Faculty Profiles

Faye Seeman is principal harpist with the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra, and holds positions as professor of harp studies at both Wheaton College and Northern Illinois University.

As founder of the “Kithara” flute, cello and harp trio, she has led the group to notoriety through highly successful performances in recitals throughout the Midwest. Faye has distinguished herself as one of the most versatile harpists in the area, often venturing away from playing traditional classical repertoire. Together with her colleague steel pan virtuoso and professor at NIU Liam Teague, the dynamic musicians have reached out across boundaries yet unexplored in the musical community to form the Pangelic duo. From original compositions to arrangements of classical selections, the two creative forces have woven improvisation, poetry, and art into the fabric of their music-making. Their most recent performance was at the Trueblood Performing Arts Center in Door County, Wisconsin for the summer music festival on Washington Island. Faye and several well-known jazz musicians in the Chicago area collaborated to establish the “ZigZag” jazz harp quartet (piano, harp, bass and drums), exploring an eclectic blend of jazz, classical and new age styles of music. While together they recorded and produced the CD “Caught”, which features several of Faye’s own compositions, several jazz standards, and free improvisation.

One of her proudest accomplishments is the commission of a concerto for harp and orchestra in memory of her father, violinist and conductor, Ernest Seeman. Noted Chicago composer Gustavo Leone wrote the music which premiered in 2006 at the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin. Since then the work has been played many times throughout the United States.  Because of her love of ballet, Faye worked in partnership with the Wheaton College Orchestra and the Hubbard Street Dance Company to perform a work by William Grant Still for harp and string orchestra, entitled “Ennanga”. In this format, the HSDC choreographed and performed the music, elevating the piece to another level. Faye has  performed it multiple times, most recently in San Luis Obispo, California with the resident chamber orchestra in that town.

During the summer, Faye is on the faculty of the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin, and is a regular guest clinician and performer at the Midwest Harp Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a solo harpist, she recorded her first solo CD in 2010 at Bastyr University Chapel in Seattle, Washington. The disc features several of her own compositions, along with transcribed favorites.  Faye graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a Bachelor of Music Performance degree, and attained a Master of Music Performance degree from Boston University, studying with the legendary harpist Lucile Lawrence.

Boston University
M.M. harp performance, 1983

Eastern Michigan University
B.M. harp performance, 1977