Julie Rokseth

Julie graduated her classical harp Bachelor in 2011. From there her search for a more creative musical life led her to diving into Celtic and Scandinavian folk music and creating the duo “Julie & Andreas” with her brother on the bandoneon. Together they travelled to Buenos Aires, and under the guidance of the tango icon Pablo Mainetti, Julie started her first explorations into using the harp as a tango instrument.

This topic became the focus of her tango Master degree Codarts Univeristy of the Arts in Rotterdam (2015-2017). During the two year studies, she created an authentic tango voice for the harp and her “Toolbox for the Tango Harpist”. In short terms this work included investigation of the traditional roles of other instrument groups in the tango (techniques, playing styles etc.), and incorporating the applicable techniques into her own playing style on the harp. She also approached it from the perspective of investigating which extended techniques already exists for the harp, and how they can complement the tango style in an authentic way. The resulting “Toolbox for the Tango Harpist” includes instruction on how to play and notate a range of new techniques - a resource that is useful for the harpist and composer alike. As a part of this project she also wrote several compositions, both for solo harp and harp with bandoneon. She graduated with her masters cum laude and received a 10/10 mark for her final exam performance.

https://harp-bandoneon.com/julie/