Harpist Cheryl Losey Featured in PBS Documentary

CIM Alumna Featured on PBS Documentary in June 2010

Local Air Dates: 

WVIZ/PBS Ch. 25 -  6/23-9pm, 6/24-2AM, 6/25-3AM, 6/26-4am

Cheryl Losey (BM '06, MM '08, student of Yolanda Kondonassis), principal harpist for the Sarasota Orchestra, is one of six hopefuls featured in a public television documentary airing Wednesday, June 23 on PBS stations nationally.  (See listing above for other local air time.)

"Harp Dreams” by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Susanne Schwibs, follows six harpists as they prepared to compete in the 2007 USA International Harp Competition.

Losey, who was a student at CIM at the time, was among about three dozen harpists from around the world who competed for a chance at a performance and recording career and the grand prize of a harp made by Lyon & Healy Harp Co. in Chicago.

The film crew followed her for about six months.

"They came to Cleveland the whole time I was preparing,” she told reporters. "Everything from practicing to dress shopping, they drove with me to the competition, met me in Chicago when I was getting the harp repaired.”

The documentary also explores how harps are built and examines their history and future as well as the progression of the instrument from solo "folk” instrument to its role in classical concert repertoire. It is narrated by actress Blythe Danner.

Losey, who joined the Sarasota Orchestra two years ago, said preparing for the competition helped prepare her for her Orchestra audition just a few months later.

Watch a preview of "Harp Dreams” here. 

A native of Maine, Losey was a winner of CIM's Concerto Competition, was the first harpist to receive the Presser Award, won the Jim Hall Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Achievement and was three times awarded the Alice Chalifoux Prize in Harp.

Since her time at CIM, she has garnered international acclaim and was the first prize winner and Grandjany Prize winner in the American Harp Society's National Solo Competition and was the first prize winner in the American String Teacher's Association National Solo Competition. To learn more about Losey, click here.