Van Hoesen01

Concertos for Harp and Orchestra
Gretchen Van Hoesen, Harp

$15.00 - In stock - Ships within 24 hours

Gretchen Van Hoesen, harp
Rossen Milanov, conductor New Symphony Orchestra (Sofia, Bulgaria)

"I don't know of a better harp player anywhere in the world", writes André Previn about Gretchen Van Hoesen, Principal Harpist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since 1977. As a concerto soloist, she has appeared with the Pittsburgh Symphony on innumerable occasions, both on the subscription series and on tour, performing the gamut of the harp repertoire with conductors André Previn, Sergiu Comissiona, James Conlon, Zdenek Macal, Lorin Maazel, and Pinchas Zukerman. She has collaborated with flutists James Galway, Jean-Peirre Rampal, and Bernard Goldberg in performances of Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp. Miss Van Hoesen gave the New York premiere of the Alberto Ginastera Harp Concerto in 1976, the U.S. premiere of the Suite Concertante for Harp and Orchestra by Manuel Moreno-Buendia in 1990, and the Pittsburgh premiere of Witold Lutoslawski's Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Chamber Orchestra in 1985. As a recitalist,
Miss Van Hoesen has performed throughout the United States, as well as Asia and Europe
Gretchen Van Hoesen holds the Virginia Campbell endowed Principal Harp chair in the Pittsburgh Symphony, and has also played principal harp in the National Orchestral Association (NY), the Spoleto (Italy) Festival Orchestra, the Greenwich (CT) Philharmonia, the Jeunesses Musicales Orchestra (Germany), as well as the New York Lyric Opera, the New York City Ballet, the Virginia Opera, the Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony. Miss Van Hoesen was chosen as a member of the Super World Orchestra 2000 in Japan, comprised of key orchestra players from around the world. In the summer of 2002 she performed and taught at the Aspen Music Festival.
Gretchen Van Hoesen has recorded on the Caedmon, CRI, and Boston labels. Miss Van Hoesen collaborated with her father, bassoonist K. David Van Hoesen, and singer Jan DeGaetani in a recording of Phyllis McGinley Song Cycle, written for them by Alec Wilder. "Pavanes, Pastorales, and Serenades for Oboe and Harp." a CD for Boston records made with Miss Van Hoesen's husband, oboist James Gorton, has garnered critical raves from coast to coast and will soon go into its third pressing.
Gretchen Van Hoesen graduated from the Julliard School of Music, earning both B.M. and M.M. degrees in harp as a scholarship student of Marcel Granjany. She is also a graduate of the Eastman School of Music Preparatory Department with highest honors in piano and harp, studying with Eileen Malone. She further studied with Susann McDonald, Jane Weidensaul, and Gloria Agostini.
Miss Van Hoesen has been a featured soloist and has served as an adjudicator at many American Harp Society Conferences. She is a faculty member of Carnegie Mellon and Duquesne Universities. In addition to her responsibilities at those institutions, Miss Van Hoesen also teaches privately at her home in Pittsburgh. She has given master classes throughout the U.S. and abroad, and her students continue to win numerous national awards and prizes. Gretchen Van Hoesen is married to James Gorton, Co-Principal Oboist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. They have one daughter, Heidi, a sixteen-year-old harpist.