GRACE  ROEPKE

Grace Roepke is an international award winning soloist and the newly appointed Principal Harpist of the Louisville Orchestra. As the first and only harpist to be awarded The Grand and First Prize at the FRIENDS of the Minnesota Orchestra Young Artist Competition, she has also received top prizes in numerous competitions including the American Harp Society National Competition, Dutch World Harp Competition, and Lyon & Healy Awards. As a soloist she has appeared with the Minnesota Orchestra, Peninsula Music Festival, Long Bay Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, and Eastern Music Festival Orchestra.

As an orchestral musician, Ms. Roepke has performed as Guest Principal Harp with the Minnesota Orchestra and Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and has appeared as a guest with The Cleveland Orchestra. She has spent summers at various music festivals, including the Peninsula Music Festival, Grant Park Music Festival, Lucerne Festival Academy, Round Top Festival Institute, and Texas Music Festival.

 

Passionate about exploring the capabilities of the harp, Ms. Roepke is a sought after contemporary music performer and collaborator. She has premiered a number of works, including “Mammoth” by Teddy Abrams with solo cellist Yo-Yo Ma, “Air”, by Thomas Adès with solo violinist Anne Sophie Mutter, and presented the live premiere of “Time Lapse” by Patrick Harlin as a part of Yolanda Kondonassis’ FIVE MINUTES for Earth Project. While a student at The Cleveland Institute of Music, she was a frequent soloist and chamber musician in CIM’s New Music Ensemble and worked closely with composers Marcos Balter, Sebastian Currier, and Keith Fitch among others.

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In addition to her performance career, Ms. Roepke is a passionate music educator. She has been on the faculty at the Brevard Music Center, and has given masterclasses at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and the Suzuki Association of the Americas Conference. Ms. Roepke is a Suzuki certified teacher, having trained in the Suzuki method herself as a young student, and currently maintains a private studio, offering both in-person and virtual lessons to students of all ages.

 

Ms. Roepke began her musical journey at the age of six, and is a proud third-generation harpist following in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with GRAMMY nominated soloist Yolanda Kondonassis. Additionally, she received an Artist Diploma as an inaugural member of the Robinson Orchestral Career Fellowship, continuing her studies with Kondonassis as well as various Cleveland Orchestra musicians. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Maurice and Judith Kaplow Prize for Uncommon Creativity, the Jocelyn Chang and Michael Leese Award in Harp, and the Alice Chalifoux Prize in Harp. Ms. Roepke is a native of Chanhassen, Minnesota where she was a student of Phala Tracy.