Bridget Kibbey

Extraordinary harpist Bridget Kibbey has fast gained a reputation for transcending her instrument in performances that merge virtuosity with soulfulness. At ease crossing classical, global, and jazz genres, “the Yo-Yo Ma of the harp (Vogue Magazine),” dives deep into historic narratives — synthesizing them as a soloist or alongside today’s most powerful global voices and composers – while resonating within the vanguard of the new.
 
Kibbey releases her newest solo record in October 13th, 2023, entitled Crossing the Ocean – via Pentatone Records — a set of newly-commissioned works by an international set of composers, with McArthur Genius Soprano Dawn Upshaw as a special guest. 
 
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 with luminaries Placido Domingo, Dawn Upshaw, The Dover Quartet, Gustavo Santaollalo, Alexi Kenney, Avi Avital, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – also recording for SONY Records and Deutsche Grammaphon; and, her own solo 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. 
 
Kibbey was the 2022/23 Artist in Focus at the Schubert Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, bringing three programs of her own creation to the city, to great critical acclaim. This season’s highlights include appearances as soloist at Toronto’s Koerner Hall’s 21C Festival, soloist and MC with Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, concerto soloist for 40,000 attendees at “Madison’s Concerts at the Capitol,” premiering her own transcription of Rodrigo’s Concierto Aranjuez with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. She presents a newly-commissioned concerto by Brazilian composer Joao Luiz Rezende, exploring the sounds of Carnaval on the harp, and tours projects of her own creation, merging her own solo transcriptions alongside powerful collaborations: The Sacred in the Profane, exploring French Masterworks of the Belle Époque alongside the famed Calidore String Quartet; and Leyenda, celebrating Nuevo Latino Voices alongside Latin-Grammy winning percussionist/composer Samuel Torres and acclaimed clarinetist Ismail Lumanovski.
 
She appears frequently as soloist and chamber musician at festivals and series across the globe, including Carnegie Hall Presents, Carnegie Hall Citywide, 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, Portland Ovations, Savannah Music Festival, Music@Menlo, among others. Kibbey has appeared as concerto soloist with orchestras in the United States, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.