The American Harp Foundation
Anne Adams and Grandjany Competitions
2022 and 2020 Winners’ Playlists
Jointly released in conjunction with the American Harp Society’s 60th Anniversary & 44th National Conference
The 2022 American Harp Foundation Awards competitions took place on May 24 and 25, 2022. The competitions were conducted virtually due to the ongoing pandemic.
Note: Click the title of each winner’s piece to watch and listen to the performance.
2022 Anne Adams Award
Kelly Hou
Rebekah Hou
Morgan Short
Kelly Guangyin Hou
Etude de Concert by Felix Godefroid
Kelly Guangyin Hou started playing the piano when she was 6 and began the harp 7 years ago. She studied the harp with Alison Austin when she was 13, and later went on to study with Valerie Muzzolini at the University of Washington in 2020. Prior to college, Kelly played in the Seattle Youth Symphony for 4 years and placed 3rd in the WMEA State Solo and Ensemble contest in 2019. Currently, she is pursuing both a degree in Informatics and Music Performance and is a part of the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra as well as the University of Washington Wind Ensemble.
Rebekah Hou
Danses Sacrée et Profane by Claude Debussy
Rebekah Hou is a recent graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy, where she studied under Joan Holland as a proud recipient of the Orchestral Scholarship and the Fine Arts Award for Harp. Now she is enrolled at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in harp performance as a student of Yolanda Kondonassis.
As an orchestral musician, Rebekah has traveled the world performing with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA). Their 2019 season took the musicians on a tour of Germany, England, Scotland, and the Netherlands. NYO-USA 2019 was directed by Sir Antonio Pappano and joined by guest artists Joyce DiDonato and Isabelle Leonard.
As a former member of the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra and the World Youth Symphony Orchestra and a current member of the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, Rebekah has worked with many acclaimed conductors and teachers from around the world including Michael Francis, Guillermo Figueroa, Larry Rachleff, JoAnn Falletta, Brett Mitchell, Jung-Ho Pak, Carl Topilow, Leslie Dunner, Melissa Brunet, and Andrew Grams.
Morgan Short
Morgan Mackenzie Short is an American Harpist pursuing a Master in Harp Performance at the New England Conservatory as a Dean’s Scholar. She has been awarded top prizes in prominent competitions including First Prize in the 2019 American Harp Society National Competition (Advanced Division), First Prize (Strings) in the 2019 Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, Grand Prize in the 2018 Classics Alive Artist Management Audition in Los Angeles, Grand Prize and Audience Prize in the 2018 Rosen-Schaffel Competition for Emerging Artists, and a recipient of the 2015 U.S. Navy Ambassador Middendorf Award.
She is a gifted soloist having performed fifteen concerti with notable orchestras and festivals such as the North Carolina Symphony, Alexandria Symphony, Eastern Music Festival, Shenandoah Bach Festival, Appalachian Music Festival, and the U.S. Navy Concert Band, amongst many others.
Morgan has a passion for World Music and is a 2022 Laureate Finalist in the upcoming Princess Margaret of the Isles Scottish Harp Competition. She has studied with renowned Celtic harp players Gráinne Hambly and Billy Jackson at the Swannanoa Gathering, along with Kim Robertson and Janet Harbison at the Somerset Folk Harp Festival, as well as Maeve Gilchrist at the Silkroad World Music Festival.
As an orchestral harpist, Morgan actively freelances with numerous orchestras in Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Virginia performing in several operas and over two dozen fully staged Nutcracker performances. She has appeared as a harpist with the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Philharmonic, New River Valley Symphony, Lynchburg Symphony, and the Charlotte Symphony among others.
Presently, Morgan is a 2022 Harp Fellow with the Orchestra Academy of the Americas and will receive a Professional Artist Certificate in Orchestral Studies and Digital Technologies. She is also a recent winner of the New World Symphony substitute harp position for the 2022-2023 season.
2022 Grandjany Competition
Natalie Man
Natalie Man
Sicilienne Variée by Jean-Michel Damase
Natalie Man is currently associate harpist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and a member of the Hong Kong Harp Quartet. She was a Grand Finalist in the 2018 Anne Adams Award where she received the Maxwell and Calkins Prize. While studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music, she was a two-time recipient of the Alice Chalifoux Prize and the Jocelyn Chang and Michael Leese Award in Harp. She was also the winner of 2017 Darius Milhaud Performance Prize.
Ms. Man is an active performer, she was featured live on Click2Houston representing the 2016 Texas Music Festival. In 2017, she was invited to give an Asia premiere on the Paul Patterson’s Mosquitoes with the Victoria Harp Quartet at the 13th World Harp Congress. She was invited to perform with Jacky Cheung, the Hong Kong legend singer in Miss Hong Kong Pageant 2021. As an orchestral musician, she performed with the Tuscarawas Philharmonic Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, Guiyang Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, the CityMusic Cleveland and the SAR Philharmonic Orchestra. Other summer festival performances include the National Orchestra Institute and the Academie International de Courchevel in France. A passionate music educator, she owns a private studio. In 2019, she was appointed as the harp instructor of the Macau Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Man is currently pursuing a Professional Diploma in Orchestral Studies at Chicago College of Performing Arts, under the tutelage of Marguerite Lynn Williams. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where she studied with Dan Yu and Ann Huang, and a Master of Music degree as well as an Artist Diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she is a student of renowned artist Yolanda Kondonassis. Besides being a professional harpist, she also plays the piano and the organ. A native Hong Kong, Ms. Man began studying the harp at age of 12. In leisure time, she enjoys calligraphy and watching documentaries.
