. It was a thrill and honor to record this CD with ten of my good friends and co-musicians. There talents and passion helped create the aural tapestries that unfolded on this recording. Once the album is out, CD Baby will carry the CD and help send it into
the digital realm.
I am also very happy to announce that I will be performing for the first time at
Jo Federigo's in Eugene, which is a wonderful venue and club. I will be performing with my group, The Majestic Ensemble, Sunday, May 17th. There is more info on this show on my Upcoming Performances page.
One the CD is out, I hope to organize the CD release concert for sometime in June where the entire ensemble will perform the album live in it's entirety. More info will be released soon.
Thank you all for listening. May you all have a joyous Spring.
Best wishes, David
November 28, 2008
I am delighted and very excited to announce that my new CD " First Light " will available in the next few weeks. I have been working on this album for the last year and a half and it will feature a full ensemble that I call " The Majestic Ensemble ". The CD will feature many pieces that I have waited years to record. It will be available at CD Baby and my web site within the next month. I wish you all well and a very blessed holiday season.
Best wishes, David
September 2007
Dear friends,
I am very happy to announce that a music program for adults with disabilities that I was asked to develop and run called " Intro to the Joys of Music " was featured in the summer issue of the Eugene Magazine. The article is now available on my web site (click here). A group of participants from the program and I were recently asked to perform our first public performance Friday, October 5th at the Eugene Public Library from 6:00 -6:45 p.m. The music program is run through the City of Eugene's Adaptive Recreation Dept.
Also, I now have a MySpace page and it can be found at www.myspace.com/davidhelfand
May 2007
David performed for the Eugene based MuseArt group which is a collective of artists who draw and paint portraits of musicians. Two portraits are now in the new Art section of the web site.
March 2007
David composed and performed music for the west coast debut of Dale Wasserman's play " Players in the Game " directed by Reeva Kaufman at the Very Little Theater in Eugene, Oregon. Ten shows were performed to appreciative audiences and were very favorably received.
declares David to be the Happening Person!
Memories and Stardust
January 24, 2006Dear friends,
I am excited to announce the arrival of my new limited edition all acoustic
(Extended Play), CD " Memories and Stardust ". The CD consists of
six solo musical pieces played on harp, mandocello and guitar and one duet
with mandocello and flute. The CD is thirty eight minutes long and features
music that is meditative and soothing. The album is available through the web site.
"At the Edge of the Cornish Sea" Cornwall, UK review
Dec, 25, 2005
Dear friends,I am extremely pleased to announce that "At the Edge of the Cornish Sea" received a review
in Cornwall that will appear in the next issue of the "Cornish World" magazine.
The beautifully written review by Michael Chappell can be viewed here.
Links Page
Dec, 25, 2005
Dear friends,A new Links page is being added to this web site with info on projects I am involved with
and links to musician's who have inspired me over the years. Please feel free to visit the web sites
listed on this page.
Internet Radio
Oct, 5, 2005
Dear friends,Hope you are all doing well. I am happy to announce that my music is being featured on an internet radio show from Hawaii
called Smiling Ear and that the show's host Steven Parente has reviewed my CD's and created a review blog on his site.
The show can be found at www.smilingear.com and his review can be found by clicking on Music Review Blog.
Free Downloads
April 25, 2005
Dear Friends,
Greetings, I send you all my very best wishes. Thank you for visiting my site. I am very happy to announce that I can now offer you free MP3 downloads of two tracks from each of my solo CD's. The tracks are located on each CD info page. I hope that you enjoy the music.
I will have information about future recordings in the near future. If you would like to contact me, I would love to hear from you.
Until then, I wish you all well.
David
Israel
January 15, 2005Dear friends,
Greetings, I send you all my very best wishes for the new year. I have recently returned from my second journey to Israel and had a profoundly inspiring time while visiting the sacred city of Safed, the Sea of Galilee, met with peace workers and drove through the magnificent Jordan Valley to Jerusalem.
While there, I also had the golden opportunity to perform my debut concert in Jerusalem at The Little House in Bakah with my friend and Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Husbands-Hankin. With great gratitude, I want to thank my friend and fellow harpist Sunita Staneslow, who lent me her magical harp for the concert. There are new photos of this event in the photo section.
I hope to have new recordings in the near future, and information on them will appear when they are available. In the meantime my CD's can be ordered through www.cdbaby.com, the various CD sellers listed and through my web site.
I hope to see you all in the near future.
Until then, I send you my very best wishes.
David
Tour in Britain - David Helfand and Friends
My ensemble and I embarked on our first performing tour of Britain during the summer of 2003. We were invited to play at the Eden Project in Cornwall, a world-renowned environmental center. They call themselves the Living Theater for Plants and People and the site includes the largest greenhouses in the world called Biomes and an incredible outdoor amphitheater. We performed there July 23rd, 24th, and 25th, 2003. For updated information on events at the Eden Project visit their web site at: www.edenproject.comWe also performed for a special gathering in Oxford. I toured and played with two extraordinary musicians, Jeff Schenck on bass and Chad Marks-Fife on violin.
Jeff and Chad also performed with me at HarpCon 2003, the International Harp Conference held in Bloomington, Indiana, July 9th-13th, 2003.
