Young Artist's Harp Seminar Guest Artist Program

Bridget Kibbey

Bridget will give a masterclass for YAHS participants on Sunday July 6; she will also be available for private lessons.

Bridget Kibbey is a recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Juilliard School Peter Mennin Prize for Musical Excellence and Leadership, Premier Prix at the Chamber Music Competition of Arles, France (in collaboration with flutist Julietta Curenton), and a winner of Concert Artist Guild's 2007 International Competition and Astral's 2003 Auditions. She enjoys presenting well-loved masterworks for the harp, as well as stretching the boundaries of the instrument- with premiers by composers Agocs, Birtwistle, Boulez, Carter, Rands, Read-Thomas, Turnage, and Yusopov. Her solo performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, WQXR, WRTI's Crossover, and A &E's Breakfast with the Arts. As hailed by the New York Times, "she made it seem as though her instrument was waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she was getting from it.” She may be heard on the Deustche Grammaphon label, in Golijov’s Ayre and Berio’s Folk Songs with Dawn Upshaw, and most recently self-released a solo album of 20th century repertoire entitled “Love is Come Again,” named one of 2007's Top Ten Recordings by Time Out New York Magazine.
2008-2009 season highlights include a Weill Hall Recital Debut, concerto appearances with the Tallahassee Symphony, and Symphony in C, the New York premier of Elliott Carter's Mosaic in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, a tour of Australia with the New York Harp Trio (Peter Bucknell, viola, Anna Povich de Mayor, flute), performances of Osvaldo Golijov's "Ayre" with Dawn Upshaw in Holland and Greece, and solo recitals in Panama City, Panama, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
Bridget holds both Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Juilliard School as a student of Nancy Allen, and is currently on the harp faculties of New York University, Vassar College, and the Juilliard Pre-college program.

Kimberly Houser

Kimberly will give a workshop on preparing for college auditions to YAHS participants; she will also be available for private lessons.

Kimberly Houser (Professional-in-Residence, Harp, Louisiana State University) has been performing on the harp since she was eight years old. She started her study with Marion Fouse in Portland, Oregon, performing her first full recitals and freelancing actively while in high school. Houser received a scholarship for music study from the University of Arizona where she studied with Dr. Carrol McLaughlin. She has since received her Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona while on full scholarship. In her doctoral studies she seriously pursued studies in Music Composition which she studied with Dr. Pamela Decker. Houser has also studied in Europe with the principal harpist of the Paris Opera, Catherine Michel. She has performed at The World Harp Congress, The American Harp Society Convention and the Soka City international Festival in Japan. She has toured Mexico, Japan, Prague and Puerto Rico and has performed in venues such as Casals Hall, Tokyo and Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle. Houser spent three years as Principal Harpist with the Billings Symphony in Billings, MT. As the only professional harpist in Montana she traveled extensively throughout the state serving as the harpist to all of the regional orchestras. She also taught harp both privately and through Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. She has served as principal harp for the Columbia Symphony in Portland, Oregon and was on the faculty at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where she taught music theory, history and appreciation. Houser’s first solo CD, Pure Harp, was reviewed in the Oct/Nov 2006 issue of Fanfare Magazine.