The Chicago Harp Quartet will perform a guest recital at 8 p.m. Friday in Auer Hall.
The ensemble, formed in 2012, has performed in major concert halls such as Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
Their performance at IU is also part of the USA International Harp Competition, which was founded by Susann McDonald, a distinguished professor of music, and is being presented by the Jacobs School of Music.
The quartet consists of Catherine Litaker, Marguerite Lynn Williams, Emily Granger and Kelsey Molinari. Litaker and Granger both graduated from IU.
The Chicago Harp Quartet has been called the leading harp ensemble in the United States, Litaker said.
“We really dedicated our quartet to performing innovative, charismatic, forward-thinking music,” Litaker said.
The Chicago Harp Quartet offers a different way to hear the harp, Litaker said.
“In orchestra, we are usually by ourselves,” she said. “It’s incredibly exhilarating to play in a group.”
Litaker said she enjoyed playing with her friends and colleagues, who she said she considered to be incredibly talented harpists.
She said her favorite aspect of being in the Chicago Harp Quartet is the performances.
“The scope of the harp is like the piano,” Litaker said.
Williams said she was thrilled to be performing at IU, and she’s honored McDonald invited the group to perform.
McDonald is a world-renowned harpist.
“She is a goddess of the instrument,” Williams said.
Williams is also set to perform in the USA International Harp Competition, one of the top music competitions in the world.
Williams said the program includes both arrangements of classics and music written for the Chicago Harp Quartet.
One of the pieces that will be performed at the concert is “Soirées d’été” by Bernard Andrés. The piece was commissioned for the Chicago Harp Quartet and was the title track of the group’s debut album released in 2014.
Some of their pieces came from a competition where young composers from across the world submitted their work to the quartet.
McDonald said the harpists’ busy careers have been full of achievement.
“They are having success wherever they go,” McDonald said.
McDonald said she was looking forward to seeing the two IU alumni and listening to new music commissioned for the quartet.
One of the pieces, “Cuban Dream after the Storm” by Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, is dedicated to McDonald, who is friends with the composer.
McDonald said she was excited to hear Ortiz’s piece, which is one of the new works premiering in 2015.
McDonald has attended one of the quartet’s performances in Chicago, and she said she thought it was very impressive.
“To hear four harpists play together at a professional level is very unusual,” she said.
Molinari said the innovative nature of the ensemble is due to their approach to the repertoire.
The Chicago Harp Quartet performs music audiences would not expect to hear on the harp, Molinari said. For example, the group plays many works originally intended for an entire orchestra.
“The harp is often seen as a fluffy instrument,” Molinari said. “We chose to delve deeper from the very beginning.”
