News & Events

“Facets of a Diamond”
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the American Harp Society
June 22-25, 2022
The Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Please see here for more information

Despite the latest challenges of the pandemic, BACAHS looks forward to serving you in 2022. In fact, we want to hear from YOU ! Check your inbox for our 2022 Membership Survey, or please email bachas@gmail.com to obtain the link. Your input will greatly help us decide on programming to accommodate our membership’s needs for 2022.

BACAHS is creating a directory of teachers and a directory of professionals on our website as a service to our community. We envision this will be a valuable resource for those in Bay Area seeking to hire a harpist. Current BACAHS members can be listed free of charge by completing forms contained in the monthly Newsletter or by emailing bacahs [at] gmail.com. Please see below for links to directories, which can also be found under the Resources tab in our menu.

Not a member, but want to join so you can be listed in the directory?  Need to renew? Click here

BACAHS Professional Directory

BACAHS Teacher Directory
 

The Chapter Ambassador Program helps provide scholarships for students (up to age 21 as of 10/1) to attend and represent their chapter at national American Harp Society events.  This year’s Chapter Ambassador program helps students attend the AHS National Conference in Sioux Falls, June 22-25.  

Applicants must be members of both AHS ( https://www.harpsociety.org/membership) and BACAHS (https://bacharp.org/membership/).  

Applicants who are selected to serve as Chapter Ambassadors will receive $500 from BACAHS plus a matching grant from AHS totaling $1000 to attend the conference.  This application is just the first round (being selected by our local chapter).  If you are selected by BACAHS to be our nominee, you will then apply to AHS’s national Chapter Ambassador committee to see if you are selected.  

By applying to serve as a Chapter Ambassador, you are agreeing that, if selected, you will: 1. Represent our chapter by attending the AHS National Conference June 22-25 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2. Complete and document a local community engagement project, and 3. Submit all required forms to AHS national.

Learn more about the national program here: https://www.harpsociety.org/chapter-ambassador-program.

Applications are due to BACAHS by 9/25 — link to apply was sent in the September Newsletter, please contact bacahs [at] gmail with any questions.

We congratulate the 36 young students who made the commitment and effort to prepare for and participate in the 2021 YLMS Competition. The competition is designed to give local students an opportunity to compete locally and we are so pleased to find that even in this time of COVID/lockdown, the level of participation was on par with previous years.

Without any further ado, we are thrilled to announce the following medalists and special prize winners of the 2021 YLMS Competition for Young Harpists:

Preliminary

Gold $100 – Kaylin Tsai

Silver $75  – Aaditaya Amin

Bronze $50 – Sofia Mohammed

Special Mention – Katelyn Ho

Level 1 

Gold $150 – Charlotte Trinh

Silver $100 – Valarie Wang

Bronze $75 – Chloe Gao

Special Mention – Iris Farid

Level 2 

Gold $200 – Hannah Chen

Silver $150- Viviana Alfaro

Bronze $100 – Jessica Cheung

Special Mention – Melody Chien

Level 3 

Gold $250 – Naomi Sun

Silver $200 – Judy Liu

Bronze $150 – Carter Williams

Special Mention – Kartika Santoso

Special MusicWorks-Harp Editions Prize

Preliminary division: $50 – Kaylin Tsai

Level 1: $50 – Chloe Gao

Level 2: $75 – Bianca Gao

Level 3: $100 – N/A

Special Harpiana Prize

Preliminary division: $50 – Aaditaya Amin

Level 1: $50 – Charlotte Trinh

Level 2: $75 – Jessica Cheung

Level 3: $100 – N/A

Salzedo Prize

$100 – Valarie Wang

Join us in celebrating and listening to our local young harpists in the YLMS Winner’s Recital, as well as a special presentation-performance by guest artist Chloe Tula, a multi-prizewinning, emerging young professional harpist based in the Bay Area. 

2021 YLMS Competition for Young Harpists Winners’ Recital

Sunday, May 23rd
4:00 – 5:30pm

Zoom info will be sent by email to membership / contestants. This event is free and open to the public, please email bacahs [at] gmail.com to get the link. 

A very special thank you to our wonderful judges panel:

Cheryl Ann Fulton

Sarah Goss

Julia Kay Jamieson

Doug Rioth

Chloe Tula

Sarah Voynow

A very special thank you to the teachers who supported their students through the competition experience:

Anna Maria Mendieta

Dan Levitan

Dominique Piana

Douglas Rioth

Esther Lee

Jennifer Ellis

Jessica Siegel

Karen Thielen

Laura Porter

Linda Wood Rollo

Lynn Taffin

Sonya Yu

And, a very special thank you to the YLMS committee who made it all possible!

Jessica Schaeffer, chair

Karen Gottlieb

Susie Spiwak

Ryan Conrad

Henry Spiller

 

Celebrate and listen to our local young harpists in the YLMS Winner’s Recital, as well as a special presentation-performance by guest artist Chloe Tula, a multi-prizewinning, emerging young professional harpist based in the Bay Area. 

Sunday, May 23rd 4 – 5:30pm

Zoom info will be sent by email to membership / contestants. This event is free and open to the public, please email bacahs [at] gmail.com to get the link. 

Please see below for a home recording pdf and video guide for this year’s competition, provided by BACAHS President Meredith Clark.

Lyon & Healy Virtual Harptacular featuring Emmanuel Ceysson will be happening April 10th, 2021. For more information and to register, click here

2021 Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Virtual Competition

APPLY HERE

Application Deadline: Saturday, May 1

Video Submission Deadline: Wednesday, May 12

Competition Judging:  Monday, May 17

Winners Recital: Sunday May 23, featuring special guest artist, Chloe Tula

Please see below for a PDF containing more information for our 2021 competition. A huge thank you to our competition committee: Karen Gottlieb, Jessica Schaeffer, and Susie Spiwak.

We recognize the impact of the pandemic and the fires on the livelihoods of our professional harpists.  BACAHS is currently operating a relief fund for our members. We still have funds available.  We work to keep these grants as confidential as possible. Please email bacahs@gmail.com to obtain the link to the application.

The BACAHS relief fund is open to all current members.  Need to renew? Membership fees are based on a sliding scale (with no minimum) to pay as little or as much as you’re able. Renew here: bacharp.org/membership.
 
Interested in donating to support our relief fund? Please email bacahs@gmail.com