Elizabeth Volpé Bligh – British Columbia

harpist . composer . teacher

Winter. I would choose Winter!!! Yes, Winter! – Elizabeth Volpé Bligh

I became a harp student when I was 17, though I already played piano, flute, guitar and percussion. One day, there was an ad for a harp on the bulletin board outside my flute teacher’s studio at the RCM in Toronto. My mother had come to pick me up, so we called the number, went over to see the harp, bought it on the spot, and took it home! It was a 3rd-hand Lyon & Healy gold Style 22, which had originally belonged to John Duncan, the harpist on CBC The Friendly Giant TV show. I was immediately hired to play it with a community orchestra within a week of that purchase. With my previous orchestra experience on other instruments, I had no trouble counting bars and rhythm or tuning the instrument. Judy Loman became my teacher very shortly after that – Elizabeth Volpé Bligh

HARP TEACHERS
Judy Loman – University of Toronto
Alice Chalifoux
Edna Phillips

PRINCIPAL HARPIST
National Ballet of Canada 1976-1982
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 1982-2018

COMMISSIONS
John Gordon Armstrong – Wind Earth Sea for harp/soprano/violin and harp called Wind Earth Sea
John Gordon Armstrong – Càol MacAoidh for oboe and harp.
Michael Conway Baker – Harp Concerto
Michael Conway Baker – Intermezzo for Flute and Harp
Scott Good – Sonata for Harp and Strings (about)

TEACHING
VSO School of Music, UBC, VSOI, PRISMA, Vancouver Academy of Music, Pacific Harp Institute, and Island Mountain Arts.
Master classes in China, Italy, New Zealand, USA and across Canada.

PUBLISHED ARTICLES
Harp Column, Teachers’ Forum of the American Harp Journal, Dutch Harp Journal, New Zealand Harp Association newsletter, and online.

COMPOSITIONS by Elizabeth Volpé Bligh

• A New Harp!
• Dance of the Staggering Baby
• Dolphins Playing With the Boat
• Downstairs Spider
• Johnstone Strait in the Fog
• Ralph and Thelma
• Seasons in Vancouver Suite
• Solos for Lever or Pedal Harp
• Spring in Vancouver
• Tango for the Rain
• Winter in Vancouver
• AND many wonderful arrangements available

Included in the Royal Conservatory of Music and Trinity UK Syllabuses

Published by Canadian Music Centre and available on Harp Column Music and Harp.com.

Winter in Vancouver – live performance recorded at Festival of the Sound August 2011.

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