Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Byrne.
Hi Laura, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
As a young child, I had always been drawn to music. By the age of 10, I was taking piano lessons, playing flute in the school band and singing in the church choir. But that all changed when my mother took me to a symphony concert where I heard a featured harpist, Marjorie Tyre. I was captivated by the beautiful sounds, and was mesmerized by the graceful manner in how she played that gorgeous, gold harp. I told my mother that night that I wanted to learn how to play the harp. Unfortunately for me, my parents could not afford a harp. Luckily, two years later, I was able to participate in a public school program that provided free instruments and free private lessons to students as long as they played in the local youth orchestra program. At the time I was the only young harpist in my small city to participate and those years were formative in my love for performing orchestral music. Fast forward to my college years where I attended the Cleveland Institute of Music and studied with renowned harpist Alice Chalifoux. It was there that I truly learned how to play and teach the harp and received both my Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. While in school, I worked constantly and had numerous professional opportunities to perform as a guest harpist with orchestras in the region, as well as gig as a freelance harpist.
I also taught in the Preparatory division of the conservatory and was mentored by my teacher.
After completing my education, I got married and moved to the Twin Cities with my husband and started my professional career. There I was appointed to my first college teaching job at Gustavus Aldolphus College, and was an active professional harpist in ballet, opera, broadway, and major choral concerts with area orchestras. I frequently performed in major productions with touring ballet companies, operas, and performed with the Minnesota Orchestra. I also performed in pit orchestras for Broadway shows, for Johnny Mathis, and twice with the Moody Blues. Because there were no Principal Harp job openings in any major symphony orchestra, I decided to start my family. Five years later, I had 2 children with a 3rd on the way and my family and I moved to Lousiville, Kentucky where I took a break from my career. There I began my “Motherhood hiatus” to be a stay at home mom and take care of my children. But music kept calling me, and within 2 years, I taught a few students at the University of Lousiville, performed as 2nd harpist with the Lousiville Orchestra a few concerts a year. and did a little freelancing. I also was asked to perform classical and sacred music with 4 other musicians on stage at a “World Peace Vigil” in Bloomington Indiana with special guest, His Holiness the Dali Llama. The cathedral was filled with religious leaders, dignitaries, and celebrities, and it was a powerful and memorable experience.
In 2002, my husband took a job in North Carolina and we relocated to Raleigh. Once my youngest child was enrolled in elementary school, I decided to go back to work and sent out my resume to various music organizations and thankfully, good work started coming to me. Before I knew it, I was performing the “Nutcracker” with the Carolina Ballet and playing 2nd harp and subbing in the North Carolina Symphony. A few years later, I was performing as Principal Harp with the North Carolina Opera and continued performing as Principal Harpist with Carolina Ballet. I also performed in concerts with major choral organizations, and for special concerts with famous entertainers like “The Three Irish Tenors,” Bernadette Peters, and again for the third time, Johnny Mathis.
In addition to performing, in 2005 I was appointed to the music departments of Duke University and UNC at Chapel Hill as their faculty harpist. I had always loved teaching and advanced level students at the universities gave me a wonderful opportunity to flex my knowledge of harp teaching and create a legacy of fine harp playing in the triangle community. This fall, I will start my 22 year at both universities where I have continued to develop and enrich the orchestras and ensembles of both music departments with strong harp students in both of my university harp studios. Inspired by the excellence of my colleagues and the stimulating environment of university life, I have achieved some of my best teaching and performing through the numerous opportunities I have at both Duke and UNC.
Professional Harpists often have several revenue streams as they only work part time in any orchestra during the performance season, and often perform in several orchestras and play for casual engagements too. Throughout my classical music performance career and teaching, I have always maintained a freelance business; performing for weddings, church services, at country club, and at private events and corporate engagements. I love freelancing for private engagements whether it be for weddings, special events or corporate gigs, I get to provide beautiful classical and popular harp music and meet the most interesting people!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
As any seasoned freelancer, will tell you, it is either feast or famine. Having moved a few times for my husband’s career, I have restarted my harp career and freelance business in 3 different cities. Every city in every region has its own personality and culture and I learned to pivot and adapt to new situations and opportunities with each move. Of course it is much more challenging to work as a freelancer with a young family and so I did what I could with the time I had. In starting my freelance business, I tried to be friends with other musicians and get on their sub list. It is hard to break-in to the freelance world, especially when not everyone is happy to meet you or give you work. However, once I started performing well and working with established organizations, I became part of the arts community. Then, when I started creating my own freelance work and sharing some of my overflow with other freelancers, I soon became even more successful. I found that finding time to do everything and maintaining high standards in my work and keeping healthy work relationships whenever possible was a challenge. In the ever revolving-door of the freelance music world, change is constant. As a working mother, balancing the demands of work and family is always a challenge and in the music business it is no exception. Practicing early in the morning or late at night was the easy part, dealing with difficult personalities, and even more difficult work environments, not so much. Even though I had a supportive spouse, I found I had seasons in my career where some types of work were not possible for me anymore. So I pivoted and did what worked best for me. As my children grew and became teenagers and my husband travelled more for his job, my work life changed. I kept booking freelance gigs, performing with different groups when I could, and teaching all the time. Through it all, the one thing I could always depend on was myself and other like minded individuals. Like everyone else, I have had challenges and obstacles to face and work through, especially the balance of time and money and hoping to make enough of both to survive and thrive. Over the years, I have found I do my best work when I am prepared and am ready to perform at my highest level by myself or with others, and find the synergy that turns the music into a masterpiece.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Professional classical orchestral harpist, freelance soloist and chamber ensemble performer.
Currently performing as Principal harpist with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, Carolina Ballet, and guest harpist with the Hilton Head Symphony.
Faculty Harpist at Duke University and UNC at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Owner of Laura Byrne Harpist, freelance harpist performer in the Carolinas.
Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
My primary teacher Alice Chalifoux was my first mentor in my career.
In the the past few decades I have my successful colleagues and friends mentor me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.raleighharpist.com
- Instagram: laura_byrne_harpist
- Facebook: Laura Byrne Harpist
