Janelle Nadeau – Manitoba / British Columbia
harpist . composer . teacher . Vancouver Opera . Turning Point Ensemble
Spring. My favourite season is spring! I love the new life, the awakening from the slumber of winter, the days getting longer, the promise of warmer days. It’s hopeful. – Janelle
Janelle Nadeau is a nationally renowned harpist who has shared the stage with music luminaries including Diana Krall, Joshua Bell, Andrea Bocelli, The Who, Kanye West and more. Her awe-inspiring performances led to her role as the principal harpist with the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and the Turning Point Ensemble. She performs regularly with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Past performances include: the TED worldwide conference, World Harp Congress, Celebrity Cruises, the National Youth Symphony of Canada including a decade with Winter Harp, multiple television and radio performances and many events and weddings since she was a young girl. Janelle has toured across Canada, the United States, Asia and Europe. Janelle studied with Richard Turner, Rita Costanzi, Heidi Krutzen. She holds a music degree from the University of British Columbia and has taken many lessons from Canadian and international harpists. Janelle was raised on a farm in Manitoba where she returns every August with her two young sons to harvest the fields.
I first fell in love with the harp when I was three years old at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and then a few months later at a Loreena McKennitt concert. My parents are farmers, and though they appreciate music, neither of them plays an instrument, so this was an unknown world to them. Once I was old enough to begin playing, I started studying with Richard Turner and began playing my first wedding when I was nine years old. From there, I played more each year until, by age 15, I was playing a wedding every weekend. I am aware that I am incredibly lucky for the opportunities that I have been given to make a living as a musician and to have played with such incredible people in so many different places. As with any job, it has its challenges but overall, I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do this and I feel like it is an immense privilege to walk this life. – Janelle
Oh Canada
As the harpist of the Turning Point Ensemble, I have had the honour of working closely with many Canadian composers and have been able to workshop the harp part with them and perform their works. I have been working with them for about a decade and we perform about three concerts a year. This is how they describe the group:
Founded in 2002 by its musician members, Turning Point Ensemble (TPE) is a large chamber ensemble (16 instrumentalists and conductor) with a mandate to increase the understanding and appreciation of music composed during the past hundred years. The ensemble has built a strong reputation for outstanding musicianship and linking seminal 20th century repertoire to contemporary works through thoughtful programming and innovative presentations. Uniquely and flexibly sized between a small chamber ensemble and a symphonic orchestra, TPE presentations offer a symphonic palette with a chamber music sensibility. In addition to its concerts, tours and recordings, the ensemble has regularly mounted innovative interdisciplinary productions including operas, and collaborations with dance, theatre, visual art and moving image. During COVID, we did a fantastic and exciting project called 1+1+1. Each musician in the ensemble chose one composer to work with and created one video. I picked Dorothy Chang as my composer and she composed an incredible piece that she named “Shelter.”
I have also done a lot of work with Canadian composer Jordan Nobles, RedShift Records the Canadian Music Centre and have performed a lot of Canadian music through them. The Night Song CD – Janelle
Harp, Oh Canada 