Faculty & Instructors
Faculty Bios
Alison Austin has been living and teaching in the Seattle area for the past twenty-five years. She studied locally with Lynne Wainwright Palmer, with Lucile Lawrence at the Tanglewood Music Center and went on to study with Marilyn Costello at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia where she received an Artist’s Diploma. Ms. Austin performed regularly with the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera from 1980 to 2002 and continues to perform throughout the NW. She was acting principal harpist of Seattle Opera from 1998 to 2002. In her orchestral and opera experience, Ms. Austin has performed under the batons of such conductors as Riccardo Muti and Paul Paray. In her early career Ms. Austin was a winner of the Trenton, NJ harp competition, the Seattle Ladies Music Club and was selected as a Young Artist for the American Harp Society. Her harp duo Les Harpes performed the opening recital at the National AHS Conference in 1979 and toured throughout the Northeast. She has extensive experience in orchestral, opera, ballet, chamber, choral, duo harp, and has a special love for harp ensemble and teaching. Sessions I & II.
Mark Andersen began playing harp as a youth in North Carolina. He has studied harp, organ, and carillon at East Carolina University, The American Conservatory of Music, and The Conservatoire-National de Paris, France. His teachers include Marcel Dupre, Nadia Boulanger, and Pierre Jamet. Mark is the president of the American Harp Society, Greater Seattle and has recorded over 30 albums for International Artists records in New York. He currently serves as Artist in Residence to Daniels Recital Hall in Seattle and hosts the weekly award winning fine arts television show, Crescendo! which is seen across the United States in major cities including Seattle and Bellevue. Mark is widely known for his compositions and improvisation and has twice won the International Composer’s Competition in Amsterdam, Holland (1976 and 1999). The United States flag was flown in his honor over the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. at the request of Senator John C. Stennis in recognition for his work and concerts to promote the arts nationally. Session II.
Naomi Kato holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music Education and a Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance from UW. She studied harp with Pamela Vokolek and Lynne Palmer. Naomi is frequently heard in the Greater Seattle area performing with various groups including Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Bellevue Philharmonic, Tudor Choir, Seattle Menís Chorus, & St. Mark’s Cathedral Choir. Naomi has had a privately run harp studio since 1991. Session II.
Recognized as one of the world’s foremost harp virtuosos, Judy Loman graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with the celebrated harpist, Carlos Salzedo. She became Principal Harpist with the Toronto Symphony in 1960. As a soloist, Judy Loman has won the admiration of audiences and critics alike across Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan. The Toronto Symphony has featured her on several tours and she has appeared as guest artist with many noted orchestras, including the Detroit Symphony, the BBC Symphony, and the National Arts Center Orchestra, Ottawa, as well as with several other Canadian Orchestras and Ensembles. She has participated in many of North America’s music festivals and several of her performances have been filmed by Rhombus Media and aired on public television.
A prolific recording artist, her most recent CDs include Judy Loman Favorites, (Marquis Classics); Illuminations, (Marquis Classics); Dance of the Blessed Spirits, Romantic Music for Flute and Harp with Nora Shulman, flute, (Naxos); Harp Showpieces, (Naxos), A Baroque Harp, (Marquis Classics) and Musique de chambre française, (Marquis Classics). She has also recorded for the RCA, Columbia, CBC, (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Centrediscs, and Aquitaine labels. Through these projects, she has been a recipient of Canada’s Juno Award for best classical recording and the Canada Council’s Grand Prix du disque Canadien.
In addition to performances of traditional harp repertoire, Ms. Loman has commissioned several new works for her instrument by Canada’s foremost composers. She has introduced these compositions worldwide through her recordings and recitals in North America, Europe, Israel and Japan. Always seeking to add to the harp repertoire, she is active in transcribing classical and baroque works for the harp from the piano repertoire, as well as arranging folk and Christmas music for voice and harp.
Ms. Loman has been a featured recitalist at several American Harp Society Conferences and for the World Harp Congress. She gave the opening recital for the American Harp Society’s Millennium Conference in 2000. A highlight of this concert was the World Premiere of Kelly Marie Murphy’s “Illuminations”, commissioned for Ms. Loman by the Canada Council of the Arts. Her appearances with the World Harp Congress were in Paris, France, Tacoma, Washington, and Dublin Ireland, where she performed R. Murray Schafer’s Harp Concerto, Glen Buhr’s Concerto for flute and harp, and Kelly Marie Murphy’s Harp Concerto, respectively.
A dedicated teacher, Judy Loman holds the Maryjane Mayhew Barton Chair in Harp Studies at The Curtis Institute of Music, is Professor of harp at the University of Toronto, and instructor of harp at the Toronto Royal Conservatory of Music. She gives master-classes world-wide and has adjudicated at the International Harp Contest in Israel, the USA International Harp Contest and The Vera Dulova International Harp Competition in Moscow, as well as composers competitions and young artist competitions given by the American Harp Society and the Fukui Festival.
In June of 2002 Ms. Loman retired from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to devote her time to teaching, recording, concertizing and the publishing of her arrangements and transcriptions. To celebrate this new turn in her career the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation commissioned a new work for harp and orchestra by the Canadian composer, Kelly-Marie Murphy which she premiered on June 12th. 2002. She performed this piece at the Ninth World Harp Congress in Dublin, Ireland on July 23rd, 2005. Session II.
