Bridget Kibbey
Harp

Harpist Bridget Kibbey is a winner of the 2007 Concert Artists Guild International Competition and recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant. The New York Times recently declared: "Bridget Kibbey…made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she was getting from it."

2007-08 highlights include a US tour with eighth blackbird and Dawn Upshaw (Golijov's "Ayre"), concerto appearances with the Westmoreland Symphony and Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra and the American premiere of Elliot Carter's harp concertino Mosaic at Carnegie's Zankel Hall. Ms. Kibbey makes chamber music appearances at Atlanta's "Fringe" Chamber Music Series and ICE-Fest of Chicago, and she is in residence at the University of Oregon with America's Dream Chamber Artists.

Ms. Kibbey has been featured as soloist with the Juilliard Symphony, Israel Youth Philharmonic, Haddonfield Symphony, Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra, America's Dream Chamber Artists and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. She has performed in recital at Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and New York's Merkin Concert Hall. As an orchestral harpist she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke's and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and she was one of a hand-selected group of emerging artists to perform in the Zankel Band at in the first concert in Carnegie's Zankel Hall, under the direction of John Adams.

Time Out New York called Bridget Kibbey's self-released solo album Love is Come Again "a strong contender for this year's most distinguished debut CD." She also joined soprano Dawn Upshaw in recording Luciano Berio's Folk Songs and Osvaldo Golijov's "Ayre" for Deutsche Grammophon. Ms. Kibbey's solo performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, A & E's Breakfast with the Arts and WQXR. She has also been profiled in SYMPHONY, MUSO, and Harp Column magazines.

A leader among harpists active in contemporary music, Ms. Kibbey has premiered works by both emerging and prominent living composers, including Kati Agocs, Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Kaija Saariaho, Augusta Read Thomas, Charles Wuorinen and Benjamin Yusopov. Ms. Kibbey performed Britten's Canticles in Carnegie's Zankel Hall with tenor Ian Bostridge, and she was a soloist in both Weill Recital Hall's Elliot Carter/Oliver Knussen workshop and MOMA's 2006 Elliot Carter Portrait. She is the founding harpist of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and has been a featured soloist in New York's Music at the Anthology, Sonic Boom, and Juilliard FOCUS Festivals.

Additional festival appearances include the Tanglewood Music Center and the Spoleto, Ojai, St. Denis (Paris) and Pacific Music Festivals. Along with her CAG victory in October 2007, Ms. Kibbey is a winner of Astral Artistic Services 2003 Auditions, the Juilliard School Peter Mennin Prize and the Premier Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition of Arles, France (in collaboration with flutist Julietta Curenton).

Bridget Kibbey presents forums to composition students discussing writing for the harp as well as performing student works and 20th century masterpieces in the nation's leading conservatories, including the Curtis Institute, The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music. She recently joined the harp faculties of New York University and The Juilliard School Pre-College program. Ms. Kibbey holds both Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School where she completed studies with Nancy Allen.