It all began simply enough in the late 1980s, when Lori Pappajohn and Alan Woodland started annual Christmas concerts featuring harp and readings at the New Westminster Public Library.
Now, Winter Harp is one of Western Canada's most beloved holiday traditions - and it's celebrating its 20th anniversary this season.
The acclaimed Winter Harp ensemble is back for the Christmas season, with a concert on Sunday, Dec. 1 at the Massey Theatre with the Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir.
"New Westminster really gave us our start," said Pappajohn, the ensemble's director and a Royal City resident, in a press release.
She recalled the days of working with Woodland - who was the city's chief librarian at the time - to put on their concerts in the library.
"We had no budget when we started, but we could use the library's community room for free, so that helped," she remembered. "And I also performed at Irving House for its Christmas celebrations."
Each year the audience grew, and the two renamed their show Winter Harp and moved it to Vancouver.
Out of that grew the Winter Harp ensemble, which is now marking its 20th anniversary - following two decades that included the release of 12 CDs and a TV special.
The ensemble combines harps and percussion with rare medieval instruments, flutes, poetry and song. It has performed its Christmas concerts to tens of thousands of people, consistently receiving standing ovations and often selling out in theatres as large as 1,000 seats.
In 2006 it first teamed up with the Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir for a Christmas concert at the Massey Theatre - and that concert was such a success that it's become an annual event.
"What a beautiful concert it is," Pappajohn said. "Here you have the harps and flutes and all the instrumentation of Winter Harp combined with a choir of some 80 men. The result truly is spectacular. Powerful, really."
The 2013 ensemble includes Pappajohn and Kim Robertson on Celtic Harp and voice, Janelle Nadeau on pedal harp and voice, Roger Helfrik on medieval harp, psaltery and voice, Jeff Pelletier on flute, bass flute and wooden piccolo, Lauri Lyster on percussion and voice, Joaquin Ayala on medieval instruments (organistrum, nyckelharpa, bass psaltery) and Adam Henderson as narrator.
Winter Harp's concert with the Vancouver Welsh Men's Choir is on Sunday, Dec. 1 at 2 p.m. at Massey Theatre. For tickets, call the Massey Theatre at 604-521-5050 or buy through www.masseytheatre.com.
The ensemble then goes on tour, with concerts in Winnipeg, Courtenay, Victoria, Nanaimo and Duncan before returning to the Lower Mainland for more shows in Chilliwack, North Vancouver, Vancouver and Maple Ridge.
For the full schedule, check out www.winterharp.com.
