Harpists tackle heavy metal

• By JOHN WIRT
• Music critic
• Published: May 16, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Ashley Lancz Toman and Patricia Kline bridge the deep divide between heavy metal and classical music.

Graduates of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., Kline and Toman are Harptallica, a harp duo that performs the songs of Metallica, the San Francisco rock band that raised the bar for ferocity and complexity in metal music.

In early 2006, Toman, a Michigan native who moved to Prairieville two years ago, approached Kline about sight reading a few transcriptions she’d made of Metallica songs. The two harpists were in their final semester of graduate study at Eastman. They gave Toman’s arrangements a test run and liked what they heard.

“I even asked Patty that day if she would come down to Louisiana and record an album of Metallica songs with me,” Toman said from San Francisco this week, a city on the duo’s second national tour.

Kline, who lives and teaches in central Massachusetts, flew to Baton Rouge, where she and Toman recorded Harptallica — A Tribute at the LSU School of Music studio.

Harptallica staged its first national tour last year. The duo completes its current tour Thursday, May 22, at the North Gate Tavern in Baton Rouge.

Reaction to Harptallica’s interpretations of Metallica have been positive, Kline said.

“We were nervous about it at first,” she said. “But whether it’s because people are fans of Metallica or they just like harp music, the reception has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic.”

Of course, the novelty of performing heavy metal on the celestial harp surprises people.

“People will be walking by a bar and they’ll hear harp music floating out through the door,” Toman said. “They’ll poke their heads in and be like, what the — ”

Harptallica’s 21-city spring tour includes Seattle and Portland Wash., Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., Dallas and, on the same day that Metallica performed there, Los Angeles.

Members of the Metallica fan club have attended Harptallica performances in various cities. The duo played a Metallica fan club convention last year in Los Angeles but, so far, there’s been no reaction from Metallica.

The touring Harptallica generates press coverage and makes money.