The USA International Harp Competition has announced the harpists competing in the 11th contest. Taking place July 3–13, the 40 competitors come from 18 countries and range in age from 18 to 28. Erin Brooker–Miller, the competition’s executive director, says, “After a very competitive application round of 65 applicants, we are honored to announce the 40 contestants joining the 11th USA International Harp Competition. We are looking forward to welcoming these talented harpists to Bloomington, Indiana this summer!” Information regarding the competition’s jury has also been released, which includes Milda Agazarian (Russia), Sylvain Blassel (France), Jana Boušková (Czech Republic), Mario Falcao (Portugal), Anneleen Lenaerts (Belgium), Dan Yu (China), and will be led by Jury President Skaila Kanga (United Kingdom).
The USAIHC is a triennial competition that takes place at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Open to harpists of all nationalities between the ages of 18 and 32, the competition was founded by Susann McDonald in 1989. Contestants compete in four stages: two stages of required repertoire, a 40–minute free choice program, and a concerto performances with the Jacobs School of Music Festival Orchestra for the three finalists. The third stage will also feature the piece selected in the 2018 composition contest, Life is flashing before my eyes and I realize that it all started with a blackbird, written by Uno Vesje for live harp and soundtrack.
Contestants:
Myriam Blardone, Canada
Marcel Cara, France
Nicolette Chin, Singapore
Hannah Cope, USA
Noelia Cotuna, Spain
Louisic Dulbecco, France
Johanna Dorothea Goerissen, Germany
Zachary Hatcher, USA
Naho Higuchi, Japan
Nanako Hirai, Japan
Se Hee Hwang, South Korea
Abigail Kent, USA
Kyunghwa Kim, South Korea
Chelsea Lane, USA
Melanie Laurent, France
Woojin Lee, South Korea
Subin Lee, South Korea
Valerio Lisci, Italy
Sunshine Lo, United Kingdom/Hong Kong
Lea Maria Loffler, Germany
Julia Christine Lukan, Austria
Yana Lyashko, Uzbekistan
Emily Melendes, USA
Alexandra Mullins, USA
Chanel Perdichizzi, Belgium
Marika Cecilia Riedl, Germany
Miriam Ruf, Germany
Julien Sabbague, France
Liliana Safikhanova, Russia
Michelle Sweegers, The Netherlands
Sakura Taga, Japan
Nagisa Tanaka, Japan
Emma Thomazeau, France
Lise Vandersmissen, Belgium
Jenna Vergeynst, Belgium
Clara Wang, Canada
Nan Wang, China
Mathilde Wauters, Belgium
Johannes Willemze, The Netherlands
Klara Woskowiak, Poland
For more information, please visit www.usaihc.org.
