2010 Artists
Erica Goodman, Lynne Aspnes, John Wickey, Harps AFire, Saul Davis Zlatkovski, Andrew Chan and outstanding student performers
Erica Goodman
A native of Toronto, Erica Goodman is acclaimed as one of the world’s outstanding solo harpists. She received her training at the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), the National Music Camp (Interlochen, Michigan) and the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia). Already a concert performer in her teens, Erica played under the baton of Igor Stravinsky when he recorded in Toronto. While studying at Curtis, she won a concerto competition and was rewarded with a solo appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Upon finishing her studies, Mario Bernardi chose her to be a member of the newly formed National Arts Centre Orchestra and was the featured soloist in Harry Somers’ Suite for Harp & Chamber Orchestra at the orchestra's New York debut. Erica is currently a member of Toronto’s Esprit Orchestra which specializes in contemporary music, with whom she performed Alex Pauk’s Harp Concerto when the orchestra made its inaugural European tour in 1999. She also plays regularly with composer Barbara Croall’s “Ergo Ensemble” which promotes Canadian contemporary music at home and abroad.
Erica’s love of chamber music is highlighted by her long association with colleagues and groups such as flutist Robert Aitken, with whom she performed in Hong Kong this past fall; oboist Lawrence Cherney, and Trio Lyra. In new programs with Swedish horn virtuoso Sören Hermansson, she has revisited old and commissioned new works for the rare combination of French horn and harp. Erica is a charter member of Toronto’s New Music Concerts Ensemble with whom she recently recorded three albums for Naxos featuring the music of Toru Takemitsu (awarded "Editor’s Choice” by Grammophone magazine), George Crumb and Elliott Carter. Two recently released CD’s on the CMC’s Centrediscs label spotlight Canadian composers Jeffrey Ryan and Marjan Mozetich.
A “regular” on the summer festival circuit, Erica has appeared at The Scotia Festival, the Festival of the Sound, the Elora Festival, the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Tanglewood Music Festival.
Following a concert at the North American New Music Festival in Buffalo NY, music critic Richard Chon extolled, “…….a stunningly virtuosic harpist whose very presence on the scene is an incentive for the creation of new works.” Canadian composers thus inspired include Alexina Louie, Oskar Morawetz, Milton Barnes, Marjan Mozetich, Harry Freedman, Lothar Klein, Rodney Sharman and Chris Paul Harman.
In addition to her international concert performances, Erica Goodman has made many recordings on the CBC, Marquis, BIS, Opening Day, Avalon, Centrediscs and Naxos labels. In 1995, she won a Juno for her solo BIS CD “Erica Goodman Plays Canadian Harp Music". In 1980, Erica won the Grand Prix du Disque for her BIS recording “Flute and Harp” with Robert Aitken. NOW Magazine selected her as Best Canadian Classical Musician in its 1996 “Best of Toronto” readers’ poll. Website: ericagoodman.tripod.com
Saul Davis Zlatkovski 
Artistic and Executive Director of the Harp Festival of Philadelphia, he has led the festival since its origin in 2006. The festival has since grown to four days of concerts and educational programs, attracting performers from around the world and attention from such publications as the Philadelphia Inquirer and BroadStreetReview.com.
He has presented a virtuoso opening recital each year, as well as master classes. He has performed in recital numerous times in New York City, Minneapolis and Philadelphia. He was presented in recital by the Philadelphia Chapter, and also performed in the last master class by Lucile Lawrence. His extensive solo repertoire is unusual in its range of styles and virtuosity. He has also performed the Mozart and Berezowsky concertos as a professional soloist with orchestra. He has performed as a free-lance musician in many groups in New York and Philadelphia, and with the Concerto Soloists Chamber Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, the Minneapolis Civic Orchestra and many others. His harp duo with Virginia Flanagan, Aeolian Harps, was presented at the Doylestown Festival of the Arts
He is also an accomplished composer, with performances at the National Conference of the American Harp Society and at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he coached Curtis students in his music.
As a teacher, he has served on the faculties of the Roosa School of Music, Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, the Hebrew Arts Center, and has taught privately for over 20 years. He has taught master classes at the Harp Festival of Philadelphia and at Macalester College where he held a "mini-residency" of one week of recitals, guest lectures and master class. At the Curtis Institute of Music, he coached the harp students of the Curtis Institute of Music in performances of his compositions. His advanced studies of harp were with Lucile Lawrence and Alice Chalifoux, and chamber music with Gary Graffman. He holds degrees from Macalester College and Manhattan School of Music.
As a composer, he has received awards from ASCAP in recognition of his music, and has been published by Harpiana Publications and Da Costa Music House. His music was premiered at the American Harp Society National Conference 2004 at the University of Pennsylvania, and performed at the Curtis Institute of Music. His commissions have included the Harps AFire harp duo. He has composed many solo works, as well as chamber works for trombone and harp (Portrait in Rhapsody), and flute and harp as well as a song cycle on the poems of Naomi Replansky, "I Met My Solitude".
An avid fan of dance, he studied jazz dance with Betsy Haug, and ballet with the renowned Nina Stroganova and Vladimir Dokoudovsky. His article on the teaching of Stroganova was published in Dancemagazine. He also been published in The New Yorker, Philadelphia Music Makers and American Harp Journal.
He is represented by Management: Beverly Wright & Associates, Inc.
Virginia Flanagan
Virginia Flanagan has served as Associate Artistic Director of the Harp Festival of Philadelphia since 2008, and has participated in every season of the festival as solo performer and as a member of the harp duo, Harps AFire. The duo performed the Concertino in the Old Style by Maciej Malecki in the 2007 and the 2008 festivals to acclaim. Ms. Flanagan is a sensitive artist combining strength with emotional depth. She is an active teacher and free-lance harpist, formerly in New York, Philadelphia, and now located in coastal Maine. She performed with Mr. Zlatkovski in the harp duo Aeolian Harps at the Doylestown Festival of the Arts. Her remarkably distinguished roster of harp instructors includes Lucile Lawrence, Lucy Lewis, Alice Chalifoux and Cynthia Otis. She is currently performing with the Mid-Coast Symphony Orchestra.
Alison Simpson
Alison Simpson graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music with B.M. in Harp Performance, and from Wheaton College with a B.A. in European History. She spent 13 summers at the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony studying with Alice Chalifoux. Alison is an active free-lance performer throughout the Delaware Valley, performing with symphony orchestras and choral societies. A solo artist with Young Audiences of New Jersey, she frequently performs on the luxury liner the QE2. She performs in the harp duo, Harps AFire, which appears at every season of the Harp Festival of Philadelphia and has made a recording called Harps AFire. Alison served three terms as President of the American Harp Society's Philadelphia Chapter and co-chaired the unprecedently successful 2004 National Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. She is on the faculty of the Westiminster Conservatory of Music, Rider University in Princeton, New Jersey; and maintains a private studio in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.