Spring Concert: Aletheia Duo performs on May 5, 2024, 5 p.m.
Join us in Bloomington, IN at the University Collections at McCalla on May 5, 2024, at 5 p.m. for a long-awaited performance by the Aletheia Duo: Ann Yeung, harp, and Jonathan Keeble, flute. The duo will present their new program, “Inspiration and Reimagination: Considering the Art of Rudy Pozzatti,” including works by Andrès, Carrillo, Clarke, LeBaron, Lutoslawski, Mahoney, McDonald, Patterson, Sierra, and Wood Rollo.
Click here to learn more about this exciting event, and click here to purchase tickets!
8th USAIHC Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest Applications Now Open
The USA International Harp Competition invites composers of all nationalities to apply for the 8th USAIHC Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest.
January 15, 2024 – Applications open online
September 10, 2024 – Deadline to submit application
October 10, 2024 – Deadline to submit MP3 recordings
Please contact Sonja Inglefield, USAIHC Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest Director, at director.RICC@gmail.com with any additional questions.
USA International Harp Competition Announces Elizabeth Hainen as Artistic Director and Emmanuel Ceysson as Associate Artistic Director
The USA International Harp Competition announces an important transition in leadership since its founding in 1989.
Elizabeth Hainen is appointed as their new Artistic Director. Emmanuel Ceysson is appointed as their new Associate Artistic Director. Susann McDonald is our Founder and will be Artistic Director Emeritus. Linda Wood Rollo will be our Associate Artistic Director Emeritus. Their dedication and leadership over the past 35 years is unparalleled and has elevated the competition to the world stage as one of the premier solo harp competitions. The board of directors express their deep appreciation for their contributions to this organization and the international harp world.
Elizabeth Hainen
Elizabeth Hainen has earned an international reputation as one of classical music’s great harp ambassadors. Hailed by the Washington Post for her “unusual presence with silky transparency” and by the New York Times for her “earthy solidarity,” Hainen has thrilled audiences throughout the world with programs showcasing the diversity—and virtuosity—of her modern-day instrument. As Solo Harpist with The Philadelphia Orchestra for over twenty-five years, she has presented numerous featured performances to captivated audiences and has been praised by the Philadelphia Inquirer for “her ability to blend and color the musical line,” and “to find transparency in an almost timeless atmosphere.” In high demand as a guest artist, Ms. Hainen has collaborated with such eminent conductors and musicians as Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michael Stern and the Juilliard String Quartet. In addition to The Philadelphia Orchestra, she has appeared as concert soloist with the City of London Sinfonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bulgaria National Radio Orchestra, Mexico State Symphony, and has appeared regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
As an international juror, she has adjudicated for the Baltimore International Guitar Competition, Korea International Harp Competition (Seoul) Lily Laskine Competition (Paris), and Suoni d’Arpa (Saluzzo) as well as appearing at festivals in Cartagena (Colombia), OZ (Australia), Lyon & Healy Harptacular (Chicago) and Shanghai Arts Festival (China). Her most recent recording, Home, was described by The Irish Times as “utterly gorgeous.” A champion of new music, Ms. Hainen gave the US, China, European and Australian Premieres of the Nu Shu: Secret Songs of Women, written especially for her by Tan Dun. The world premiere audio and video recording with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Yannick was released in 2021-22 season.
Elizabeth Hainen’s extraordinary progress took her to Indiana University School of Music, where she received Bachelor and Artist Diploma degrees as a student of Susann McDonald. Hainen holds the Maryjane Mayhew Barton Chair in Harp Studies for the Curtis Institute of Music and also serves as Artistic Director for Harp at Boyer School of Music, Temple University. As Founding Artistic Director of the Lyra Society, an organization to promote new works for the harp and educate young harpists, she has provided educational outreach to hundreds of school children in urban Philadelphia.
emmanuel ceysson
Emmanuel Ceysson sweeps away the clichés associated with his instrument with his powerful virtuoso playing. His infectious enthusiasm and boundless energy reveals the harp in all its sparkling splendor, in a world where poetry rhymes with temperament. After nine years as Principal of the Paris Opera and five seasons with the MET Opera Orchestra in New York, he was unanimously chosen to join the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel in 2020.
Born and raised in France, he was admitted unanimously as a student of the prestigious Paris Conservatoire at the age of 16, and over the succeeding 10 years collected the highest international distinctions and prizes such as Gold Medalist at the 2004 USA International Harp Competition, first prize at the New York Young Concert Artists Auditions in 2006, and first prize at the 2009 ARD Competition in Munich. He secured a solo career as recitalist in major concert venues such as Carnegie Zankel Hall, Wigmore Hall, Salle Gaveau, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hyogo Concert Hall Japan, and as soloist with orchestras such as Bavarian Radio Orchestra, Deutsche Symphonie Orchester, RAI Orchestra Torino, Orchestre National de Lyon, and Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota. He also has taken part in important music festivals all over the world including the Cartagena Music Festival, the MVP Festival in Germany, the Hong Kong Premiere Performance, and the Caramoor summer season. As a recording artist his wide discography covers solo, chamber music and concerto harp repertoire with labels such as Naxos, BR Klassik, Naïve, Aparte, and has received praise from the specialized press.
He also invests time teaching masterclasses worldwide, leading a pro-bono harp development program for Latin America in Colombia, serving as a visiting professor at the London Royal Academy of Music, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, and leading his harp studios at the New York Mannes School of Music and San Francisco Conservatory.
13th USA International Harp Competition Required Repertoire Announced
The 13th USA International Harp Competition will take place in summer 2025.
It will be held in Bloomington, Indiana, at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
The 13th Competition is open to harpists of all nationalities between the ages of 18 and 32 as of May 15, 2025. Applications will open online on May 15, 2024 and deadline to apply is January 15, 2025.
All repertoire must be performed from memory, with the exception of the 8th Composition Contest winning composition in Stage III.
Interview with Noël Wan, 2022 Gold Medalist
Noël Wan, Gold Medalist of the 12th USA International Harp Competition in 2022, talks about preparing the repertoire for the USA International Harp Competition and reflects on her experiences during the 12th Competition. The interview was filmed after Stage III.
Please consider making a donation to the USA International Harp Competition, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 non profit organization.
Thank you.
