American Youth Harp Ensemble students perform over 50 local & regional concerts each year. The AYHE debuted internationally at the Maastricht Music Festival in the Netherlands in 1999. Since then, it has performed at the Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C., the Paris Music Festival, France, the 34th American Harp Society National Conference, the 2004 Edinburgh Easter Music Festival, Scotland and the International Harp Therapy Conference. The Ensemble has been invited twice to perform in the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, first in 2001 and more recently in June 2007 during an East Coast Tour which also included performance at the United Nations in New York City, in Moorestown, NJ and in Frederick, MD. The AYHE has also accompanied celebrated French singer Liz McComb in Salle Gaveau in Paris, France and by invitation of the Salvi Harp Company performed in Salla Puccini in the Milan Conservatory, Italy. In February 2007, a small group from the AYHE was invited to play the opening concert for the AMPPR Conference (the Association of Music Personel in Public Radio) in Portland, Oregon.
The Ensemble has been recognized in such publications as the American String Teachers Association Journal and the American Harp Society Journal and has been featured on CNN, BBC, Netherlands National TV, and in the London Evening Standard as well as in local media. The Ensemble was also featured on public radio in 2005 in an hour-long live performance for St. Patrick’s Day and during the holidays in a special on PBS entitled “The Community Idea Stations Present: Christmas with the American Youth Harp Ensemble”. The Ensemble has recently completed filming a second PBS Special to air later this year. The Ensemble has been sought out for collaborations & masterclasses with renowned artists such as top-tier classical harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, Irish harpist Gráinne Hambly, Scottish Harpist William Jackson, jazz harpists Park Stickney, Rüdiger Oppermann, and Monika Stadler, as well as local musical organizations such as the Richmond Symphony, the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir, the Richmond Philharmonic and Irish band Uisce Beatha.
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Performances