The Cape Symphony Orchestra has appointed Violetta Norrie principal harpist, following auditions held June 11. Norrie will begin performing with the orchestra in the 2024–2025 season. The Cape Symphony Orchestra is based in West Barnstable and Falmouth, Mass.
“I am so excited to start with the Cape Symphony,” Norrie says. “They are a really wonderful group located in one of the most beautiful places! Cape Cod has inspired so much music by amazing composers and it will be nice to escape the city… to play some of this music on the iconic coast.” Norrie says she anticipates a “fun season” performing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with four harps, as well as a composition by Toru Takemitsu, one of her favorite composers. Takemitsu composed Towards the Sea II for harp, alto flute, and string orchestra for the “Save the Whales” campaign, and Norrie says she looks forward to performing the work in Cape Cod, “one of the places that it is dedicated to.”
Norrie performs as an orchestral, solo, and chamber musician as an active New York freelance musician, playing with ensembles such as Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, Ensemble LPR, Experiential Orchestra, Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, and Harrisburg Symphony. Norrie is a frequent player and promoter of contemporary music, having premiered countless works as a soloist and as a regular artist with new music ensembles Contemporaneous, Ensemble Echappé, and Blackbox Ensemble. She is one half of harp-viola duo Eleventh Hour, specializing in transcriptions and commissions of works by underrepresented composers.
Norrie earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Susan Jolles. She attended the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris with Isabelle Moretti and Sivan Magen as an exchange student. Norrie completed her Master of Music degree at Yale School of Music with June Han.
