Christina Brier, harp
Principal harpist of the Carolina Philharmonic and Wilmington Symphony, Christina Brier performs solo, orchestral, and chamber music throughout the East Coast and Midwest.
Christina frequently appears as a chamber musician with Manhattan harpist Kathryn Sloat in venues across the United States. Their harp duo Lilac 94 specializes in premiering innovative new works for harp duo. At the American Harp Society’s Summer Institute in 2015 they performed the world premiere of Daniel Morel’s KC Blue and Bret Bohman’s Swirl and Foglifter. Most recently, Lilac 94 placed as semifinalists in the Concert Artist Guild competition (2017). They were invited to do a residency at Hill and Hollow in upstate New York where they performed Carlos Salzedo’s groundbreaking work for harp duo Pentacle and were featured on a Mountain Lake PBS “Spotlight” segment. Lilac 94's performances include Philadelphia Harp Day, Christopher Newport University’s Harp Festival, The Women Composer’s Festival of Hartford, MISE-EN Place (Brooklyn), Constellation Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Village Chapel of Bald Head Island, and Hatch Hall (NY).
As a solo harpist, Christina spent six months touring India performing both Bollywood and Western styles of music. In the United States she has performed solo recitals in New York, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. Christina's orchestral concerto appearances include Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major (Wilmington Symphony, 2014), Harp Concerto in B flat Major by Handel (Tallis Chamber Orchestra, 2013), Debussy’s Danses Sacree et Profane (Tallis Chamber Orchestra, 2013), and the Harp Concerto in E flat Major by Gliere (Menomonee Falls Symphony Orchestra, 2010).
As an orchestral musician, Ms. Brier has performed most recently as substitute and second harpist with the North Carolina Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Fayetteville Symphony, and Charleston Symphony. Her other orchestral engagements include the Opera Wilmington Orchestra, Tallis Chamber Orchestra, Apotheosis Opera, Eastman Philharmonia, Sound Exchange Orchestra, Orchard Park Symphony, Genesee Valley Symphony, and Cornell Symphony. She also served as principal harp at the Pierre Monteux summer festival in Hancock, Maine.
As noted by Star News, Christina "loves to do outreach for her instrument." She currently teaches harp on the music faculty of the University of North Carolina Wilmington and serves as president of the Coastal Carolina Chapter of the American Harp Society.
Christina holds a Master's degree in Harp Performance from the Eastman School of Music where she studied with Kathleen Bride. At Eastman, she earned a certification in Community Music Teaching and was awarded the Willow Hall Press Award for Harp.