The Peru Gazette

Classical harpist Kathryn Sloat will perform her signature solo program “Moon and Stars” on Saturday,

June 19 at 7:30 pm at Weatherwatch Farm in Saranac.  Kathryn Sloat created her program around a nocturnal theme of moon and stars – hence the evening start-time. Seating will be provided under a canopy, but audience may bring their own more comfortable camp chairs and spill out onto the lawn. The one-hour solo concert (performed without intermission) will finish just as night begins to fall – how poetic! At the conclusion of the concert dessert and coffee will be served.

Among the mix of classical, contemporary, and popular works to be performed are Debussy’s “Clair de lune,”  Britten’s “Nocturne,”Salzedo’s “Chanson dans la Nuit,” Henry Mancini’s “Moon River,” Ruby Aspinall’s “Night Dances,” Jin Hee Han’s “Morning Star,” J.E. Salazar’s “I See Stars in Your Eyes,” and  Harvey Schmidt’s “Moonlight #2” from The Fantasticks. Reservations are requested either by email: ambrown.hillholl@gmail.com or by phone: 518-293-7613. The suggested donation is $20 per person at the gate. For more information, please visit www.hillandhollowmusic.org.        

This event will follow safety guidelines and the honor system: masks should be worn if you are not fully vaccinated. A sign-in sheet will be kept at the door in case of possible need for contact tracing.        

 About Kathryn Sloat

Kathryn Sloat, “whose harp playing evoked the angels” (Brooklyn Discovery), is known for her work in opera, Broadway, orchestra, and contemporary chamber music in New York City and throughout the United States. She is a member of the harp duo Lilac 94 with whom she performed at Hill and Hollow Music four years ago. Born and raised in the North Country, Kate holds degrees in harp performance from the Crane School of Music, Eastman School of Music, and Mannes College of Music. She currently lives in Manhattan and, while maintaining a rigorous schedule of performance and travel, manages to fit in some free time to knit, read, and hike the Adirondacks.

Kathryn Sloat has worked with a number of composers to bring their music alive through initial readings and concert performances for the New York Composers Circle and Secret Opera. As an orchestral harpist, Kathryn has performed in a variety of festivals with conductors such as Keith Lockhart, JoAnn Falletta, Leon Botstein, Larry Rachleff, and a notable performance with conductor Krešimir Batinić and the Zagreb Philharmonic in their Carnegie Hall debut for the premiere of Malek Jandali’s Luminosity, a four-movement sinfonietta for chamber orchestra inspired by and dedicated to the Syrian children.

With a passion for performing in musical theatre and opera, Kathryn has played in pit orchestras for Off-Broadway and regional theater productions of Once Upon a Mattress, The Fantasticks,  A Light in the Piazza, Peter Pan, and others.  As a member of the Ohio Light Opera Orchestra, she performed works from this repertory including Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, Cole Porter’s Silk Stockings, and Johann Strauss II’s The Gypsy Baron. She has also subbed for Radio City’s annual Christmas Spectacular. Kathryn has worked with various small opera companies in New York City for performances such as Carmen (Tricities Opera), The Rape of Lucretia (New Camerata Opera), and Tosca (Loft Opera).

Kathryn takes a special delight in performing the works of composer Benjamin Britten. First hooked in college when she played her first Britten opera, Albert Herring, and then again with her first performance of The Ceremony of Carols,she has since played numerous Britten operas and even put on her own production of his chamber works for harp entitled “A Birthday Hansel for Benjamin Britten.” Kathryn pursues as many opportunities as possible to play this great composer’s music.

In addition to her performance work, Kathryn is a dedicated harp teacher. She has taught individual and group lessons as a private instructor and as a part of the National String Project. Since 2014 she has been an assistant harp teacher at the Connecticut Valley Harp Intensive, and has given educational performances and workshops as a member of her harp duo Lilac 94. In the summer of 2019 she was the harp teacher in residence at the Luzerne Music Center in upstate New York. Kathryn was recently appointed as a harp instructor at the Diller-Quaile School of Music and at the Dwight School in New York City.

This project is made possible by funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts