Harp Teachers (alphabetical)
Jennifer Ellis (San Francisco). Committed to shifting the boundaries of harp performance, Jennifer R. Ellis (D.M.A. University of Michigan, M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music, B.M. Oberlin) thoroughly enjoys taking the harp off its pedestal and using the instrument in new and unexpected ways. She embraces firsts, premiering over 100 works. She was the first harpist to be a U.S. State Department One Beat Fellow, the first harpist to teach at Nief Norf, the first musician to be named a University of Michigan Engaged Pedagogy Fellow, and the first harpist to attend Bang on a Can, Fresh Inc., and Splice summer festivals. A 2022 LABA Fellow, she received the Alice Chalifoux Prize, two Wildacres Residencies, four Avaloch chamber music residencies, the Rackham Centennial and Graduate fellowships, and the AT&T Foundation scholarship. Her love for innovative new music has led her to serve as a featured performer for the International Harp Festival, Festival of New American Music, Omaha Under the Radar, Sound of Late, Spitting Image Collective, Spark Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and Kerrytown Edgefest. When not playing new music, she collaborates with her orchestral colleagues, performing with San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony and has played concerti with ensembles including Colorado Chamber Orchestra, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, and Contra Costa Wind Symphony. Her recordings run the gamut from premieres (Tides by Brian Baumbusch on Other Minds Records, Entertainment Tonight by Steve Horowitz, and multiple tracks by Roscoe Mitchell on Wide Hive Records) to solo improvisation (January Lullaby on Persist) to commissions for harp and saxophone (Launchwith Jonathan Hulting-Cohen on Albany Records). Her scholarship examines new music and community engagement; she has written articles for Harp Column Magazine and The American Harp Journal, where she now serves on the editorial board. Her composition Dance was recently featured on Lyon and Healy’s Harptacular and her composition Glasswing was featured by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project. Her commitment to teaching composers about the harp has led her to provide workshops for composers at over a dozen universities and summer programs. Recent performances include the premieres of Indra’s Net by Meredith Monk and Impenetrable by Brian Mark. In addition to serving as the American Harp Society Pacific Region Director, she teaches harp at Mills College and harp and community engagement at San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Karen Gottlieb (San Francisco). Ms. Gottlieb received her BA from the University of Washington and her Masters in Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She performed with the San Francisco Symphony as Second Harp for more than 30 years, touring with them on their many national and international tours and she has recorded extensively on the Symphony label DVDs and CDs
Ms. Gottlieb also recorded multiple major film, television and video game sound tracks with the Skywalker Recording Symphony, and has performed with the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras and Opera Parallele. She served as principal harpist for the SF Contemporary Music Players for more than 30 years and as principal harpist with many of the other Bay Area New Music ensembles and California Symphony.
Since 1985 she has taught at San Francisco State University along with a private studio. For 35 years she was the harp instructor at Mills College. As a teacher, her focus is on adult hobby students and young professionals. She is very interested in working with adult students of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds and occasionally works with younger harpists. Her emphasis is to get them to produce and sound more musical by enhancing their technique and thoughtfulness toward how they approach the instrument. And, Ms. Gottlieb also enjoys coaching/working with young professionals for competitions and auditions. With more than 40 years of performing experience and exposure to much of the harp repertoire, an experienced ear can be an invaluable addition to a performer's final preparation. She finds that with several sessions, the student is able to get precisely focused with the necessary tools to perform optimally in a competition or for an orchestral audition. www.kgharp.com, [email protected].
Ms. Gottlieb also recorded multiple major film, television and video game sound tracks with the Skywalker Recording Symphony, and has performed with the San Francisco Ballet and Opera Orchestras and Opera Parallele. She served as principal harpist for the SF Contemporary Music Players for more than 30 years and as principal harpist with many of the other Bay Area New Music ensembles and California Symphony.
Since 1985 she has taught at San Francisco State University along with a private studio. For 35 years she was the harp instructor at Mills College. As a teacher, her focus is on adult hobby students and young professionals. She is very interested in working with adult students of all ages, skill levels and backgrounds and occasionally works with younger harpists. Her emphasis is to get them to produce and sound more musical by enhancing their technique and thoughtfulness toward how they approach the instrument. And, Ms. Gottlieb also enjoys coaching/working with young professionals for competitions and auditions. With more than 40 years of performing experience and exposure to much of the harp repertoire, an experienced ear can be an invaluable addition to a performer's final preparation. She finds that with several sessions, the student is able to get precisely focused with the necessary tools to perform optimally in a competition or for an orchestral audition. www.kgharp.com, [email protected].
Carol Holsinger (Mountain View). Carol loves to teach. She studied music from a young age, and found the harp in college. She teaches both lever and pedal harp to students of all ages from her Mountain View studio. 650-326-3146, carol(AT)holsingerharps.com, www.holsingerharps.com.
Esther Lee (Santa Clara). Esther Lee’s passion and gift in music has led her through a career in music performing, teaching and music practitioning. She began her training in music on the piano at the age of four where her solid musical foundation brought her to excel as a harpist.
Her career as harpist began under the formal instruction of legendary harp instructors including Jessica Siegel, a former student of Alice Chalifoux, and Lou Anne Neill, the principal harpist of the Los Angeles Philharmonia, at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned two degrees at the University in Music Performance as well as Music Education. She also studied under the masters program for education at UCLA and received her California Teaching Credential. Since returning to Northern California in 2004, Esther has performed as a professional harpist, taught private lessons of all ages and levels, and worked as a music practitioner with Hospice. Of the three professions, her greatest passion is teaching and pouring out to students as they journey through their lives in music.
Her career as harpist began under the formal instruction of legendary harp instructors including Jessica Siegel, a former student of Alice Chalifoux, and Lou Anne Neill, the principal harpist of the Los Angeles Philharmonia, at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned two degrees at the University in Music Performance as well as Music Education. She also studied under the masters program for education at UCLA and received her California Teaching Credential. Since returning to Northern California in 2004, Esther has performed as a professional harpist, taught private lessons of all ages and levels, and worked as a music practitioner with Hospice. Of the three professions, her greatest passion is teaching and pouring out to students as they journey through their lives in music.
Dan Levitan (Fremont). Dan is a virtuoso solo and orchestral harpist, who also gives private lessons in Fremont, and is the harp faculty for Stanford University. Dan is the Principal Harpist for the Marin Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Ballet San Jose Orchestra and Santa Rosa Symphony. He has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. 510-304-1515 - [email protected], www.harpmandan.com
Daphanie Lin (Saratoga)
408-252-4112 - [email protected]
408-252-4112 - [email protected]
Stephanie Janowski (San Jose). Stephanie is an experienced professional harpist who has been teaching since 1998, the year in which she co-founded Harpeggio Music. She takes harp students of all ages and abilities, including adults, and enjoys sharing her love of the harp with all her students. Her curriculum includes customized lesson plans to suit each student's background and interests, music theory, regular recitals, and the opportunity to participate in the ABRSM exams and/or the Certificate of Merit exams through the MTAC. In addition to the harp, Stephanie has played piano and french horn since grade school.
