Colleen Thorburn

Colleen Potter Thorburn has performed widely throughout the United States, most recently as tenured Principal Harpist with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra (ECSO) from 2012-2023, as a regular substitute with the Virginia Symphony and Richmond Symphony Orchestra from 2015-2023, and as a founding member of Apple Orange Pair with horn player Emily Boyer (horn and harp), Duo Shockoe with harpist Jaclyn Wappel (harp duo), and the Thorburn Duo with Benjamin Thorburn, bass-baritone.

Colleen has performed as an orchestral harpist and harp fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and the International Festival-Institute at Round Top; as a concerto soloist with Symphony Nova in Boston, with the ECSO, and with Virginia Commonwealth University’s Symphony as part of its international Villa-Lobos Festival; as a chamber musician with the Atlantic Music Festival in Maine and as an artist-in-residence with Connecticut Summerfest in Hartford; and as a freelancer with diverse ensembles, including back-up harp for Kanye West’s Chicago-area shows and as a member of Three Penny Chorus and Orchestra on the 2013 season of America’s Got Talent.

An enthusiastic educator, Colleen is excited to join the teaching faculty of the University of Central Arkansas in 2023, where she teaches Music Theory and Music Appreciation courses as well as harp. Previously, she taught Music Theory, Aural Skills, Keyboard Skills courses, and harp at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. She has been a guest clinician for the American Youth Harp Ensemble’s summer session in Richmond, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Harp Society’s “Philly Harp Day,” the Virginia Harp Center’s “RVA Harp Day” and “Ensemble Day” in Midlothian, VA, and she has presented recitals at the American Harp Society’s National Summer Institutes at St. Olaf in Minnesota and at Utah State University in Logan, UT, with the Thorburn Duo and Apple Orange Pair. She is preparing a presentation on Bill Marx’s Double Harp Concerto for the 2024 American Harp Society’s National Conference in Orlando, and she will be performing the concerto in January 2024 with harpist Jaclyn Wappel and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra.

Colleen is a past winner of the national American Harp Society Anne Adams Awards. She holds DMA, MMA, and MM degrees from the Yale School of Music, and a BM degree from the University of Illinois in Champaign, studying with harpists June Han and Ann Yeung, respectively.

Website: http://www.colleenpotterthorburn.com/