Teresa Suen-Campbell – Ontario

harpist . teacher

Spring. I would be Spring! Absolutely. – Teresa

Explorations: I am a keen advocate for new music written for the harp. I have commissioned 5 harp concertos, 3 solo harp works, and 2 works for harp and electronics to date.

Harp Community: I also served as President of the Ontario Harp Society (formerly Toronto Harp Society) and served on the Focus on Youth (2024) and the New Music Committee (2026) for this upcoming Harp Congress/One Harp World. 

Home in Canada: My husband James Campbell (a Canadian composer!) was born in Hamilton, Ontario. We met him in Hong Kong while we were both working there some 15 years ago. We went to The World Harp Congress in Vancouver together in 2011 and decided to relocate to this beautiful country – Canada – shortly after that.

Harp Life: I started my harp lessons in Hong Kong. I studied harp performance at Northwestern University in Chicago with Elizabeth Cifani, former principal harpist of Lyric Opera of Chicago. I started a family/career in the Greater Toronto Area where I teach and perform regularly. I am currently an examiner at Royal Conservatory of Music and a faculty member at Lakehead University and I perform with Toronto Concert Orchestra, North Bay Symphony and other orchestras in the GTA area. Although I was not born in Canada, I am very delighted and proud to be part of this lovely, friendly, vibrant harp community in Toronto, Ontario and beyond. – Teresa

My Voice, Teresa Suen-Campbell’s recent album with Sinfonia Toronto conducted by Nurhan Arman, released by Navona Records, was praised “a splendid presentation of 3 concerti” (Textura). Harp Column commented Teresa’s performance “brings warmth, clarity and emotional depth to a thoughtfully curated program,” and La Scena Musicale remarked that Teresa “brings out the acoustic qualities of the harp with a fluidity that matches the pastoral feel of the work (Handel’s harp concerto).” This project is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

An advocate of contemporary music, Teresa has collaborated with many composers and has commissioned five harp concertos, three solo works for the harp, and two solo works for harp and electronics to date. In July this year, she will be presenting renowned Chinese Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s new harp concerto “Beneath the Sea of Time” at the One Harp World/World Harp Congress 2026 in Toronto. The same work will be premiered under the baton of Nurhan Arman with Sinfonia Toronto in March 2027.

In the past season, Teresa appeared with the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong to perform Prof Chan Ka Nin’s harp concerto hosted by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild to a sold-out audience. She also premiered two new works written for her by her colleagues from Lakehead University, Canadian composers Aris Carastathis and Darlene Reid along with her own new arrangement for vocal and harp sponsored by the Canadian Music Centre and the American Harp Society. She also performed and recorded Alice Ping Yee Ho’s work “Beyond the Erupting Skies Silver Angels Sing Among the Gold Stars” for harp and electronics on the Centrediscs label.

As a soloist, Teresa has performed with Sinfonia Toronto, Toronto Concert Orchestra, Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra, Kindred Spirits Orchestra, Hong Kong Strings and the SAR Philharmonic. She has also been invited to different international music festivals and conferences, such as the Toronto Summer Music (2022), American Harp Society Summer Institute (2015), Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival (2015), Music and Beyond (2013), and the Hong Kong Arts Festival (2009).

As an orchestral harpist, Teresa is currently principal harpist of the Toronto Concert Orchestra and the North Bay Symphony, and formerly, Hong Kong City Chamber Orchestra (2009-2011). She has also performed with the Ontario Philharmonic, Windsor Symphony, Peterborough Symphony, Scarborough Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and the Illinois Symphony. She has performed under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy and has shared the stage with renowned artists such as Kathleen Battle, Placido Domingo, Skaila Kanga and Dame Evelyn Glennie. Her performances were broadcasted on TV and radio stations in Canada, Hong Kong and US.

An enthusiastic and dedicated educator, Dr. Suen-Campbell is a harp examiner at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Teresa is also on faculty at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Prior to this appointment, she taught harp performance atCarleton University and Northwestern University, and as an adjunct Assistant Professor at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Teresa is Co-Chair of the “Focus on Youth” committee (2024) and “New Music” Committee (2026) of the World Harp Congress in Toronto in 2026. She gave a lecture on contemporary harp repertoire at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, UK as part of the World Harp Congress 2022.

Dr. Suen-Campbell has been invited to be an adjudicator for various competitions/exams, including the Ontario Harp Society Scholarship Audition, Glenn Gould School of Music Adjudications, Vancouver Academy of Music Performance Exams, International Music Festival and Competition, Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival and the First Hong Kong International Harp Competition. Her students have obtained top prizes in both local and international music festivals/competitions and have been accepted into prestigious music programs in the US.

An avid music scholar, Teresa’s journal articles were published by the World Harp Congress Review, German Harp Society Journal, and the American Harp Journal. In recent years, she has also composed her own music as well as making arrangements from music of Beethoven, Schumann and traditional Chinese music for solo harp, the latter of which was critically reviewed by Harp Column Magazine. Dr Suen-Campbell is the first harpist from China to acquire a Doctor of Music degree in harp performance. She studied at Northwestern University in Chicago with Elizabeth Cifani, former principal harpist of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. Teresa is currently residing in the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, with her husband James and three boys.