As a harpist and arts leader, I am dedicated to the development, performance, and production of 21st century contemporary music.

I promote the creation of original and demanding music to expand the understanding of the harp’s capacity. In sustained relationships with composers, I continually rethink current approaches to techniques, sound production, and performance situations for the harp. I seek to render the discoveries that emerge through collaboration not only idiomatic to the instrument but also legible and meaningful to listeners, taking known quantities—tuning systems, preparations, different parts of the hand and fingers—and finding new ways of creating and hearing sound. This effort is how I develop a modern canon for the harp: by shaping powerful new modes of musical expression.

My work as a harpist drives my work as a curator. Cultivating a variety of deep and meaningful relationships with composers and their work motivates my programming because I believe that ongoing collaboration builds trust, strengthens performances, emboldens composers, and familiarizes audiences. Each program exhibits these objectives to generate and reveal connections between aesthetic domains, geographies, or communities—while advancing Chicago’s creatives in an international artistic exchange.

Whether performing, producing, or curating, I approach my work with the integrity and audacity to challenge audiences to confront their own perceptions of what music is and can be, to go along for the ride, and to leave preconceptions at the door. Working in partnerships or as a soloist, I aim to thoughtfully, responsibly, and fearlessly invest in the future of the artform: the pluralism of contemporary music, the experimentation inside the artistic process, and the people who make up the industry.