The American Harp Foundation Board of Directors and Competition Committee are proud to announce the winner of the 2022 Grandjany Memorial Competition:
Natalie Man, student of Prof. Marguerite Lynn Williams at The Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University
Natalie Man
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.
The Grandjany Memorial Competition winner is given a $3,500 award. This competition was established in 1979 by the American Harp Society Board and was funded by Bernard Grandjany in honor of his father Marcel Grandjany. It was enhanced by bequests from Mary Wheeler and Hermine Herbring to continue performances and appreciation of the works of Marcel Grandjany. Judges for this competition were Sarah Bullen (Chicago Symphony Principal Harp, retired), Caroline Leonardelli (Soloist and Professor at Carleton University), and Janice Weber (former Piano Faculty, The Boston Conservatory).
With gratitude to all who helped make this competition possible,
American Harp Foundation Board of Directors and Competition Committee
Frances Duffy, AHF Competitions Director
Carrie Kourkoumelis, President
Kathleen Bride, Vice President
Holly Avesian, Secretary
Penny Howk Beavers, Treasurer and Donor Relations
Kristina Finch
Jaymee Haefner
Elizabeth Huntley
Paula Page