Elizabeth Hainen
Maryjane Mayhew Barton Chair in Harp Studies
Harp / Performance
Elizabeth Hainen, principal harp of the Philadelphia Orchestra, has earned an international reputation as one of classical music’s great harp ambassadors. She has presented programs showcasing the diversity and virtuosity of her instrument to audiences throughout the world, receiving critical acclaim.
Ms. Hainen has collaborated with such eminent conductors and musicians as Charles Dutoit, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and the Juilliard String Quartet. In addition to the Philadelphia Orchestra, she has appeared as a featured soloist with the City of London Sinfonia, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, Orchestra Camerata Ducale (Italy), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and State Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. She also appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A champion of new music, Ms. Hainen gave the United States, Chinese, European and Australian Premieres of the Nu Shu: Secret Songs of Women, written for her by Tan Dun.
Ms. Hainen is the founding director of the Lyra Society, an organization to promote new works for the harp and educate young harpists. Through the Lyra Society she has provided educational outreach to hundreds of schoolchildren in urban Philadelphia.
In the 2017–18 Season, she releases Home, her third recording with Avie. She also appears in Lyon and Healy Harps’ inaugural Harptacular concert series.
Ms. Hainen joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 2005 and also teaches at the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University.