Cara Dawson is a harpist who performs across London and Berlin. Her teachers have included Marie Leenhardt and Gabriella Dall’Olio. As a passionate performer of new music, Cara regularly works with composers to write new works for harp solo and ensemble. On multiple occasions these have incorporated multi-disciplinary facets such as theatre, electronics, spoken word, improvisations and video. In 2018, Cara co-founded the composer/performer collective ‘red panel’. The group aims to create unique and holistic sensory experiences, with signature events that are characterised by specially tailored new works, immersive atmospheric environments and unconventional locations.
Shadows of solitude
‘shadows of solitude’ is an original program of works, composed or arranged in lockdowns. All works are for solo harp and electronics which ‘shadow’ it. This is represented in prerecorded harp parts loaded to boombox speakers in my arrangement of Cage. I embraced the environmental sounds that came with recording at home; the underlying environmental murmur of each snapshot creates a sonic representation of this strange time. In Timbrell’s piece, sine- tones shadow the resonance of the harp. Drew’s piece uses varying shades of monochrome noises as an ambient backdrop and Lonsdale’s piece features recordings of an aeolian harp, recorded by the composer during his lockdown.
