Teaching Artists
Maryanne Meyer
Girard Academic Music Program, Masterman School
Maryanne Meyer maintains an active performance calendar as an orchestral harpist, chamber musician, and solo recitalist throughout five Mid-Atlantic states and in her hometown of Vincennes, Indiana. Maryanne performs regularly as a substitute harpist with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Delaware Symphony Orchestra. An increasingly sought-after guest soloist, she has recently performed concertos with the Annapolis Chamber Players and the Montgomery County Youth Orchestra. A dedicated pedagogue, Maryanne has developed a flourishing private teaching studio and is the resident Teaching Artist at the Girard Academic Music Program, Masterman College Preparatory Middle and High school, and KIPP Elementary School in Philadelphia through the Glissando Program of The Lyra Society. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and Performer Diploma in harp performance from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, where she studied with Distinguished Professor of Music Susann McDonald. She completed her Master of Music studies at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music and Dance with Elizabeth Hainen, Principal Harpist of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Elizabeth Steiner
Philadelphia High School for Girls
Elizabeth Steiner enjoys a busy schedule as a freelance harpist in the Philadelphia area. She has most recently performed as principal harp with the Baltimore Symphony, Delaware Symphony, Lancaster Symphony, Maryland Symphony, and second harp with the Sarasota Orchestra, among others. Elizabeth graduated in 2013 with a Master’s Degree in Harp Performance from the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University. For her studies at Temple, Elizabeth was awarded the scholarship position of Academic Intern to study under Elizabeth Hainen, the Principal Harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Elizabeth earned her Bachelor of Music degree in 2010 from the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Yolanda Kondonassis. Elizabeth has spent her summers performing at the Siena Music Festival in Siena, Italy and the Saratoga Harp Colony in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Since 2013, Elizabeth has been the harpist for the luxury hotel The Rittenhouse in Center City Philadelphia. She performs every weekend for tea and for other private functions. As a teacher, she has been the harp faculty for the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia since 2014 and maintains a private studio at her home in Philadelphia. She is also the Director of Education for The Lyra Society, a non-profit organization founded by Elizabeth Hainen in 2004 to commission new works for the harp and provide high quality instruments and instruction for Philadelphia public school students. As a Lyra Teaching Artist she teaches a weekly group harp class at Philadelphia High School for Girls, and private lessons at Central High School.
Medgina Maitre
Central High School
Biography coming soon.
Katherine Ventura
Central High School
Harpist Katherine Ventura has performed throughout the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra member. An experienced orchestral musician, Katherine has performed as guest principal harp with the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, St. Louis, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), and the Rochester and Fort Wayne Philharmonics. She has performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera, Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, Sun Valley Summer Symphony (ID), and the Baltimore, Charlotte, Columbus, and New World Symphony Orchestras.
Katherine has worked with such conductors as Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Valery Gergiev, Marvin Hamlisch, Riccardo Muti, Andris Nelsons, Gianandrea Noseda, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Japp van Zweden. She has performed with soloists such as Joshua Bell, Julia Fischer, Thomas Hampson, Leonidas Kavakos, Anna Netrebko, René Pape, Bernadette Peters, and Gil Shaham.
Katherine has been Principal Harp of the Verbier Festival and Verbier Chamber Orchestras (Switzerland) for three summers, and has also performed at the Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, SC, the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, and the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, as well as Principal Harp with the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado. She has performed as soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra, Carnegie Mellon and Roosevelt University Orchestras, and the Lake Forest Symphony.
Katherine received her bachelor’s degree with honors in Music Performance from Carnegie Mellon University in 2008, where she studied harp pedagogy and performance under Gretchen Van Hoesen, Principal Harp of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She received her Masters Degree in Music Performance from the Chicago College of Performing Arts in 2010 as a student of Sarah Bullen, Principal Harp of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Katherine moved to Philadelphia in August 2019 to begin study towards a Doctorate in Musical Arts as a student of Elizabeth Hainen, Principal Harp of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Passionate about music education, Katherine is certified in Suzuki Harp Book 1 and through the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland, completed “Reaching Out”, a program designed to foster musicians’ skills at extending the reach of classical music. While in Chicago, Katherine was on faculty at the Music Institute of Chicago and at The People’s Music School in Chicago, while she maintained a full private studio in addition to being the Harp Coach for the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras.
Helen Gerhold, Executive Director
Described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as an “exceptionally fine” player, Helen Gerhold is a seasoned international performer, having played solos
at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Stars of Tomorrow Concert at the USA International Harp Competition, and the Focus on Youth Concert at the 2011 World Harp Congress. She has been a featured soloist at the Lyon & Healy Summer Concert Series, at the Philadelphia Harp Music Festival, on National Public Radio’s From the Top, with the Lower Merion Symphony Orchestra, and with the Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra. Among her accolades are the 2013 U.S. International Lyon & Healy Awards and third prize in the Young Professional division of the American Harp Society’s National Competition. Most recently, she went on the 2017 Philadelphia Orchestra Asia Tour as substitute Second Harp, and was a 2017 Tanglewood Music Center Harp Fellow.
Helen has been playing with The Philadelphia Orchestra as a substitute since age 17 and was also Principal Harp of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra for five seasons. She has been featured in the Harp Column Magazine and on Philadelphia’s 6abc Action News.
In 2001, Helen Gerhold received a harp from her aunt, harpist Yi Liu, and her first lesson with Miss Lucile Lawrence. She is the youngest student of Miss Lucile Lawrence’s and strives to continue her strong legacy. Gerhold continued her harp training with Ms. Lawrence, Virginia Flanagan, Dewey Owens, Judy Loman, and recently graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music, having studied with Elizabeth Hainen as the Marilyn Costello Fellow. In January 2018, she was named Director of Education and September 2019, Executive Director for The Lyra Society, a non-profit organization.