Australian harpist Alice Giles is the newly appointed chair of the World Harp Congress. We talked with her on July 30, 2026, at One Harp World in Toronto.
Tell us why the World Harp Congress is important.
For me, the World Harp Congress is really important because it brings together harpists globally. The name Congress means to come together. As new chair, I’m the first non-U.S. chair of the World Harp Congress, and I feel as though that gives me an understanding of what it means to be isolated, to feel distant, and the whole concept of the World Harp Congress is to actually shorten that isolation. To bring people together. That’s what I love about the Congress.
That’s great. We’re here in Toronto this week at a live event. Is the World Congress planning to continue doing this type of live event?
Yes, definitely. As we know, there’s really nothing like being together in person. But also we’re interested in now expanding our activities in between Congresses for more online events and other smaller events to kind of enable connections for people who are unable to come to a Congress, and also to make those connections continuous, so that people don’t have to wait three years between meeting up.
Can you tell us what your personal goals are as the new incoming chair?
So I guess personal goals would be to bring a perspective from—in a way—a global understanding of what it is to be a harpist and feel as though one wants to connect with a wider audience and colleagues. So my perspective would be global connections and expanding into
areas where we haven’t had a lot of presence—so other continents and focus areas. And also my other main goal would be to increase the number of connections we have and activities we have between Congresses.
What do you feel are your strengths to lead you into this position?
I guess my strengths are I love connecting with people and I have harp friends all around the world. I love listening to people and to collaborate with them. I really like to listen to what harpists around the world need and how we can move forward using the strengths of our past, but I love to look forward. I think my strength in harp performance is also kind of a breadth. I like to play early [music] and then also push boundaries into the future, and I like to bring those qualities into the World Harp Congress. My goal is to use the strengths of our tradition, but also think about ways we can push forward into the future.
Is there anything you want people to know about the World Harp Congress that they might not already know?
It’s a really wonderful way to meet up with other harpists and also I’d like them to know that it’s not an exclusive event. It sounds with the name World Harp Congress as though it might be all just famous people coming to participate, but actually it’s every level, every genre from beginner through to professional, and everyone is very welcome. It’s always a very friendly and welcoming atmosphere and people go away feeling very inspired and always with new friends.
How can the World Harp Congress and Harp Column can work together?
One of the beautiful things about One Harp World was that we brought together different harp communities, and I think this is really something that I love—that it’s not just individual harpists communicating and collaborating, but also the organizations that represent them, and World Harp Congress, and Harp Column, can really benefit by joining forces. Working together is always to the benefit of the harp world.
Find out more about the World Harp Congress on their website at worldharpcongress.com. Find out more about Alice Giles at alicegiles.com. Watch video of this Q and A on Instagram.
