The USA International Harp Competition presents
Noël Wan, harp
Gold Medalist of the 12th USA International Harp Competition
Laureate Concert
Friday, May 16, 2025 | 8 p.m.
Reception to follow
Auer Hall | Simon Music Center
200 S Eagleson Ave
Bloomington, Indiana 47405
As part of the 13th USA International Harp Competition, the USAIHC welcomes Noël Wan back to the Auer Hall stage. Please use the form below to reserve tickets!
Program
Noël Wan will perform her program entitled “River of Heaven” on electroacoustic harp. The program follows the poem “Drinking Alone in the Moonlight” by 8th-century Chinese poet Li Bai. The program title “River of Heaven” is the English translation of the Chinese phrase for the Milky Way (天河). The 60-minute concert includes selections by Claude Debussy, Caroline Lizotte, Don McLean, Patrick Murray, Kaija Saariaho, Larry Sitsky, Liliya Ugay, and Noël Wan.
Location & Parking
Auer Hall is located on Floor 2 of Simon Music Center (3rd & Eagleson). Parking is available on the other side of Eagleson Avenue, on the upper deck of the East Parking Garage. See map below.
About the Artist
Lauded as “a huge talent with hidden power and amazing maturity” (Bart van Oort) and “not [a harpist] to be slept on” (The Globe and Mail), Noël Wan 萬依慈 is an international prize-winning Taiwanese-Canadian-American harpist and an interdisciplinary scholar.
Recognized for her charismatic artistry and genre-crossing virtuosity, Noël has been a top prize winner of international competitions, including the Astral Artists National Competition, USA International Harp Competition, Debut Atlantic Touring Artist Competition, Prix Orford Musique, and World Harp Competition. As a solo performer, she is unparalleled in her versatility, playing everything from classical to jazz to pop to avant-garde. Currently, she is working on several projects for the electroacoustic harp: commissioned works by Paolo Griffin, Caroline Lizotte, and Liliya Ugay and original sound design under her new moniker The Mother’s Teeth.
Committed to both experimental thought and practice, Noël places the harp within, around, and against multiple fields, from futures studies to performance studies. Her present research/creation explores queer embodiment and digital sound creation through the concepts of the monstrous feminine and cyborg aesthetics. She is grateful to the Chimei Arts Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, and Florida State University for funding her research and professional development.
Noël is currently the Assistant Professor of Harp and Entrepreneurship at Florida State University, and she is an alumna of the University of Illinois (BM, DMA), where she was an Illinois Distinguished Fellow, and the Yale School of Music (MM). Born in the California Bay Area, she currently divides her time between Florida and Ontario.
