Twin Cities harpist Stephanie Claussen spent this past year fulfilling one of her long-term dreams: arranging and refining twenty-one of her favorite carols and tunes into a solo harp album of medieval Christmas splendor. "French carols are the best," according to Claussen, who lists the smell of wood smoke, the taste of orange zest, the appearance of the sky on a clear cold night, and the color red as impressions she associates with the album. Her past solo projects include a 2014 Minnesota State Arts Board grant to perform throughout Minnesota as well as a 2013 solo album “Soirée à Montpellier,” which presents musical snapshots of the two years she spent in the south of France. “Light So Brilliant: Carols and Tunes for Christmas" intentionally incorporates a variety of well-loved and lesser-known carols. “Unfamiliar carols can’t spark the Christmas mood quite as well as the old favorites, but I think everyone gets tired of hearing the same melodies year after year,” Claussen says with a smile. She crafted original interludes and countermelodies for most of the pieces on the album, aiming to season familiar melodies with just enough spice to keep audiences from growing bored while steering clear of more modern harmonies. Claussen says she‘s going for an ancient flavor on this project. When asked if it was difficult working on Christmas for an entire year, Claussen responds, “It was a blast.” What other say: "Listening to Stephanie Claussen's new Christmas album makes me feel like I'm exploring Narnia when in reality I'm dealing with traffic on an overcast drive. If that's not magic, I don't know what is!” -Missy "I've been listening to your wonderful CD non-stop! You've come such a long way and become so musically sensitive in your playing." -Reuben "Lovely playing & arrangements.” -Emily "I love it! Listened to it three times straight while driving to the cities." - Patti "Listening to it as I write and it’s beautiful…My mom is going to LOVE your music." -Marty "I LOVE this CD! Thank you SOOOOO much! I do have two complaints, however: 1. I first listened to it on the way in to work this morning and it was so pretty and interesting I had trouble concentrating on my driving - for real; and 2. Listening to it at work makes it really hard not to bail and run home to practice! BEAUTIFUL, thank you. I'm going to listen to it all year long." -Marjie "We love it; every minute is well spent listening to it; thank you thank you thank you!" - Tom "Enjoying the peaceful music. Beautiful arrangements.” -Ted