UNT HarpBeats

05/08/2026

After 4 senior recitals, 2 sophomore recitals, 1 DMA recital, and 1 chamber recital, the spring semester is coming to a close for the HarpBeats!

Congrats to all of our recital harpists for their stunning and unique performances! And a very special congratulations to our seniors for completing their final undergrad recitals! We are so proud of everything they've accomplished and how much they've grown as musicians during their time at UNT!

05/06/2026

Congrats Victoria M. Gonzalez! Officially an award-winning theory scholar 🥳

Congratulations to Victoria Gonzalez (MA Student in Music Theory) for winning this year's Graduate Student Excellence Award for her paper "Exploring Ambiguity as Personal Expression in Ruby by Jennie."

04/29/2026

🚨Chamber Recital Alert🚨

Triptych will be performing THIS Friday at 8pm in the Organ Recital Hall!

Please join us for an evening of enchanting music by Debussy, Bax, and Jolivet for flute, viola, and harp (and our last studio recital of the school year)!

04/13/2026

This past weekend, we had a truly special HarpBeats performance! Not only was it a preview of our One Harp World program, but it was also a performance for Dr. H's mom, Judith Schmuck, who passed away the morning of April 8. Her mom watched every live stream and recital from her home in South Dakota, and it’s fitting to dedicate this performance to her memory.  Judith was Dr. Haefner’s largest supporter in music and in life. She was a parish worker (choir director), and Dr. Haefner’s studies in music started with her, as music filled every part of their lives.

The HarpBeats are so grateful and honored to have had her love and support, even from afar! If you would like to read more about Judith's life and contribute to honoring her memory, please visit her obituary page:
https://www.georgeboom.com/obituary/judith-judy-schmuck

🦋 The last two photos were taken by Dylan Haefner 🦋

03/19/2026

We are excited to announce that we will be hosting Amelia Romano this upcoming Monday!

Her work focuses on expanding the perceived boundaries of lever harp and highlighting its versatility in new and dynamic ways. She will be leading a workshop at 4pm in Voertman Hall focused on arranging for harp in a chamber setting. The workshop will be immediately followed by a solo recital, featuring a variety of pieces not typically played on lever harp as well as some of Romano's original compositions.

We hope you will able to join us for an afternoon of lever harp exploration!

03/05/2026

We're booked and busy in the month of March!

This Friday, the HarpBeats are performing for Music at Noon in the Music Commons. Join us at 12pm to hear some fun new student arrangements and a preview of our World Harp Congress program!

We've also got not one, not two, but FIVE studio members with recitals this month 😱 Zoë will kick off our HarpBeats recitals marathon, followed by Lalo later the same week. Kathryn, Daisy, and Acadia will then have their recitals the following weekend. Please come out to support our HarpBeats, Zoë and Daisy with their ✨️first✨️ recitals and Lalo, Acadia, and Kathryn with their senior recitals 🥹

We will also be hosting two special guests closer to the end of the month! Amelia Romano will be giving a lever harp workshop and recital on Monday, March 23rd. And to close out the month, we are going to have a workshop with Taylor Fleshman, the harpist for "The President's Own" US Marine Band on March 30th. Stay tuned for more info in the coming weeks!

02/26/2026

Another year, another tuba valentine surprise for Dr. H 😏

This is one of our favorite annual traditions, and what makes it great is how surprised Dr. H is every time! Thank you for going along with our antics and serenading us with some lovely tuba arrangements!

02/13/2026

Victoria M. Gonzalez is a STAR 🤩

02/04/2026

After an unexpected bonus week of winter break, we're finally back to our regularly scheduled programming!

We’re starting out the month with our first orchestra and band concerts of 2026! Then, on Feb 10th, Dr. H will be a featured soloist in a special performance of Professor Klein's "Canetti-menagerie", a series of semi-improvisational open form works based on Elias Canetti's character studies. Following will be a concert and recital, both featuring orchestral Rachmaninoff works, and on Feb 17th, the first Jazz Strings performance of the year!

Towards the end of the month, UNT will be hosting the CBDNA Southwestern Division Conference, and two of our harpists will be playing with the UNT Wind Orchestra! You've got not one, but TWO chances to see them perform: the preview concert on Feb 19th and the conference performance on Feb 27th, closing out the month with a big finish!

(there also may be some rogue HarpBeats members down at TMEA next week 🤭👀)

01/13/2026

Our last introduction (but certainly not least!) is Ella Kim!

Coming to us from Orlando, FL, Ella is in the first year of her BM in Harp Performance. She's excited to be playing with Wind Orchestra this year and learning from the other incredible musicians in the studio!

Join us in giving the warmest of welcomes to Ella!