1st USA International Harp Competition

July 4 - 14, 1989

Winners

Gold Medal
Maria Casale, USA

Prizes
- Lyon & Healy Concert Harp
- New York Debut Recital, March 13, 1990 - Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, 8:00pm

Maria Casale is a world class concert artist performing throughout the world, including Japan, Europe, Israel, Mexico and United States. She has received number awards for her performances and her solo debut recital in 1990 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, brought her critical acclaim.  She was featured soloist at the 1990 World Harp Congress in Paris and the 1999 World Harp Congress in Prague.  Ms. Casale has also performed as a soloist with many major orchestras, including Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and many more. Maria Casale is Professor of Harp at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Fourth Prize:  $2,000 - Mildred Dilling Prize
Marie-Pierre Chavaroche, France

Fifth Prize:  $1,000 - New Harmony Prize
Suzanne Handel, USA

Sixth Prize:  $1,000 - Maria Damm Rensch Prize
Jana Boušková, Czech Republic

Seventh Prize:  $1,000 - Cora S. deVolt Prize
Vera Danilova, Russia

Eighth Prize:  $1,000 - Duquessa Andretta McGuffin Prize
Beatrice Guillermin, France

Jury

Charles H. Webb, dean of the IU School of Music, received his A.B. and M.M. degrees from Southern Methodist University and his D. Mus. from Indiana University. In addition to his administrative duties, he maintains an active performance schedule as a conductor and pianist and as a judge for international music competitions throughout the world. He is currently chairman of the Board of Advisors of International Festivals, Inc.

Marilyn Costello, a native of Ohio, studied with Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute of Music and subsequently was appointed principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since then, she has appeared as soloist and recording artist throughout the Untied States and Europe, receiving such prestigious honors as the Phonographic Critics’ Award of Italy and the C. Hartman Kuhn Award. She currently directs the Harp Department at the Curtis Institute. 

Vera Dulova studied at the Moscow Conservatory and in Berlin with Max Saal before beginning her tenure as professor of harp at the Moscow Conservatory. She has traveled the world over, performing in the United States, Australia, Japan, and Europe, and was solo harpist with the Bolshoi Ballet Theater. Her most unusual performance took place near the North Pole--on an iceberg. In addition to her performance schedule, Ms. Dulova has served on the jury of several international competitions. She has conducted master classes in the United States, Israel, France, and Holland.

Judy Loman is principal harpist with the Toronto Symphony and has appeared in concert throughout Europe, the United States, Japan, and Canada. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where she studied with Carlos Salzedo, Ms. Loman is professor of harp at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music, as well as founder of a summer harp school in Fenelon Falls, Ontario. She has recorded for RCA, Columbia, CBC, Aquitaine, and Marquis Records, and she actively promotes and inspires new works for the harp. Ms. Loman was a juror for the first USA International Harp Competition in 1989.

Susann McDonald is currently the artistic director of the World Harp Congress. She was recently named Distinguished Professor of Music at Indiana University, where she heads the Harp Department. In addition to her concert appearances and teaching duties, Susann McDonald has recorded most of the major solo harp repertoire and has published volumes of harp music, including original compositions and transcriptions. She has headed the harp departments of The Juilliard School, the University of Southern California, the University of Arizona, and the California State University at Los Angeles. She was the first American to receive the Premier Prix in harp from the Paris Conservatory, and was a student of Henriette Renié and Lily Laskine.

Catherine Michel entered the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris at the age of 13 and went on to win top prizes at the Hartford, Israel, and Marcel Tournier international competitions. She has performed as soloist throughout Europe, North America, and the Orient and has recorded extensively. Ms. Michel was named harp soloist of the Paris Opera Orchestra in 1978. She has edited a number of works for solo harp and chamber works, as well as eighteenth-and nineteenth-century virtuoso etudes. 

Susanna Mildonian, a native of Venice, Italy, studied at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory of Music in Venice and the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. She is the only harpist to have won first prize in three major international harp competition in Israel, the International Music Competition in Geneva, and the Marcel Tournier International Competition in Paris. Currently professor of music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium, she has performed internationally in solo recitals and with the world’s leading orchestras. 

Spanish-born Marisa Robles made her concert debut at the age of sixteen, playing Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp with Jean-Pierre Rampal and the Orquesta de Espana in Madrid. Since then, Marisa Robles has played with orchestras throughout the world and has performed with such celebrated musicians as Raphael Fruehbeck de Burgos, Kurt Masur, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Isaac Stern. This season her busy performance schedule includes appearances in Europe, Cypress, Canada, Singapore, and the United States. Ms. Robles has been professor of harp at the Royal College of Music in London since 1968.

Born in Munich, Germany, Siegfried Weinberger studied at the Dresden Conservatory before becoming principal harpist of the Berlin State Opera, a position he held for 37 years. He has been professor of harp and chamber music at the Hanns-Eisler Conservatory in Berlin since 1955. Mr. Weinberger has performed the solo harp repertoire on numerous recordings and broadcasts and has adjudicated several competitions, including the Munich Competition, the Geneva Competition, and the Charpentier Competition in Paris.