Harpist
A native of Dallas Texas, Carly Nelson recently moved from Austin, Texas to Chicago, Illinois. Carly is an active performer of orchestral, chamber and solo repertoire music but is also passionate about teaching. She is currently the Acting Principal Harpist for the Austin Opera and is in her 5th season playing with the Opera.
In the past few years, Carly has had the privilege of partaking in recording projects with the Dallas Wind Symphony, “John Williams at the Movie,” and the University of Michigan Symphony Band, “Reflections.” She has been a finalist in the Anne Adams Awards Competition and has received performance scholarships to the University of Michigan, Rice University, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, The Eastern Music Festival and the Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory.
Carly has served as principal harpist for the Oberlin Conservatory Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the Shepherd School Symphony and Chamber Orchestras and the University of Michigan’s University Symphony Orchestra. She has also performed with several professional orchestras including the San Antonio, Fort Worth, Corpus Christi, Baton Rouge, Victoria, Lansing and Temple Symphonies. Carly has also participated in numerous prestigious summer festivals including: Rocky Mountain Summer Conservatory, Interlochen Arts Camp, North Carolina School of the Arts, the Saratoga Harp Colony, Eastern Music Festival, Oberlin in Italy, Texas Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, and Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians.
Carly graduated from high school as co-valedictorian in 2007 from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan and received her Bachelor’s Degree in Harp Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio in 2011. She went on to get her Master’s Degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University studying under Paula Page. Carly decided to even further her education and graduated with her Specialist in Harp Performance from the University of Michigan where she studied with Joan Raeburn Holland in 2015.
A teacher as well as a performer, Carly taught harp to middle and high schoolers in many of the public schools in Round Rock, Texas before moving to Chicago. In recent summers, she has worked as a Harp Instructor at Rocky Mountain Summer Harp Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Teaching Assistant at Interlochen Arts Camp located in Interlochen, Michigan, and spent time playing at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island as their Resident Harpist.