Chicago Harpist Courtney Lawhn - Chicago Wedding Musician, Background Musician - Live Harp Music

Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn has performed with the most prestigious
Classical ensembles in Chicago, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra. Recent
concerto soloist appearances include the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra
and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. An avid chamber music recitalist, Lawhn
has collaborated with many distinguished performers, including Chicago
Symphony Orchestra members Mathieu Dufour, David McGill, and Max Raimi -
principal flute, principal bassoon, and viola, respectively. She has been
broadcast live in recital on the acclaimed Live from WFMT radio series on
Chicago's classical station, 98.7 WFMT. Courtney has also performed with the
Chicago MusicNow Ensemble, with whom she appears on the world premiere
recording of Augusta Read Thomas' In My Sky at Twilight conducted by Pierre
Boulez. Of this recording, John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune stated that
"No composer could ask for performers more proficient or committed," and
Wynne Delacoma of the Chicago Sun-Times dubbed it "an intense, pristine
performance." In 2005, she performed the gruelling work Derive II, written and
conducted by Pierre Boulez, with the Chicago MusicNow Ensemble to great
critical acclaim. This performance was a part of Boulez's 80th Birthday
Celebration, a series of concerts put on by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
to celebrate this living legend of the music world.

As a Chicago wedding musician, Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn has
performed at many of the finest venues in the city and suburbs. Click here for
further information on Courtney's services as a Chicago wedding musician. In
her work as a harpist for events of all types, she has performed background
music for such iconic Chicago events as the classic Afternoon Tea at the
Drake Hotel. Click for further information on Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn's
services as a background musician.

In addition to performing with many of the Chicago area's freelance orchestras,
she holds the principal harp position of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the
Des Moines Opera, and the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, and she has also
been the principal harpist of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, training orchestra
of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

A passionate educator, Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn maintains a private
teaching studio and is the faculty harp instructor of Chicago's Sherwood
Conservatory of Music and the Music Institute of Chicago. She is also the harp
instructor at Libertyville High School, whose music program is consistently
ranked among the top few in the state of Illinois. In addition, she coaches
chamber ensembles of the Chicago Youth Symphony and is the harp judge for
Illinois Music Educators Association District 7 ensembles. As a Gignilliat
Scholar in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, she was active in its community
engagement program, MusiCorps, in which she visited some of Chicago's most
under-served elementary schools to talk about music and, more specifically,
the harp. Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn is a member of the American String
Teachers Association, the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and the North
Shore Harp Teachers' Association. She has received training in the Suzuki
teaching method from the creator of the Suzuki harp school, Mary Kay
Waddington.

Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn obtained a Master of Music degree from the
Chicago College of Performing Arts under the tutelage of Sarah Bullen,
principal harpist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She also holds a
Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University, where she was a
Helen L. Teich Fellow and studied with the Chicago Lyric Opera's principal
harpist, Elizabeth Cifani. During her tenure at Northwestern, she won its
concerto competition and was the first harpist to do so since her teacher more
than thirty years earlier. She has also trained as an orchestral and chamber
musician at the Aspen Music Festival, where her teachers included New York
Philharmonic principal harpist Nancy Allen, and at the Spoleto Festival USA
under the baton of Emanuel Villaume.

Chicago harpist Courtney Lawhn is not only in demand for her musical talents;
the graceful, dancer-like physicality of her harp playing has also garnered
much attention. She has been repeatedly singled out to appear as a harpist in
national television commercials and print ads. Most recently, she can be seen
playing the harp in a national television commercial for Isotoner Gloves, and
her long, delicate fingers are featured plucking the harp strings in a print ad
for The Private Bank.