Yolanda Kondonassis

Renowned globally among harpists, Yolanda Kondonassis stands out as one of the instrument’s most celebrated exponents. She appears regularly in solo recitals, collaborative chamber settings, and orchestral sections while also contributing as an author and instructor.

Born in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1963, she began piano studies at three under her mother’s attentive guidance; the elder Kondonassis, herself a pianist, closely followed her daughter’s progress. During a family visit to Chicago when Yolanda was nine, the window display at the Lyon & Healy harp showroom caught her eye, prompting her to request lessons on that instrument as well. She continued both piano and harp through high school, later recalling that the two remained “neck and neck” in her affections until several considerations tipped the balance. Chief among them were her natural aptitude for the specialized musculature required by harp technique and her delight in producing sound directly through fingertip contact with the strings, which she felt allowed greater personal investment in the musical result. At fourteen she entered the Interlochen Arts Academy as a boarding student; later she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the Cleveland Institute of Music under Alice Chalifoux.

A competition victory secured an early solo appearance with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic. She subsequently held orchestral posts with the Cleveland Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, and additional ensembles. In 1987 she captured the top award in the Affiliate Artists National Auditions, launching a five-year touring period during which she developed interactive programs she termed “informances,” combining performance, informal commentary, and direct audience exchange.

Kondonassis has recorded extensively across the standard harp literature. Her Sky Music album was named one of the Ten Best Classical CDs of 1996 by the New York Daily News. A 1997 release paired her with the English Chamber Orchestra for the Mozart Flute and Harp Concerto. Twentieth-century works by Salzedo, Ginastera, Miyagi, and Hovhaness also appear in her discography. In addition she has prepared transcriptions, among them Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, commissioned new pieces, and begun composing herself; George Rochberg and Donald Erb number among those who have written for her. Erb’s sonata includes a movement titled “Dirty Rotten Scherzo,” reflecting her wish to challenge conventional notions of the harp as an “angelic,” “heavenly,” or “impressionistic” instrument.

Into the twenty-first century she has cultivated audiences both for new music and for crossover programming. Telarc issued Music for a Perfect Day in 2002 and Breathe: The Relaxing Harp in 2006, while the same label released Never Far Away: Music of Bright Sheng. During the 2010s she recorded principally for Azica and for a label affiliated with Oberlin College. In 2016 she issued Ginastera: One Hundred, marking the composer’s centennial with his Harp Concerto, Op. 25. Her performance on the Azica album American Rapture earned a Grammy Award in 2019.

She has served on the faculties of the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Oberlin College Conservatory. Married to Cleveland Orchestra principal trumpeter Michael Sachs, with whom she has a daughter, Kondonassis is the author of On Playing the Harp, a Comprehensive Guide to Harp Technique, and the children’s book Our House Is Round: A Kid's Book About Why Protecting the Earth Matters. She has appeared on NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” series.