Ms. Volpé's career includes concerto performances with the Grammy-winning VSO and other orchestras, chamber music concerts, movie soundtracks and recordings. She is featured in The Greater Vancouver Album, a collection of works by Michael Conway Baker, and performed his Harp Concerto, written for her, first with the Orchestra of the Kootenays, then the VSO. Through the years, some comments from reviews include: "one of the best harpists in the world" (Nigel Barbour), "a harpist of great skill" (Ray Chatelin), "achingly lovely playing" (Michael Scott), "ensemble and musicianship was spectacular" (Howard Jang), " very fine playing" (Sebastien Lipman, former harpist of Berlin Phiiharmonic), "beautiful playing" (Judy Loman).
Many of Elizabeth's students have won awards such as the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, Edith Lando Gifted Youth Scholarship, and RCM Silver Medal, and/or have been accepted into the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Aspen Music Festival or other top-level music programmes. Many are successful professional harpists. She has taught privately and at institutions such as the Vancouver Academy of Music, UBC, Trinity Western University, Vancouver Community College, Douglas College, the VSO Music School and Island Mountain Arts Festival. Students have come from all over the world, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, Australia and France. She taught and performed at the International Harp Workshop in Crea, Italy in 2012. She and Gianetta Baril opened a new summer harp program called Canadian International Summer Harp Institute, July 29-August 11, 2012 at the VSO School of Music, with guest teachers Judy Loman and Cristina Braga. Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/CanadianInternationalSummerHarpInstitute
Ms. Volpé has had articles published in the Teachers' Forum of the American Harp Journal, the New Zealand Harp Association newsletter, the Dutch Harp Bulletin, Harp Spectrum and Harp Column and has given classes by video technology to students at McGill University and Calgary's Mount Royal College Conservatory, and workshops, lessons and master classes in Canada, the USA, New Zealand and China. Her compositions for solo harp, six of which will be in the new Royal Conservatory of Music Syllabus, are being taught and performed all over the world. She is currently President of the BC Chapter of the American Harp Society, a Director of the West Coast Harp Society and the Chair of the World Harp Congress Host Committee for 2011. She was on a panel on Editing Orchestra Parts at the World Harp Congress. She has been a panelist on Orchestra Auditions and on Preventing Injuries at the American Harp Society Conferences. She has been invited to perform and give amaster class at Harps on the Hill Festival in Sept. 2013 in Ontario. She will be performing the Debussy Trio and Jolivet's Chant de Linos with the VSO Chamber Players in Feb. 2014.
She has been a judge at harp competitions from Kiwanis Festivals to the OSM Standard Life Competition in Montreal.
Outside of music, she is married to Ross Bligh and is the mother of twins, James and Katrina. Past hobbies include skiing, flamenco dancing, cooking and gardening.
Elizabeth's performances in Michael Conway Baker's Harp Concerto and Frederick Schipizky's Oboe Quintet can be heard on audio stream at the Canadian Music Centre's web site. http://www.musiccentre.ca/ Her performance with the Lyric Brass Quintet at the American Harp Society Conference in Tacoma, 2010, was recorded for the Harp Archives at Brigham Young University.
Elizabeth was Chair of the Host Committee for the World Harp Congress July 24-30, 2011 in Vancouver. The web site www.worldharpcongress2011.com
Video of Winter in Vancouver by Elizabeth Volpé Bligh
Video of Fall in Vancouver by Elizabeth Volpé Bligh
Video of The Damselfly and The Downstairs Spider
Songs of Nymphs by Marjan Mozetich
CISHI harp quartet 2012 playing Polka by Jacques Press
Aug, 2010 - performed at Festival of the Sound, Parry Sound, Ontario
Oct., 2010 - judge for OSM Standard Life Competition
July 2011 - hosted World Harp Congress, panelist on Orchestra Parts
Summer 2012 - taught and performed at International Harp Workshop, Italy
2013 USA tour Jan. 23-Feb. 2 with VSO - standing ovations everywhere!
July 28-Aug.10, 2013: Canadian International Summer Harp Institute: faculty: myself, Gianetta Baril, Judy Loman, Cristina Braga
Sept. 20-21, 2013: Harps on the Hill Festival, Richmond Hill, ON
2014 - Feb. 13 and 16, VSO Chamber Players: Debussy Trio, Jolivet Chant de Linos
