"It's rare in any school district in any country in the world - it's not easy to come across a harp," said Elizabeth Steiner, executive director of the Lyra Society.įrank Machos, the district's executive director of arts and academic enrichment, said the program is especially meaningful to the city and the school system, which is amid a reboot of its arts education programs. (A new harp costs at least $20,000.)Īnd suddenly, the school system was in the unusual business of training harpists again. Hainen raised funds and brokered a deal with Lyon & Healy, the acclaimed Chicago harp maker, to trade some of the battered harps for new ones. Enter Elizabeth Hainen, the principal harpist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and founder of the Lyra Society, a nonprofit started to raise harp awareness. But as programs withered, the harps fell into disrepair. Years ago, the school system owned and maintained multiple harps at schools throughout the city. The little-known program is largest at Girls' High, which has eight students and the district's only group harp class - and a tradition of producing world-class harpists. Despite years of tight budgets and some schools' lacking music programs entirely, the district now offers harp lessons to Maitre and 29 other students citywide through a nonprofit partner that aims to introduce the instrument to children who would otherwise not have access to it.
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