Recently during my time in NYC, I had the pleasure to meet and interview renowned harpist and Avery Fisher Career Grant winner, Bridget Kibbey. I had seen Bridget perform at last year's Fringe Atlanta and was blown away by her music.

In this interview, Bridget and I discuss why modern music matters to the average person, the balance between emotion and intellect in music, and how her music contributes to culture making.

As hailed by The New York Times, harpist Bridget Kibbey made it seem as though her instrument had been waiting all its life to explode with the gorgeous colors and energetic figures she was getting from it. Ms. Kibbey has received such honors as an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Premier Prix at the International Chamber Music Competition of Arles, France (in collaboration with flutist Julietta Curenton), the Juilliard School Peter Mennin Prize for musical leadership and excellence, an American Harp Society Anne Adams Award, and a Mustard Seed Foundation Harvey Fellowship. She was a winner of Astral Artistic Services 2003 National auditions, and under their auspices, has been presented as soloist and chamber musician in Weill Hall, the Kimmel Center, and Merkin Hall. She appeared as featured soloist with the Haddonfield Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony, the Israel Youth Philharmonic, the Eastern Philharmonic Orchestra, America's Dream Chamber Artists, and the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra. As an orchestral harpist she has performed with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. She has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and has been featured on New York's WQXR, NPR's Performance Today, Philadelphia's WRTI "Crossover" as well as on A and E's Breakfast with the Arts.

Ms. Kibbey enjoys presenting masterclasses - discussing writing for the harp - to university composition students, and is on the harp faculties of New York University and the Juilliard School Pre-College program. She holds both Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from The Juilliard School, where she completed studies with Nancy Allen.