The USA International Harp Competition (USAIHC) was founded in 1989 by harpist and pedagogue Susann McDonald. [1] It is the only international harp competition held in the United States, and it is one of only seven music competitions in the United States to belong to the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
The Competition is held every three years at the Jacobs School of Music on the campus of Indiana University and is open to harpists of all nationalities ages 18 to 32. Since its inception, over 300 harpists from 19 countries have competed for this coveted title. In addition to helping launch careers, the Competition offers impressive prizes including a commemorative, Concert Grand Gold Harp designed and built specifically for the USA IHC by Lyon & Healy Harps. Cash prizes are also awarded through eighth place.
Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the 2002 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction in the same year, for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include The Patron Saint of Liars (1992), Taft (1994), The Magician's Assistant (1997), Run (2007), State of Wonder (2011), Commonwealth (2016), The Dutch House (2019), and Tom Lake (2023). The Dutch House was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The triple harp is a type of multi-course harp employing three parallel rows of strings instead of the more common single row. One common version is the Welsh triple harp, used today mainly among players of traditional Welsh folk music.
Susann McDonald is an American-born classical harpist. In addition to a successful performing career, she has made a number of recordings and held significant academic and organizational posts.
The Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major, K. 299/297c, is a concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for flute, harp, and orchestra. It is one of only two true double concertos that he wrote, as well as the only piece of music by Mozart for the harp. The piece is one of the most popular such concertos in the repertoire, as well as often being found on recordings dedicated to either one of its featured instruments.
Lavinia Meijer is a South Korean-born Dutch harpist. Her concerts have included a solo harp evening at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Coline-Marie Orliac is a harpist from Antibes, France. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she has performed with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic.
Maria Krushevskaya is a virtuoso Russian harpist. She was the gold medalist of the 2007 USA International Harp Competition, where she was awarded the Jan Jennings Prize for best performance of Pierné's Concertstück for Harp and Orchestra, the Mary L. Ogg Prize for best performance of Küne's Fantaisie sur un theme de l’opera Eugene Onegin, and best performance of Alvars' Introduction and Variations on Themes from Bellini's Opera Norma. Maria Krushevskaya was born in Moscow in 1984 in a family of musicians. She began to study music at the age of five. In 1992 she entered the Moscow Gnessin School of Music, graduating with distinction in 2002 and subsequently continued her studies at the Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music from which she also graduated with distinction in 2008.
Alice Chalifoux was the principal harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1931 to 1974 and was its only female member for twelve years. Chalifoux learned to play the harp from her mother, studying music at local schools before studying under Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute of Music. She was an authority on his music and took over the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony after his death. She had a reputation as a specialist in orchestral harp technique and a master teacher. She taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music. She continued teaching harp until her death in 2008, at the age of 100. Chalifoux received two honorary degrees for her work. In her personal life, Chalifoux married John Gordon Rideout in 1937 and had one daughter.
Valérie Milot is a Canadian harpist born in the province of Quebec. In 2008, she became the first harpist to win the prestigious Prix d’Europe. Ms Milot is renowned for her mature musical instinct as well as for the strength and the refinement of her interpretations. Her first recording, called « Révélation », was released in October 2009.
Marie-Elizabeth Cléry née Du Verger or Du Verge was a French harpist and composer. She was probably born in Paris and became a harpist in the court of Marie-Antoinette. After her marriage to Jean-Baptiste Cant-Hanet dit Cléry, she published three sonatas for harp accompanied by violin, Trois Sonates pour La Harpe ou Piano-forte avec Accompagnement de Violon (1785).
Henrik Rohmann was a Hungarian harpist and harp teacher.
Kirsten Agresta Copely is an American harpist based in New York City. She is a former associate professor of harp at Vanderbilt University, an affiliated artist on the music faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, a board member of the World Harp Congress, and a member of NARAS and ASCAP. Agresta has collaborated with many artists across a wide range of genres, including Jay-Z, Beyoncé Knowles, Enya, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Lady Antebellum, Evanescence, The Who, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Nettles.
Vera Georgievna Dulova was a Russian harpist and instructor. The Russian school or method is named after her.
Varvara Ivanova is a Russian virtuoso harpist and winner of major prizes in many international harp competitions.
Emmanuel Ceysson is a French harpist and academic. He is principal harpist in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Formerly, he was principal harpist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Opéra National de Paris (2005–2015). In 2004 he won the Gold Medal and a special performance prize at the USA International Harp Competition. In 2006 he earned First Prize and six special prizes at the Young Concert Artists Competition in New York City, and in 2009 he received First Prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich. He currently serves as professor of Harp at the Mannes School of Music, and was previously Professor of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 2005 to 2009. Since 2010 he has taught harp in the summers at the Académie internationale d'été de Nice.
Nathalia Milstein is a French classical pianist.
Jana Boušková is a Czech harpist and pedagogue. She has been the principal harpist of the Czech Philharmonic since 2005. Boušková is also a professor at the Royal College of Music in London since 2019, the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague since 2007, and she was the harp teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels from 2005 to 2020.
Remy van Kesteren is a Dutch harpist.
Elizabeth Jaxon is a harpist. Originally from Champaign, Illinois, United States she is now based in Utrecht in the Netherlands.