Album Notes

The Artist:
As hailed by the New York Times, harpist Bridget Kibbey “…made it seem as though her instrument has been waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she gets from it.” A 2004 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, a winner of Astrals Artists’ 2003 Auditions, and most recently named a winner of Concert Artist Guild’s 2007 International Competition, harpist Bridget Kibbey has been featured in Symphony, MUSO, and Harp Column magazines, and has been featured on New York’s WQXR, NPR’s “Performance Today,” and A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts.” She recently won the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS II auditions, and will perform, tour, and record with the Society for three years, starting in 2009. Ms. Kibbey recently self-released an album of solo works, entitled “Love is Come Again,” named one of 2007’s Top Ten Recordings by TimeOut New York.

This season’s highlights include a Weill Hall recital debut, Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with the Tallahassee Symphony and Christina Jennings, The American premiere of Sebastian Currier’s Broken Minuets with Symphony in C at the Kimmel Center, and recitals under the auspices of Asociación Nacional de Conciertos (Panama City, Panama), Bridgewater/Bayshore Library Series (Long Island), the Norton Building Concert Series (Chicago), and the Algonquin Arts Society (New Jersey).
Chamber music appearances include the New York premiere of Elliott Carter’s Mosaic at Zankel Hall, appearances at the Port Fairy and Soul Food Festivals (Australia, with the New York Harp Trio), the American Harp Society National Conference and Vermont’s Mozart Festival, and with America’s Dream Chamber Artists and the North Country Chamber Players series. She will also perform Osvaldo Golijov’s Ayre with Dawn Upshaw in Athens and Amsterdam.

Ms. Kibbey has received such honors as the Premier Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition of Arles, France (in collaboration with flutist Julietta Curenton), Second Prize in Rome’s Valentino Bucchi International Competition (Music for Harp in the 20th- and 21st-Century), the Juilliard School Peter Mennin Prize for musical leadership and excellence, an American Harp Society Anne Adams Award, a Mustard Seed Foundation Harvey Fellowship, and was a winner of Astral Artists’ 2003 Auditions. She appeared as featured soloist with the Juilliard Symphony, the Israel Youth Philharmonic, the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra, America’s Dream Chamber Artists, The Haddonfield Symphony (now Symphony in C), the Westmoreland Symphony, and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral harpist she has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Possessing a special interest in new music, Ms. Kibbey premièred new works by many of today’s living composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Augusta Read Thomas, and Charles Wourinen. She joined soprano Dawn Upshaw in recording Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs and “Ayre” by Osvaldo Golijov for Deutsche Grammophon, and performed Britten’s Canticles in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall with tenor Ian Bostridge. At Carnegie Hall she was a soloist in Weill Recital Hall’s Elliot Carter/Oliver Knussen workshop, and joined a hand-selected group of young musicians in presenting the first concert in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, under the direction of John Adams. She has been a featured soloist in New York’s Music at the Anthology Festival, the Sonic Boom Festival, and the Juilliard FOCUS! Festival, and is the founding harpist of the International Contemporary Ensemble. She has performed at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Spoleto, Mostly Mozart, Pacific Music, Bowdoin Summer, June in Buffalo, and the Vermont Mozart Festivals.

Bridget Kibbey is on the harp faculties of New York University, The Juilliard School Pre-College program, and Vassar College. She holds both Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she completed studies with Nancy Allen.




THE ALBUM: This recording celebrates composers and the harpists who
inspired them to explore and expand the range of the instrument--artists who
have redefined the role, colors and technique of the harp.

Andre Caplet (1878-1925) liberated the harp from
a restrictive and primarily decorative role into an individual and distinctive voice in his two Divertissements. Germaine Tailleferre was first exposed to the harp by Caroline Tardieu, Paris Conservatory\'s Assistant Professor of Harp- the result being a charming set of rhythmic undercurrents in her Sonata of 1953. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976),
inspired by harpist Osian Ellis, created a 20th century masterpiece, with an
extraordinarily broad range of atmosphere and personality in Suite for Harp, Op. 83. Elliot Carter (b. 1908) composed Bariolage (part of his Trilogy for Oboe and Harp) for his friends Heinz
and Ursula Holliger. Written in 1992, this fantastic display of temperament
and rhythmic activity continues to stretch the bounds of harpists\'
virtuosity today. Finally, the talented young Kati Agocs (b. 1975) blends the traditional roots
of American Bluegrass and Hungarian folk melodies into a powerful commentary
on love and war in this world-première recording of Every Lover is a Warrior.