Autumn Selover is a freelance harpist based in the Chicagoland area who is involved in the contemporary/new music scene. She enjoys collaborations with a variety of artists, composers, and musicians, and strives to expand music beyond its traditionally perceived limits to engage both artists and audience in the process of crafting and sharing. With her work, she is constantly pushing the boundaries of music and art, and hopes to seek a dialogue that allows a departure from traditional possibilities of timbres, sound, and form to demand something more from the harp.
Her work ranges from traditional orchestral and chamber works to innovative works involving electronic processing, hip-hop, mixed media works, and improvisation. Autumn has also premiered several new orchestral works, including Joseph Schwantner’s “Chapel Music” (2014) and Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s opera, “Dead Man Walking” (2016). She has recorded several arrangements by Frederick Umar with the Concordia University Chicago Symphonic Wind Symphony, and is currently a recording artist with the Voic(ed) Project.
Recent projects include a performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with Chicago’s premier conductorless orchestra, Unsupervised, an ensemble invested in sharing the story of the creative process of learning music and focused on making music more readily accessible; and performances with the Zafa Collective, a chamber group founded on ideas of accessibility and inclusivity that actively seeks music from underrepresented composers and is involved in interdisciplinary collaboration. She is also a founding member of Tonic, a flute, harp, and viola trio.
An advocate of education and community outreach, Autumn collaborates regularly with musicians and composers such as Claire Chase and Hans Thomalla on workshops and masterclasses to further explorations of composition as a creative medium and process that values performer and composer partnership. She also works extensively with student composers throughout the composition and editing processes to provide a clear explanation of the possibilities of the harp.
As a private instructor for piano and harp, Autumn uses a variety of approaches to work with her students to find their musical voices. She strives to find unique methods that best complement their individual learning needs to encourage their artistic development.
Autumn has been playing the harp for seventeen years and the piano for nineteen years. She received a BM in Classical Harp Performance from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing her Masters under Lynn Wiliams, the principal harpist of the Lyric Opera.
Her work ranges from traditional orchestral and chamber works to innovative works involving electronic processing, hip-hop, mixed media works, and improvisation. Autumn has also premiered several new orchestral works, including Joseph Schwantner’s “Chapel Music” (2014) and Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s opera, “Dead Man Walking” (2016). She has recorded several arrangements by Frederick Umar with the Concordia University Chicago Symphonic Wind Symphony, and is currently a recording artist with the Voic(ed) Project.
Recent projects include a performance of Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro with Chicago’s premier conductorless orchestra, Unsupervised, an ensemble invested in sharing the story of the creative process of learning music and focused on making music more readily accessible; and performances with the Zafa Collective, a chamber group founded on ideas of accessibility and inclusivity that actively seeks music from underrepresented composers and is involved in interdisciplinary collaboration. She is also a founding member of Tonic, a flute, harp, and viola trio.
An advocate of education and community outreach, Autumn collaborates regularly with musicians and composers such as Claire Chase and Hans Thomalla on workshops and masterclasses to further explorations of composition as a creative medium and process that values performer and composer partnership. She also works extensively with student composers throughout the composition and editing processes to provide a clear explanation of the possibilities of the harp.
As a private instructor for piano and harp, Autumn uses a variety of approaches to work with her students to find their musical voices. She strives to find unique methods that best complement their individual learning needs to encourage their artistic development.
Autumn has been playing the harp for seventeen years and the piano for nineteen years. She received a BM in Classical Harp Performance from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing her Masters under Lynn Wiliams, the principal harpist of the Lyric Opera.
