Elaine Christy is an American

harpist The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual string (music), strings running at an angle to its sound board (music), soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing ...

. She has performed at high-profile concert halls including

Steinway Hall Steinway Hall (German: ) is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and are located in cities suc ...

, Carnegie's Weill Hall, and with the

CBS Orchestra Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band is an American musical ensemble led by Paul Shaffer. It was David Letterman's house band for 33 years. The band formed in 1982 to serve as house band for NBC's ''Late Night with David Letterman'' ...

on the television show ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''. In 2012, she is an instructor of harp at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

Career

Beginnings

Christy attended

William Penn University William Penn University is a private university in Oskaloosa, Iowa, United States. It was founded by members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1873 as Penn College. In 1933, the name was changed to William Penn College, and fina ...

Oskaloosa, Iowa Oskaloosa is a List of cities in Iowa, city in, and the county seat of, Mahaska County, Iowa. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Oskaloosa was a national center of bituminous coal mining. The population was 11,558 in the 2020 U ...

. During these years, she studied with notable harpists including Margaret Ling, Jane Weidensaul, and Kathleen Bride. She worked as an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

teacher while continuing her education and training in Kansas. In 1981, she was a finalist in the professional division of the American Harp Society National Competition, and won a ''Lorraine Close Award'' during the contest. In 1984, she was placed first in the ''American Harp Society National Competition'', and won three top awards at this competition in 1984. In addition, she won the ''Ruth Lorraine Close'' award a second time. She earned a Ph.D. from the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

. Christy was an instructor of

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

. Since 2001, she has taught harp at

. Her publications about harp and playing methodology have been cited by other scholars.

Performances and teaching

Christy has performed as a soloist in numerous venues. She performed at the World Harp Congress in Seattle-Tacoma in 1999 and in

Geneva, Switzerland Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic and Ca ...

in 2002. She traveled to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to premier a work sponsored by Zamir Bavel. She has given numerous concerts and recitals in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...

, including at the Unitarian Church in Summit in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. In addition, she has performed with numerous musical artists, including

violist The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the v ...

s Marjorie Selden and Jessica Thompson, and with numerous

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s including Lucian Rinando, Jill Crawford and Judith Pearce. She was a founding member of the ''Venus Trio'' which was a winner of the Artists International Competition. She has performed with the ''North Jersey Harp Ensemble'' including Kimberly DeRosa, Robbin Gordon-Cartier, Elizabeth Khoury, Diane Michaels and Kelly Rafferty. She recorded at least two music CDs. Reviewer Carol Swanson described her music as "mesmerizing". She plays with an ensemble of Princeton faculty called the ''Richardson Chamber Players''. Christy has served on the board of the

American Harp Society The American Harp Society, Inc. (AHS) is a non-profit organization. Founded in 1962, the AHS is an organization of harpists with more than 3,000 members from all 50 states and 20 countries. The organization is currently led by President Lynne Aspnes ...

. In addition, as a professor of

, she has been published in the '' American Harp Journal'' and the '' World Harp Congress Review''. She has taught numerous students, including harpist Allison Cheung.

Recordings

* ''Celestial Sounds of Christmas'', Twinz Records * ''Enchanted Love'', with Patricia Davila (flute)

References

External links

Elaine Christy plays Dulcis Amor with the Rutgers Glee Club
see 1:18, 6:58 on the video {{DEFAULTSORT:Christy, Elaine Living people William Penn University alumni University of Kansas alumni Kansas State University alumni Manhattan School of Music alumni Princeton University faculty American classical harpists American women classical musicians Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American classical musicians 20th-century American women musicians 21st-century American classical musicians 21st-century American women musicians American women academics