Elizabeth Hainen

Born in Toledo, Ohio, harpist Elizabeth Hainen began violin and piano instruction at four and took up the harp at ten, making her first appearance as soloist with the Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra when she turned fourteen. She enrolled at the Indiana University School of Music to study with Susann McDonald, earning a performance certificate there in 1987 and completing two performance degrees by 1991. In 1988 she captured first prize in the American String Teachers Association Competition, followed by the silver medal at the USA International Harp Competition in 1989 and the top award in the Chicago Symphony Civic Orchestra Competition in 1990. Prior to her 1994 appointment as principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, she held the same post at the Kennedy Center Opera House in Washington, D.C. Additional guest engagements have taken her to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Chamber Symphony, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, the Mozart Society of Philadelphia, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico State Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the City of London Sinfonia, the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra. She serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she directs the Elizabeth Hainen Harp Colony during Curtis Summerfest, and her recordings appear on the Naxos, Avie, and Lyon & Healy’s Egan labels.