Get ready for a spectacular day filled with magical music and exciting learning at the Christmas 2023 Harp Day with Rita Schindler and Natasha Gale. You will have the chance to meet and learn from two inspiring harpists who will share and help you develop techniques and ensemble playing.

Harp tutors:

RITA SCHINDLER
Hungarian harpist Rita Schindler pursues a varied career as a musician and teacher. Her playing has been described as ‘beguiled with a broad range of colours’, and in 2019 she was appointed principal harp tutor at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

As an orchestral musician, Rita performs regularly with Birmingham Royal Ballet, Ulster Orchestra and English Symphony Orchestra and has worked with many other orchestras throughout the country including Opera North, Opera Nova, Southbank Sinfonia, Welsh National Opera, English String Orchestra, the CBSO and Mid Wales Opera.

Her performing career also includes solo and chamber recitals, choir and concerto performances, BBC Radio 3 and 4 live broadcasts, appearances at The Proms, and recordings for Signum Classics and Naxos Records.

Her awards include Sir John Barbirolli Recipient Young Artist of the Royal Philharmonic Society, chamber music competition winner at North London Festival of Music and Drama, and winner of Central England Ensemble Concerto Competition.

Rita began her music education at Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir School in Budapest before moving to England to pursue her undergraduate harp studies with Catherine White at Birmingham Conservatoire. She went on to complete her postgraduate studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under the guidance of Imogen Barford. The following year she received an Honorary Junior Fellowship from Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where she now teaches in the senior and junior Conservatoire in balance with her busy career as a performer.

NATASHA GALE
​Natasha gale is a young professional harpist from Kent graduated from the prestigious Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. She has performed as a solo and orchestral harpist around Birmingham, London and the West Country, frequently playing with Wolverhampton Symphony Orchestra and Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra. She is the current harp tutor for several schools across the Cotswolds and Cheltenham area, including Cheltenham College and Dean close school and is part of ‘The Abrazo Duo’ with flautist Ellena Taylor. She has studied under Gabriella Dall’olio, Catherine White and Eleanor Turner. From her work within the United Kingdom Harp association in co-organising the’ Wild strings pop and harp festival 2018’. She has found a passion for finding new ways of teaching new harpists and experimenting with jazz, pop harp, meditation and exploring the full range of what is possible on the harp.

The tutors are all Enhanced DBS-checked. Pastoral staff team supports all ESO Youth courses.
COVID protocols – regular hand washing and use of hand sanitiser will be encouraged.