Bridget Kibbey

 

Biography

 

Called the "Yo-Yo Ma of the harp," by Vogue’s Senior Editor Corey Seymour,
harpist Bridget Kibbey “…makes it seems as though he instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the energetic figures and gorgeous colors she was getting from it [The New York Times].”

With the harp as her muse, Kibbey is in demand for her virtuosic and soulful performances —excavating centuries of music as a soloist and alongside today’s top performing artists — from the French Belle Époque, to the Baroque, to Persian Modes, to Latin Jazz traditions and beyond.

This season, Kibbey is the artist in residence at Minneapolis/St. Paul’s The Schubert Club, bringing in three projects, three genres! She curates and tours her own programMing via series across North America — from Portland Ovations, to Calgary’s Pro Musica, to the Phillips Collection and beyond. She appears as featured soloist with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra for 40,000 attendees in their “Concert on Capital Square,” launching her own transcription of Rodrigo’s Concierto Aranjuez, finishes world-premiere performances of Joao Luiz’s new harp concerto, exploring the sounds of Brazilian Carnaval on the harp, as well as various Mozart Flute and Harp and Handel Harp Concerto appearances. This season, Kibbey curates a six-concert season for MOSA Concerts, based in her Northern Manhattan neighborhood- pairing the concert harp with harp traditions from around the world —from the African Kora to the Turkish Kanun. By featuring musicians who call Uptown Manhattan home, she’s establishing hyper-local performing arts at its best, while illuminating cultural narratives from the stage. Kibbey shares her passion for hosting her neighbors while sharing the origin stories that evolved into the classical music we love today.
In short, from the nation’s top concert halls to night clubs, Kibbey is illuminating the powerful expressive range of the harp by placing it center stage, as soloist or alongside today’s top performing artists.

Kibbey recently made her solo NPR Tiny Desk Debut, is a winner of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Salon de Virtuosi SONY Recording Grant, the only harpist to win a place in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program, Premiere Prix at the Journées de les Harpes Competition in Arles, France, among others. She has toured and recorded with luminaries Placido Domingo, Dawn Upshaw, Kathleen Battle and Gustavo Santaollalo for SONY Records and Deutsche Grammaphon; and, her own debut album, Love is Come Again, was named one of the Top Ten Releases by Time Out New York. Ms. Kibbey's solo performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, New York's WQXR, WNYC's Soundcheck, WETA’s Front Row Washington, WRTI’s Crossover, and on television in A&E's Breakfast with the Arts. She has been profiled in Vogue, Time Out New York, The Harp Column, and UK’s MUSO Magazine.

This season, Kibbey is the 2022/23 Artist in Focus at the Schubert Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, bringing three programs of her own creation to the city via performances, engagement and educational activities. She appears as soloist with Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, presents a newly-commissioned concerto by Brazilian composer Joao Luiz Rezende with the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, and presents her own programming at the Phillips Club, Portland Ovations, Chamber Music Columbus, Calgary Pro Musicis, Chattanooga’s String Theory, among others.

She presents duo recitals with violinist Alexi Kenney, in works of Saint-Seans, Bach, Biber, Currier, Messiaen, Clark, Schumann, and Rodrigo. She launches her newest project, Persia to Iberia, alongside Persian singer Mahsa Vahdat and percussionist John Hadfield, traversing the sounds of the Islamic Golden Era, up through the Maghreb to 16th century Spain; and, continues her project, Bach to Brazil, alongside Latin-Grammy winning percussionist/composer Samuel Torres and clarinetist Louis Arques, in works of Jacob de Bandolim, Jose Barros, Paquito d’Rivera, Samuel Torres, and Juan Manuel Plaza. Finally, she presents an all French-masterworks program, in works of Debussy, Ravel, Boulanger, and Caplet, alongside the Calidore Quartet.

Kibbey has toured and recorded with luminaries Placido Domingo, Dawn Upshaw, Kathleen Battle and Gustavo Santaollalo for SONY Records and Deutsche Grammaphon; and, her own debut album, Love is Come Again, was named one of the Top Ten Releases by Time Out New York. Ms. Kibbey's solo performances have been broadcast on NPR's Performance Today, New York's WQXR, WNYC's Soundcheck, WETA’s Front Row Washington, WRTI’s Crossover, and on television in A&E's Breakfast with the Arts. She has been profiled in Vogue, Time Out New York, The Harp Column, and UK’s MUSO Magazine.

She appears frequently as soloist and chamber musician at festivals and series across the globe, including Schloss Elmau, Pelotas Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart, La Jolla Music Society, International Festival d’Avesnois, Aspen, Bravo!Vail, Santa Fe, Spoleto, Big Ears Knoxville, Chamber Music Northwest, Bridgehampton, Savannah Music Festival, and Music@Menlo, among others. Kibbey has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, South America, and Middle East.