LIVESTREAMED FROM TOWN HALL SEATTLE
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 @ 2:30PM (PST)
Our September 27 season opener “Reminiscence” is all about memory. George Walker, the first African-American composer to win a Pulitzer Prize, dedicated his “Lyric for Strings” to his grandmother after she died. Debussy looks back to antiquity with one of the first pieces composed for the modern harp, “Danse sacrée et danse profane,” which will feature harpist Sophie Baird-Daniel. Lastly, Tchaikovsky’s colorful “Souvenir de Florence” remembers the composer’s travels in Italy.
PROGRAM NOTES
PROGRAM:
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Debussy: Danse sacrée et danse profane
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
Singles $15, 4-Concert Subscription $50 per household
The concert video will be available for viewing for two weeks after the concert. And season subscribers will have access to all the concerts for the duration of the season.
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SOLOIST – SOPHIE BAIRD-DANIEL, HARP
Praised for her “technicolor” sound (Gramophone), harpist Sophie Baird-Daniel is in high demand as a soloist and 
collaborator. She has been featured at numerous series and festivals, including Tanglewood Music Center, Seattle Symphony, Aspen Music Festival, Bellingham Music Festival, Seattle Modern Orchestra, and North Corner Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral musician, Sophie performs with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Ballet, and Orquestra Filarmonica de Jalisco.
A champion of new music, she has given premiers of works by Freya Waley-Cohen, George Benjamin, Megan Bledsoe-Ward, Marc-André Dalbavie, and Ha-Yang Kim. Sophie also enjoys exploring the harp in non-classical and interdisciplinary projects. Recently she has collaborated with singer-songwriter Raymond Larsen, and is currently workshopping a piece with ACT Theater and choreographer KT Niehoff.
Sophie was a participant in the prestigious 2018 International Harp Contest in Israel, a quarter finalist in the 2016 International Dutch Harp Competition, and won the silver medal at the 2017 Vancouver international Music Competition. She was the 2015 winner of the Frances Walton Competition, which culminated in an outreach tour of rural Eastern Washington reaching thousands of school-aged children. The experience has continued to inspire her work in outreach and education.
Alongside her performing career, Sophie is the artistic director of Archipelago Collective, a dynamic and forward thinking chamber music festival on San Juan Island, Washington.
Sophie has been mentored by some of the world’s leading harp pedagogues including Isabelle Perrin, Nancy Allen, Elizabeth Fontan-Binoche, Mariko Anraku, Valerie Muzzolini, and Jessica Zhou. She completed her Artist and Performance Diplomas at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of world-renowned harpist Judy Loman.