Susann McDonald, Founder & Artistic Director Emeritus
Board of Directors
Elizabeth Hainen is Artistic Director of the USAIHC. She studied under Susann McDonald at the Indiana University School of Music, where she received Bachelor and Artist Diploma degrees. Hainen holds the Maryjane Mayhew Barton Chair in Harp Studies for the Curtis Institute of Music and also serves as Artistic Director for Harp at Boyer School of Music, Temple University. As Founding Artistic Director of the Lyra Society, an organization to promote new works for the harp and educate young harpists, she has provided educational outreach to hundreds of school children in urban Philadelphia. Click here to read more.
Emmanuel Ceysson is Associate Artistic Director of the USAIHC. Born and raised in France, he was admitted unanimously as a student of the prestigious Paris Conservatoire at the age of 16, and over the succeeding 10 years collected the highest international distinctions and prizes. He teaches masterclasses worldwide, leading a pro-bono harp development program for Latin America in Colombia, serving as a visiting professor at the London Royal Academy of Music, and the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, and leading his harp studios at the New York Mannes School of Music. Click here to read more.
