Yolanda Kondonassis

Yolanda Kondonassis (b. Norman, Oklahoma, 1963) is an American classical harpist. She is one of the world's foremost classical harpists.

She first began playing the piano, then switched to harp at age nine. She studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, then at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She won the first prize in the 1987 Ima Hogg International Instrumentalists Competition. [cite news|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB337B503D19E1E&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM|title=Kondonassis concert|last=Roos|first=James|date=1988-04-15|publisher=The Miami Herald|pages=3C|accessdate=2008-06-15]

Kondonassis has released more than ten CDs (most on the Telarc label) and has performed as a soloist with many of the world's most prominent orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Houston Symphony, Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, Phoenix Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic.

She has served as orchestral harpist for the Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. She has specialized in contemporary classical music, and the American composers Donald Erb (Sonata for Solo Harp, 1995) and George Rochberg have composed works for her.

She is the head of the harp department at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She is married to Michael Sachs, the principal trumpeter of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Discography

*1994 - "A New Baroque" (Telarc)

References

External links

* [http://www.yolandaharp.com/ Yolanda Kondonassis official site]
* [http://www.kcstudio.com/Kondonassis2.html Yolanda Kondonassis interview] by Bruce Duffie, 1997