Interview: Meredith Clark

After having survived the theft of her wallet and all the kerfuffle that ensues, Meredith very graciously agreed to let us interview her a few days ago. Unfortunately the credit card that was "overnighted" on Tuesday still hasn't arrived, and she is still battling with the confused and slightly disorganized front desk.

Meredith, now 23 years old, grew up in Fort Worth, Texas, and studied with Sydney Howell, Delaine Fedson, and Ellen Ritscher, as well as spending a summer with Alice Chalifoux. She earned her Bachelor's Degree at Oberlin College where she studied with Yolanda Kondanassis, with whom she is now finishing her Master's Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Tell us a little bit about how you prepared for the competition?

You mean...besides practicing...?! I knew a few of the pieces before I decided to do the competition, which was quite a while after the list had been out, so it was a race to make sure that all of my pieces were learned, and learned well.

Did you go to any masterclasses?

Not that I played in, but this past summer I was at the American Harp Society Convention in Detroit and I saw a masterclass on the Hindemith which was really interesting.

So how else did you prepare?

All of the not-solo things I got to do with groups, so I was really lucky that the Beethoven and the Caplet I got to play on recitals at CIM with students and then two weeks before I left for the competiton I played the Ginastera with the CIM orchestra. I also played it in Germany in April with the Akademische Orchester Leipzig, which is like a training orchestra but there are people of all different ages. And I got to play it in the Gewandhaus, which was really awesome.

Is there anything you' d like to share with us about your experience at the competition so far?

I think I was really surprised in general how nice everyone was, you know, everyone seems really kind and concerned that everyone plays their best which is not how I would normally view a competition atmosphere. You know, it is always really frustrating when you don't do your best, but for that moment, that is all you can do, and then it's up to the judges.

What are your plans for after the competition?

New music!

What kind of music do you like to learn?

I really like more contemporary stuff, and I think if I got to choose it would involve a lot more of that and probably a lot more contemporary chamber stuff, not necessarily a typical chamber ensemble including harp. I've done some stuff with harp, cello, and percussion which is really cool, so maybe more of that. I don't know, lots of people are planning on doing the USA competition as well. I don't know if I want to do that, especially because the only music that I know for USA is the music I know for this competition, and a 45 minute recital, I can throw stuff on, but I would rather not have to play things like the Krumpholtz again, that's on the list! But who knows, we'll see!