Asni
Asked what made her want to play the harp, Asni’s answer is spontaneous: “Reading too much Tolkien!” Disappointed with the decidedly un-elfish unwieldiness of the modern pedal harp, which she had studied since a teenager, she became involved in the revival of medieval and baroque harps after finding out about the fascinating varieties of the instruments that had existed in older times, and soon established herself as one of the leading modern performers on early harps.
After an international career that took her to most European countries and across the United States, she decided to settle in Wellington after coming to New Zealand for a tour, and took up a position as Artist Teacher at the New Zealand School of Music. She has toured for Chamber Music New Zealand in 2005, and went back to Europe in 2006 to perform and teach at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, as well as recitals in the Czech Republic, Sweden and her native Germany. She has performed with a wide range of musicians both in New Zealand and abroad, ranging from alternative pop to traditional Maori music.
Since coming to New Zealand, she has been able to more fully explore the other side of her creativity in visual arts - painting, photography, and more recently, video production and animation. Earlier this year she completed the Diploma of Multimedia at Natcoll. Since 2002, she has been running her own website, www.asni.net, where she sells her CDs, photography, artwork and a range of sheet music edited from historical sources.
Asni holds an MA in music history and theory from the University of Utrecht, the Netherlands. She is a member of APRA and of WIFT- Women in Film and Television.
When not on stage or the net, her name is Astrid Nielsch. :-)
Discography
TRAVELS IN MIDDLE-EARTH - Asni, harps, with Alistair Fraser, taonga puoro. An acoustic journey through Tolkien's fantasy universe. Harp&Hobbit records, 2008
700 YEARS OF POP - Asni, harps, with Laurie Randolph, baroque guitar. A collection of top of the charts songs and tunes from the Middle Ages to the Beatles. Keep Cool!(Germany) 2003
POURQUOY DOUX ROSSIGNOL - Rent a Nightingale (Gaby Bultmann, recorders and Asni, harps). Baroque, Medieval and Renaissance music for recorder and harp. Scala Records (Germany) 2000
LOVE LETTERS FROM ITALY - Drew Minter, countertenor & ARTEK/458 Strings, dir. Gwendolyn Toth. Early baroque Italian cantatas make for some intense, strongly-felt stuff. Lyrichord Early Music Series(USA) LEMS 8026, 1996
MONTEVERDI: "L'ORFEO" - ARTEK/458 strings, dir.Gwendolyn Toth. With Jeffrey Thomas, Dana Hanchard, Jessica Tranzillo, Jennifer Lane, Tim Evans, Michael Brown, Paul Shipper. Lyrichord Early Music Series (USA) LEMS 9002, 1995
HANDEL: "SAUL" - an oratorio or sacred drama. Kölner Kammerchor & Collegium Cartusianum, dir. Peter Neumann. With Gregory Reinhart, Matthias Koch, John Elwes, Vasiljka Jezovsek, Simone Kermes, Johannes Kalpers, Michail Schelomjanski. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus und Grimm (Germany), MDG 332 0801, 1998
Samplers:
REFLECTIONS ON A MILLENNIUM OF HARPS - Academica/Verein zur Förderung historischer Harfen, 2005
ADRI'S TRAUMFLOETE - THE DREAM (recorder music sampler) - with Adriana Breuking, recorder; Conrad Mollenhauer GmbH, 2001
Soundtrack:
DER GLOECKNER VON NOTRE DAME ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame" - audio book soundtrack) – dir. Simon Bertling & Christian Hagitte, Hörverlag (Germany) 2001
Video:
TAGE ALTER MUSIK REGENSBURG: ARTEK New York in recital, 31/5/1998; Pro Musica Antiqua (Germany) 1998
Live recording:
LOVE; LAMENT & LULLABY - harp, with Pepe Becker, soprano, Robin Ward, 2nd harp; Live-recording, St Andrew's on the Terrance, Wellington 2003
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