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Strings attached: Why we love the harp

Craig DeSilva, Sharene Taba and Annika Young celebrate National Harp Day (October 19) on Evening Concert.
Craig DeSilva
Craig DeSilva, Sharene Taba and Annika Young celebrate National Harp Day (October 19) on Evening Concert.

The harp is not just a heavenly instrument played by angels above. It's been captivating people’s hearts and imaginations for hundreds of years here on earth.

Evening Concert celebrated National Harp Day with invited guests Sharene Taba, Hawaiʻi Public Radio’s resident harpist and host of Classical Pacific, and her student Annika Young, a fifth grader at ʻIolani School and a member of the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony. They shared music that shows how the harp’s unique sound can light up a room with a little bit of magic. Plucking was strongly encouraged.

Craig DeSilva is glad to be playing recorded music on the air instead of playing for a live audience on stage as did when he studied piano. He began piano lessons when he was a child and continued piano studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (where he majored in broadcast journalism and minored in music) under the late Peter Coraggio.
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