WHAT MADE ME LOVE MUSIC: JOE REBMAN, HARPIST

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Joe Rebman

I first discovered the harp through the Disney movie Fantasia.

The film begins with the orchestra in silhouette as they warm up, including the harps. The first musical scene of the movie is Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor arranged for orchestra. There are some very clear harp lines in this arrangement, and the hands of the harpist are clearly shown during those lines.

I was instantly hooked.

When I finally met my harp teacher, she played her own arrangement of Linus and Lucy from Charlie Brown. I was amazed and was very excited to eventually learn that piece.

Those are my two strongest memories of what first made me fall in love with the arts.

Joseph Rebman, harpist

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”