Stephanie is a member of the Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC), the American Harp Society, the American String Teachers Association, and the International society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen. Stephanie's non-musical background includes and MS and PhD in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from UCSD. www.harpeggio.com, or contact Stephanie at [email protected] or 4008-366-8810
Stephanie is a member of the Music Teachers' Association of California (MTAC), the American Harp Society, the American String Teachers Association, and the International society of Folk Harpers and Craftsmen. Stephanie's non-musical background includes and MS and PhD in Operations Research from Stanford University, and a BA in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from UCSD. www.harpeggio.com, or contact Stephanie at [email protected] or 4008-366-8810
Dominique Piana (Livermore). Dominique has taught at the University of Redlands from 1985 to 2001 and at La Sierra University in Riverside from 1982 to 2001. After moving from Southern California to the San Francisco Bay Area, she joined the faculty of Holy Names University in Oakland. All along, she has also taught privately in Claremont, Redlands, Pleasanton, and now in Livermore. While studying harp at the Brussels Conservatory (Belgium), she taught solfege classes (sight-singing and ear training) at local music academies, and, upon her arrival in the US, at Susann McDonald Master Classes. She holds an M.A. in Harp Performance from Claremont Graduate University and specializes in harp history, literature and pedagogy.. Dominique has trained numerous harpists from 6-year-old beginners to Master's degree students. Whether future professionals or passional amateurs, she loves to empower her students with technical and cognitive facility, with enjoyment of the process and a feel for singing expression at the harp. 925-455-5333 - [email protected], www.harpiana.com, www.dominiquepiana.com
Linda Rollo (San Jose). Harpist and teacher, Linda Wood Rollo, holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Redlands and a Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California (USC). She has taught on the harp faculties of Indiana University, The Ursuline School of Music and Drama, San Francisco State University, Dominican College and San Domenico School for Girls. She toured under the auspices of Columbia Artists both with orchestra and as a soloist for many years. Her numerous honors and awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Harp Society (2016), the World Harp Congress Award of Recognition for Service to the International Harp Community (2002), and the Distinguished Alumni Award (Univ. of Redlands, 1987). She has published over 15 volumes of music and teaching materials for the harp, many in conjunction with Susann McDonald. She has had numerous award-winning harp students, and teaches privately in San Jose. 408-622-6405 - [email protected]
Amelia Romano (San Francisco). Amelia Romano takes what is known of conventional lever harp and surpasses every time. With a masters in classical lever harp performance from San Francisco State University, her speciality is adapting classical music works for the instrument. As an instructor, she looks to inspire her students to find their voice, equipping them with technique and the creative confidence to make their artistic mark. She accepts children and adult students who have a background in piano/reading music. Lessons are available via Zoom or at her Outer Richmond San Francisco studio. ameliaromano.com
Lynne Rovin (Los Gatos). Lynne has a BA with a minor in music and has been teaching both children and adult students for 30 years. She loves the harp and seeks to instill that love in all of her students. She teaches both folk harp and pedal harp and is affiliated with Harpeggio Studios. Lynne teaches in Los Gatos. 408-370-7728 - [email protected]
Kristal Schwartz (Saratoga). is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (2007), earning a Masters in Performance with Honors, Kristal is a professional harpist with over a twenty-years of performing and teaching achievements.
She is a native of Santa Clara Valley who is in demand for solo performances, recordings, ensembles, teaching, weddings, and special event. Clients appreciate Kristal’s attention to detail and her ability to bring out each client’s personality in her selected repertoire. Kristal enjoys those engagements where she is able to provide an extraordinary atmosphere that is conducive to conversation, companionship, and memorable moments for those in attendance. https://www.bayareaharpacademy.com [email protected]
She is a native of Santa Clara Valley who is in demand for solo performances, recordings, ensembles, teaching, weddings, and special event. Clients appreciate Kristal’s attention to detail and her ability to bring out each client’s personality in her selected repertoire. Kristal enjoys those engagements where she is able to provide an extraordinary atmosphere that is conducive to conversation, companionship, and memorable moments for those in attendance. https://www.bayareaharpacademy.com [email protected]
Sonya Yu (San Jose). Sonya is a certified and experienced harp teacher who has dedicated her life to sharing her gift and love of music and the harp. She received her Master's degree in harp performance from the University of Arizona, under Dr. Carrol McLaughlin. She previously studied with Sophie Clavel at the National Taipei University of Education, and has performed internationally. Her west San Jose studio is fully equipped to teach students of every level, and she offers online lessons as well. Sonya is the director of the acclaimed Silicon Valley Youth Harp Ensemble. 408-666-7899 - [email protected], www.musica2g.us