Harpist, teacher, mentor, and champion of the harp, Molly Hahn passed away on May 11, 2022, at the age of 92. She was also my mom, my first teacher, and my biggest fan.
At age 5, Molly’s grandmother gifted her with her first harp. She wanted her to learn an instrument and decided that between the cello and the harp, the harp was more ladylike. Growing up in the Cleveland area, there were excellent teachers for her to study with, including Martha Dalton and Alice Chalifoux, and in no time she was accepting paying gigs. She recalled being booked to play for funerals and waiting for a hearse to arrive at her house to transport her and her harp to the funeral parlor, since the family didn’t own a harp-worthy car. Molly went on to earn her Bachelor of Music degree from Oberlin College where she studied with Lucy Lewis.
Molly married Daniel Hahn in 1953 and a job transfer took them to the Philadelphia area, just outside of Valley Forge Park. Molly eventually became immersed in the Philadelphia music scene. She performed with and served as the president of the Main Line Symphony Orchestra and was principal harp with the Altoona Symphony and Gettysburg Symphony. Her teaching career started in our living room, first with piano students, then harp students. She was happy to teach students of all ages, and every one of them felt nurtured and encouraged to be the best harpist they could be. In mid-life, Dan discovered that he had a fine baritone voice and took lessons. Molly and Dan would often perform together. Molly and other local professionals also performed recitals as flute and harp or flute, cello, and harp ensembles.
In 1978, Molly and Dan moved to Frederick, Maryland, and it didn’t take long for Molly to start to make new friends and contacts in the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area. In addition to extensive freelance performing, she had a sizable number of private students. She organized a harp ensemble that performed at her church for an all-day Christmas music festival that ran for several years. Molly served as president of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the American Harp Society (AHS), at the same time serving on the board of directors of the AHS. President John Escosa passed away while Molly was vice president, requiring her to take on the president’s role for the remainder of his term. Also in 1991 her local chapter was awarded the AHS National Conference, so Molly was chapter president, conference chair, and AHS president simultaneously! She accomplished it all with grace and help from her friends.
Dan retired in 1996, and after a house of their design was completed in Westport, Maine, they moved again. Molly entered into a new chapter of her career there, performing in local musical theater productions, playing in the West Coast Symphony, and playing for weddings on windswept meadows in summer. She loved living in Maine, and her years there went by quickly. Approaching 80, Molly and Dan made the difficult decision to move to Gilbert, Arizona, to be close to me and my husband, Charlie. She played mostly in church, occasionally with me in the Chandler Symphony Orchestra, and had a few students. She sold her last harp, reluctantly, in 2018 and kept busy with fiber art and taking long walks in the Arizona sunshine. She has left behind a legacy in the harp world of long-standing support of the AHS, many students in professional careers, and love from all who knew her. •
—Pamela Hahn
