Valerie Muzzolini Gordon (born in Nice, France) is the Principal Harpist of the Seattle Symphony. [1] She lives in Seattle, Washington, with her husband, David Gordon, and their daughter. [2]
Valerie Muzzolini Gordon was born in Nice, France, and began playing the harp at the age of seven. [3] She began her study of music at the Conservatory of Nice and continued her studies at Curtis Institute of Music [4] with Marilyn Costello and Judy Loman. She studied with Nancy Allen while doing graduate work at Yale University. [5]
Gordon has been a member of the Seattle Symphony since 2000 and became Principal Harpist at the age of twenty-three. She is also a soloist and a guest principal harpist, and has performed with the Boston Symphony, [6] Oregon Symphony, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Nice Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, and the Vancouver Symphony. [7] As a proponent of contemporary music and an active Chamber musician, she frequently performs with Music of Remembrance, [8] Seattle Chamber Players. [9] and the Seattle Chamber Music Society. [10] Gordon premiered a double concerto for violin and harp at the 2012 New Hampshire Music Festival. [11]
Gordon taught for several years at Cornish College of the Arts, [12] and is now an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington. [13] She taught at the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy in June 2014, and will be returning for the 2015 program. [7]
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of 6 and by age 9 was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991–93 she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. ashurova received a bachelor's and master's degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Masters in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Caroline Léonardelli is a French-Canadian concert harpist. Born in France, she graduated from the Conservatoire de Paris at age of 18 and came to Canada to study at McGill University where she completed an Artist Diploma. Based in Canada's National Capital Region, she performs for CBC national broadcasts and for Radio Canada. Her recordings are featured by Apple Music in the top ten playlist of master harp recordings and her recording label is distributed worldwide by NAXOS. She is the Principal Harpist with the Ottawa Symphony and Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau.
Thomas Dausgaard is a Danish conductor. He "studied conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen and with Norman Del Mar at the Royal College of Music in London. He has taken part in masterclasses with Franco Ferrara, Leonard Bernstein and Hiroyuki Iwaki, and in 1991 he won a conducting fellowship to attend the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute."
Ann Hobson Pilot is an American musician and the former principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops. She has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and as a soloist with many orchestras in the United States. She was one of four African American musicians who were the first to play in United States symphony orchestras during the 1960s.
Sean Osborn is a former clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and a regular substitute in the clarinet section of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. He has been a student of Stanley Hasty, Frank Kowalsky, and Eric Mandat.
Margaret Brouwer is an American composer and composition teacher. She founded the Blue Streak Ensemble chamber music group.
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.
Alice Chalifoux was Principal Harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1931 to 1974 and, for many years, was its only female member.
Yolanda Kondonassis is an American classical harpist. She is considered one of the world's premier solo harpists and is widely regarded as today's most recorded classical harpist.
Lucile Lawrence was a leader among American harpists. At the end of her life, she was actively teaching as a faculty member of Boston University and the Manhattan School of Music as well as teaching privately.
Lorna McGhee is a Scottish flutist and teacher, currently serving as Principal Flute of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 2012. In addition, she is an Artist Lecturer in Flute at Carnegie Mellon University. Past positions include co-principal flute of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and associate professor of flute at the University of British Columbia. She is currently a member of a flute, viola, and harp ensemble, 'Trio Verlaine' with her husband, violist David Harding and harpist Heidi Krutzen. McGhee is known for her "luscious tone colors and dynamics."
Katherine Bryan is a British flautist. She was appointed Principal Flute of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Spring 2003, at the age of 21.
Marshall McGuire is an Australian harpist, teacher, conductor and musical administrator. He has been described as the world's greatest champion of new music for the harp. Tristram Cary has written "A new school of harp music is emerging from the enterprise of this innovative master performer".
Ina Zdorovetchi is a Moldovan-born classical harpist. In 2009 USA granted her the colloquially known "Genius" Green Card: permanent residency under E-11 classification given to Aliens with Extraordinary Ability in the Arts normally awarded to the likes of famous artists, Nobel Prize winners and public figures such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Zdorovetchi received her American citizenship in 2015. She is the winner of the Seventeenth International Harp Contest in Israel - the most prestigious international harp competition in the world - having received the highest awarded prize (II), the special prize for the best performance of Chamber Music and the special prize for the best interpretation of the new music piece by Yitzhak Yedid.
William VerMeulen is an American horn player and horn professor. He has been Principal Horn of the Houston Symphony Orchestra since 1990. He is also Professor of Horn at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas. In addition, he is Brass Artist-in-Residence at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto and Visiting Professor of Horn at the Eastman School of Music. Before joining the HSO, he was a member of the Columbus Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, and Kansas City Philharmonic. In addition, he maintains an active solo and chamber music career with appearances at Music@Menlo and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Franziska Huhn is a German harpist. Currently, she lives in the United States.
Susan Allen was an American harpist and music educator. She was particularly known for her world premieres of music for both the classical and electric harp by contemporary composers. She performed in a variety genres—classical, experimental music, jazz, and world music. For many years Allen was also Associate Dean of the Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts.
Heidi Lehwalder is an American classical harpist. She is internationally renowned as one of the world's greatest harp prodigies, and as the final student of master Carlos Salzedo. Leonard Bernstein said of her, "...The main thing to tell you about Heidi is that she is simply a genius," in his notes for the Young People's Concerts. She was the first recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, later to be renamed the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Emmanuel Ceysson is a French harpist and academic. He is the current principal harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (2015–present) and was previously the principal harpist for 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 2005-2009. Since 2010 he has taught harp in the summers at the Académie internationale d'été de Nice.