Power at her fingers

This Sunday afternoon, the auditorium at the Beaverton Public Library will fill with an unusual sound.

“Because of the exoticness of this opportunity, I could not pass it up,” said Judy Castle, executive director of Music in Small Spaces, a concert series of classical music on the Westside.

Denise Fujikawa, an accomplished musician who teaches at Portland State University and performs with the Portland Opera Orchestra, will put on a solo performance with her concert harp.

Not quite the musical instrument of cherubs and angels, Fujikawa’s harp is as tall as an adult man, measuring 6 feet tall and weighing about 80 pounds, she estimates.

Given those dimensions, the concert harp “has the capacity for having quite a big sound,” as Fujikawa puts it.

“I’ve had many people, including Judy, who are just astonished at how loud the harp can be,” she said.

Castle said it’s quite an experience.

“Most people have never seen a concert harp in person, and very few have heard it in person. And nothing on a CD or any stereo system really conveys the percussiveness and the air vibrating when the harp is played,” she said. “It’s amazing. And it’s loud.”

Fujikawa has been playing the harp for more than 40 years.

“I kind of fell into it sideways,” she said.

Fujikawa started playing as a child after getting an opportunity to take harp lessons at a music school in the Bay Area.

“I think after two months on the harp, I was better than I had been after years of piano study,” she said. “Sometimes you just have to find the right instrument.”

The harp and the piano actually have some similarities. For one, both use strings to generate sound, with the keys of a piano triggering hammers that strike the strings inside the body and transmit vibrations. For another, both require great feel, as they are played with the hands.

“It’s very tactile, because we use our fingers to actually pluck the strings,” Fujikawa said of herself and her fellow harpists. “We don’t use a bow, like a violin or a cello.”

The concert Fujikawa will perform on Sunday will be about an hour in length, with compositions ranging from the classical work of George Frideric Handel to transcriptions of Spanish-inflected guitar music.

“We’re covering all periods of music, and I will also give some instrument talk about the harp and also the particular pieces we’ll be playing,” Fujikawa said, explaining, “It’s meant to be semi-educational, without being heavy.”

Castle places a strong emphasis on her Music in Small Spaces concerts appealing to families, including children. Fujikawa is encouraging people of all ages to attend and experience “the power of live music.”

“I think people forget that you can’t duplicate that with recordings, no matter how good the recordings are,” the harpist said.

Most of the time, when Fujikawa plays, she is part of an orchestra. On Sunday, she will be performing by herself. It’s a very different experience, she said, which she calls “a labor of love.”

“When you’re playing with an orchestra, you learn your part and you’re sort of a puzzle piece that fits into a hole,” Fujikawa explains.

As a solo performer, though, she has to interpret the music in her own way, not relying on a conductor or fellow musicians to set a tone or a tempo.

“There’s just a lot that goes into solo playing that you really have to put quite a bit of thought and trial and error (into),” she said.

Fujikawa’s concert, “The Harp Can Be Hip,” begins at 2 p.m. at the Beaverton Library. Admission is $16 for adults, $11 for seniors and students ages 13 and older, and free for children ages 12 and younger.