2020 Anne Adams Award
Kaitlin Miller
Juan Riveros
Claire Thai
Kaitlin Miller
Sicilienne Variée (1966) by Jean-Michel Damase (1928–2013)
Kaitlin has difficulty finding anything more enjoyable than playing the harp and exploring the musical capabilities of the instrument. She is an active performer in ensemble, chamber, and solo settings and particularly enjoys performing French music and new works by living composers. Kaitlin has performed throughout the United States in cities such as Chicago, Denver, Dallas, and Los Angeles. She earned two Bachelor of Music degrees in music theory and harp performance at the University of North Texas in 2021 under the instruction of Dr. Jaymee Haefner. She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California as a teaching assistant with JoAnn Turovsky.
Kaitlin is an active orchestral performer in the Los Angeles area and has enjoyed performing with American Youth Symphony, California Young Artists Symphony, Downey Symphony and more. By the end of her collegiate career, it is Kaitlin’s personal goal to have played in a duo or trio with every orchestral instrument; she has recently added tuba, organ, and saxophone to the queue. Kaitlin won the 2019 AHS in Dallas Scholarship Competition and was selected as one of the winners for the 2020 Anne Adams Awards Competition. She was also a finalist at the 2017 AHS National Competition, 2018 YAHS Competition, and UNT Concerto Competition. When not performing, you will find Kaitlin outside enjoying nature or in a local coffee shop with friends.
Juan Riveros
Spanish Dance from “La vida breve” by Manuel de Falla, transcribed by Marcel Grandjany
Juan Riveros is a harpist, teacher, and music theorist, currently pursuing a PhD in Music Theory at the University of Michigan. Mr. Riveros recently completed his Master’s of Music in Harp Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying under the tutelage of Yolanda Kondonassis. Past accolades include Third Place in the Young Professional Division of the 2019 AHS National Competition, Grand Prize Winner of the Lewisville Lake International Concerto Competition, a Winner of the 2020 Anne Adams Awards Competition, Fifth Place in the Young Professional Division of the 2021 AHS National Competition, and a 2022 Lyon and Healy Award.
Mr. Riveros holds a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance and Music Theory from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Hisfirst publication, “Concert Fantasy on Pájaro Campana”, is available for purchase from Lyon and Healy. Mr. Riveros maintains a private studio, dedicated to a comprehensive approach to performance and pedagogy, and is the Administrative Coordinator for the Maine Coast Harp Institute, with Yolanda Kondonassis.
Claire Thai
Introduction and Allegro by Maurice Ravel
Claire Thai, from Tucson, Ariz., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studied harp with Elizabeth Hainen. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Ms. Thai is the L. Daniel Dannenbaum Fellow.
Ms. Thai has appeared as a soloist with the Phoenix, Tucson, and Southern Arizona symphony orchestras; and she performed a solo program at the World Harp Congress in 2017. She served as principal harp of the Tucson Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 2015 to 2018. In the summers, she has attended the Rocky Ridge Music Center and the Young Artists’ Harp Seminar.
Ms. Thai received a Lyon & Healy Award in 2019 and won first prizes at the International Portuguese Harp Competition and the International Young Artists’ Harp Competition in the 2017–18 season. In addition to several solo harp competition awards, she won the Grand Prize at the Phoenix Symphony Youth Orchestra’s Concerto Competition and first place in competitions held by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and Civic Orchestra of Tucson.
Ms. Thai also composes and has been involved with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra’s Young Composer’s Project for seven years. She was commissioned by the Vail Preservation Society to score a new historical documentary, Voices of Vail, which premiered in 2018.
Ms. Thai began her musical studies with the piano at age three, and she began learning the
harp at age five. In her spare time, she enjoys environmental science, mathematics, video games, and building her own computers.
2020 Grandjany Competition
Hannah Cope
Hannah Cope
Rondo on the Trio “Zitti Zitti” from The Barber of Seville by Robert Nicholas Charles Bochsa
Hannah Cope begins her first season as Principal Harp of the Sarasota Orchestra in Fall of 2022. She earned a B.M. from Brigham Young University in Provo, UT and obtained an M.M. and a Graduate Diploma from New England Conservatory, under the tutelage of Jessica Zhou of Boston Symphony Orchestra. While at NEC, Hannah was selected as the school’s featured artist and performed the Mozart Concerto for Flute & Harp with the NEC Symphony in January 2020.
In New England, Hannah has performed with many orchestras and ensembles including Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Lexington Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Cape Ann Symphony, and Plymouth Philharmonic. Highlights of the recent ’21–’22 season include being featured as a guest artist with Boston Chamber Music Society and performing with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall.
In addition to professional engagements, Hannah is an avid competitor. She has won numerous harp competitions including the American Harp Society National Competition, the Lyon and Healy Awards, the Grandjany Memorial Competition, and most recently took 2me Prix at the 2022 Concours International de Harp Félix Godefroid in Belgium. Hannah has also won fellowship positions at summer orchestra festivals including Tanglewood Music Center, Marrowstone Music Festival and Brevard Music Center.
Hannah lives in Boston with her husband Ben and their two cats, Hobbes and Zeus. When she’s not on her harp bench, she enjoys escaping to the beach, trying new recipes, and playing Mario Kart.
The American Harp Foundation Awards are held on behalf of the American Harp Society.
Other Foundation Awards are described on the Scholarships page.