The American Harp Foundation
Awards and Scholarships for 2026
Left to right: AHF President Carrie Kourkemelis, Isabel Cardenes,
Joshua Ho, Daniel Reeder, Jenny Li, Kathryn Horton, Lauren Swain,
AHF Competitions Director Frances Duffy
2026 Competition Results
The American Harp Foundation is pleased to announce winners of the 2026 Anne Adams Awards and Marcel Grandjany Memorial Competition, which took place virtually in early April.
The 2026 Anne Adams Awards winners are:
Isabel Cardenes, Kathryn Horton, and Jenny Li.
The 2026 Grandjany Memorial Competition winner is Lauren Swain.
Honorable Mentions: Daniel Reeder and Joshua Ho
History and General Information
Founded in 1993, the American Harp Foundation has an extraordinary portfolio of scholarships and awards it has generated for the benefit of multiple generations of harpists. The two largest and oldest of these are the Anne Adams Awards and the Grandjany Memorial, which entail separate but connected major competitions held biennially.
It is awe-inspiring to look at the lists of previous winners of both the Adams Competitions and the Grandjany Memorial Competitions to grasp the full significance of these two American Harp Foundation-sponsored competitions.
The harpists who’ve won these awards are among the most prominent and accomplished harpists in the world, holding principal harp positions in the major orchestras, traveling the globe as soloists and chamber musicians, winning Grammy nominations and awards for their star-studded recordings, and teaching the next generations of harpists from the finest conservatories and colleges all over the country.
To fully appreciate the artistry of these former American Harp Foundation competition winners and the rich legacy they are carrying forward, one can explore some of the many links to their dazzling performances on our Facebook and Instagram social media links.
We urge all who have won either the Adams or Grandjany Memorial competitions to contact us directly to tell us how these awards and scholarships have influenced your lives, both professionally and personally. We would love to post your testimonials so that our many contributors can more fully appreciate how their generous donations have helped shaped your lives!
Carrie Kourkoumelis, President