Susan Jolles

Susan Jolles, harpist, has enjoyed a long and varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, teacher and arranger.  A founding member of the Naumburg Award winning Jubal Trio, she also appears with daughter, Renee, violinist, as the Jolles Duo.  Ms. Jolles is a member of the American Composers Orchestra, Percussia and the Queens Symphony Orchestra . She was associate harpist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for 53 years.  Past affiliations include the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music, The New York Chamber Symphony,  The Little Orchestra Society and The Juilliard Ensemble.  She also appeared regularly with the Encores Orchestra.

Ms. Jolles has been associated with contemporary music since receiving a Fromm Fellowship in contemporary music performance in 1963.  She has premiered and recorded the works of such composers as Luciano Berio, Hans Werner Henze, George Crumb, Charles Wuorinen and Philip Glass.  She has also commissioned many composers for the Jubal Trio and  the Jolles Duo.

Susan Jolles has an extensive discography that encompasses a full range of musical genres including classical, klezmer, jazz, cabaret and Broadway, recording with such diverse artists as Giora Feidman, Kenny Garrett, James Galway and Barbara Cook.  She has also recorded five albums of original flute and harp music with flutist Laurel Zucker.

Recent recordings with Percussia are Struck and Plucked with lever harp and Murmurations with the full Percussia ensemble.

An ongoing project is the arrangement and publication of Baroque keyboard works for the harp. Composers include Handel, Rameau, Lulli and Zipoli. Close attention to Baroque style is a feature of these publications, all available from Gotham Harp Publishing.

Ms. Jolles is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Hofstra University.  She teaches orchestra repertory and chamber music as well as classical harp.music.