You’ve heard her stunning harp solos in Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. Now, principal harpist Elizabeth Hainen joins us LIVE from the WRTI Performance Studio for a program of enchanting and brilliant harp music.
On Monday, May 7th, Elizabeth played and talked with host Debra Lew Harder about her new album Home, and about The Lyra Society, which she founded 14 years ago to provide instruction and outreach to thousands of school children in urban Philadelphia.
Watch the performance on the WRTI Facebook page.
Program: for broadcast:
Harp Solo from Lucia di Lammermoor - Donizetti, arr. Zabel
Prelude in B minor - J.S Bach, arr. Siloti
The Colorado Trail - Marcel Grandjany
Hailed by the Washington Post for her “unusual presence with silky transparency” Elizabeth's playing has thrilled audiences throughout the world. She has collaborated with such eminent conductors and musicians as Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Wolfgang Sawallisch and the Juilliard String Quartet. She recently gave the US, China, European and Australian Premieres of the harp concerto/multimedia work, Nu Shu: Secret Songs of Women, written especially for her by Tan Dun.
With her busy schedule as a performing artist, Elizabeth still finds time to teach at the Curtis Institute and at Temple University’s Boyer School of Music. Her commitment to education led her to found the non-profit Lyra Society, which has grown to touch the lives of over 5000 students by putting harps and harp teachers into six urban public schools, and by commissioning over 20 works from young composers.
