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Performance Bio
Committed to shifting the boundaries of harp performance, Jennifer R. Ellis (D.M.A. University of Michigan, M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music, B.M. Oberlin) thoroughly enjoys taking the harp off its pedestal to use the instrument in new and unexpected ways. She embraces firsts. She has premiered over 100 works. She was the first harpist to be a U.S. State Department One Beat Fellow, the first harpist to teach at Nief Norf, the first musician to be named a University of Michigan Engaged Pedagogy Fellow, and the first harpist to attend Bang on a Can, Fresh Inc., and Splice summer festivals. A 2022 LABA Fellow and Alice Chalifoux Prize awardee, her love for innovative new music has led her to serve as a featured performer for the International Harp Festival, Festival of New American Music, Omaha Under the Radar, Sound of Late, Spitting Image Collective, Spark Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and Kerrytown Edgefest. Her recordings run the gamut from premieres (Tides by Brian Baumbusch on Other Minds Records, Entertainment Tonight by Steve Horowitz, and multiple tracks by Roscoe Mitchell on Wide Hive Records) to solo improvisation (January Lullaby on Persist) to commissions for harp and saxophone (Launch with Jonathan Hulting-Cohen on Albany Records). Her scholarship examines new music and community engagement; she has written articles for Harp Column Magazine and The American Harp Journal, where she now serves on the editorial board. Her composition Dance was featured on Lyon and Healy’s Harptacular and her composition Glasswing was featured by the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project. Her commitment to teaching composers about the harp has led her to provide workshops for composers at over a dozen universities and summer programs. When not playing new music, she collaborates with her orchestral colleagues, performing with San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, and the Pacific Chamber Orchestra and has played concerti with ensembles including Colorado Chamber Orchestra, American Wind Symphony Orchestra, and Contra Costa Wind Symphony. In addition to serving as the American Harp Society Pacific Region Director, she teaches harp at Mills College at Northeastern and harp, pedagogy, and community engagement at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
www.harpellis.com

Short Bio
Committed to shifting the boundaries of harp performance, Jennifer R. Ellis (D.M.A. University of Michigan, M.M. Cleveland Institute of Music, B.M. Oberlin) thoroughly enjoys taking the harp off its pedestal to use the instrument in new and unexpected ways. She embraces firsts. She has premiered over 100 works. She was the first harpist to be a U.S. State Department One Beat Fellow, the first harpist to teach at Nief Norf, the first musician to be named a University of Michigan Engaged Pedagogy Fellow, and the first harpist to attend Bang on a Can, Fresh Inc., and Splice summer festivals. A 2022 LABA Fellow and Alice Chalifoux Prize awardee, her love for innovative new music has led her to serve as a featured performer for the International Harp Festival, Festival of New American Music, Omaha Under the Radar, Sound of Late, Spitting Image Collective, Spark Festival, Piccolo Spoleto Festival and Kerrytown Edgefest. An in-demand clinician, she has given master classes and workshops at dozens of institutions including Interlochen, Boston University, Arizona University, Michigan State University, UC Davis, Texas Tech, Miami University and others. In addition to serving as the American Harp Society Pacific Region Director, she teaches harp, pedagogy, and community engagement at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Teaching Bio
From kinesthetic music education to teaching for diverse learning needs, Jennifer R. Ellis (B.M. Oberlin, M.M. CIM, D.M.A. University of Michigan) is dedicated to innovative music pedagogy. She is a professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in both their collegiate and precollege programs where she teaches harp, pedagogy and community engagement. She has also served as the harp instructor at Mills College, Holy Names University PMD, and Harps Etc. She is the founding director of the SFCM Summer Harp Camp and has served as guest harp instructor at other summer programs including MPULSE and Nief Norf. Awarded an inaugural University of Michigan Engaged Pedagogy Fellowship, her pedagogy training includes earning a UM CRLT Graduate Teacher Certificate as well as training in eurhythmics pedagogy at CIM. She is an in-demand clinician; she was a featured teacher at the 2017 International Harp Festival and has presented masterclasses across the country at institutions including Interlochen, Boston University, and University of Arizona. Her students have won national awards including the AHS Young Composers Project, American Harp Society Competition, and Prodigy International Music Competition. In her performing life, she thoroughly enjoys using her instrument in new and unexpected ways, premiering over 100 works and serving as the first harpist to be a U.S. State Department One Beat Fellow. www.harpellis.com