Ruth Mar will return as faculty instructor leading the students in daily lessons and supervised practice sessions. Ruth earned her Bachelor of Music degree at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto as a student of renowned harpist and teacher Judy Loman. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in harp performance at the University of Washington under the tutelage of Heidi Lehwalder and is on the music faculty at Western Washington University. Session I.
Steve Moss has been regulating and repairing harps for fourteen years. During his eight years with Lyon & Healy, he trained and worked with Master Regulator Peter Wiley. Steve oversaw the company’s lever harp production for two years before moving into pedal harp assembly and regulation. He also specialized in training new employees and visiting apprentices. As a traveling technician, Steve has serviced harps in the Midwest and across the country. Recent clients include the principal harpists of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Milwaukee Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony, as well as the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, Brigham Young University , and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He makes frequent regulation trips to Lyon & Healy West in Salt Lake City. Steve lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his wife and two daughters, where he also tunes and repairs pianos. Visit him on the Web at http://www.mossharpservice.com Session II.
Faye Seeman, principal harpist of the Chicago Sinfonietta and Joffrey Ballet Orchestras, is adjunct professor of harp studies at both Wheaton College and Northern Illinois University. As founder of the “Kithara” flute, cello and harp trio, she has led the group to notoriety with its broadcast work on WTTW’s “30 Good Minutes”, the recording of two CD’s, and published arrangements for the group through Lyon and Healy Harps West. The group currently performs in recitals and churches throughout the Midwest. Stepping away from traditional classical playing, Faye and several colleagues from the Chicago jazz community established the “ZigZag” Jazz Harp Quartet (harp, piano, bass and drums), exploring an eclectic blend of jazz, classical and new age styles of music. Their CD” Caught” features Seemans’ own compositions, several jazz standards and includes free improvisation. One of her proudest accomplishments is the commission of a concerto for harp and orchestra in memory of her father, violinist and conductor Ernest Seeman. Noted Chicago composer Gustavo Leone wrote the music which premiered in 2006 at the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin. Since then the work has been played throughout the United States, most recently with the Northern Illinois University Orchestra. It continues to be a favorite with conductors and orchestral musicians alike. During the summer, Faye is on the faculty of the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, and is guest lecturer at the Midwest Harp Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Pacific Harp Institute in Seattle, Washington. Faye recently finished her first solo CD, “Nearer to Heaven”, recorded at Bastyr University chapel in Seattle, Washington. The disc features several of Faye’s own compositions along with transcribed favorites and music written specifically for the harp. For more information, log onto www.fayeseeman.com. Sessions I & II.
Janet Jackson Witman is known for her ability to successfully crisscross the realms of classical and Celtic harp music. Her classical training began as a young girl, and eventually took her to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She earned a Bachelors of Music Degree under full scholarship studying under Marilyn Costello of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She earned teacher certification at West Chester University. Her Celtic harp experience began after years of enjoying Scottish and Irish music, and searching her Scots-Irish heritage. Janet has performed in Celtic concerts at many Celtic festivals, and In 1999 she won the U.S. National Scottish Harp Championship and in 2000, the All Eastern Scottish Harp Championship which sent her to the Edinborough Harp Festival. She heads a harp program at the Wilmington Music School. In her studio, she works with over 30 harp students, many of whom have won scholarships and awards. Janet Witman founded The Brandywine Celtic Harp Orchestra, which has become an outstanding performing group. They have played many places including at the American Harp Society Conference 2004 held in Philadelphia, PA. Janet has published 15 harp ensemble arrangements which are sold nationally and internationally. Her recordings include, “Shule Aroon” and “Behind the Green Bushes” with HeartSounds, “Mozart and Me” and “Celtic Lullabies” with songwriter, Kevin Roth, and “Christmas Crossings” with Brandywine Harps. Janet and husband Kevin reside in the Brandywine Valley of Chester County, PA with their two cats, Pumpkin and Sadie. Session I.
Elizabeth Volpe Bligh became the Grammy-winning Vancouver Symphony’s Principal Harpist in 1982, after six seasons as the Principal Harpist of the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra. A graduate of University of Toronto’s Bachelor of Music program in 1975, she studied with Judy Loman, Alice Chalifoux, and Edna Phillips. Many of Elizabeth’s students have won awards such as the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Edith Lando Gifted Youth Scholarship, and RCM Silver Medal. Her teaching career has included private students and institutions such as the Vancouver Academy of Music, UBC, Vancouver Community College, Douglas College, and the Island Mountain Arts Festival. Students have come from all over the world, such as Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and France. She has given master classes in various cities, including Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand and Beijing and Shanghai in China. Her compositions for solo harp, six of which will be in the new Royal Conservatory of Music Syllabus, are being taught and performed all over the world. She is currently President of the BC Chapter of the American Harp Society and the Chair of the World Harp Congress Host Committee for 2011. For further information, her web site is www.elizabethvolpebligh.com. Session I.
Ashley Wong will be returning as the assistant director for Session II. She has been teaching at PHI since its establishment in 2002. Ashley earned her Bachelor of Music in Harp Performance at the University of Washington’s School of Music in 2009. She’s studied with Alison Austin, Rita Costanzi, Pamela Vokolek, and Heidi Lehwalder. Regarding her experience with PHI, Ashley says, “The Pacific Harp Institute is a wonderful place where students of all ages come [to] share their love for the harp.” Session II.