Rebekah Hou, harpist

REBEKAH HOU is a classical harpist based in the Northeast Ohio area. She has acquired several notable awards including the first prize of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony’s 2024 Elizabeth Loker Concerto Competition in Easton, Maryland, where she performed Alberto Ginastera’s harp concerto with the MSO and Maestro Michael Repper. She was also the prizewinner of the 2023 CIM Concerto Competition where she performed with the CIM orchestra and Maestro Kazem Abdullah. Rebekah also received the Anne Adams Award from the American Harp Society’s National Foundation competitions in 2022. Upcoming performances for the 2024–2025 season include two concerts with the Asheville Symphony performing Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto and a solo recital for the MSO’s Tuesdays at Noon recital series.

As an orchestral musician, Rebekah has appeared as guest principal harpist of several orchestras in the Northeast Ohio area including Akron Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, Firelands Symphony, Ashland Symphony, and Mansfield Symphony. This past summer took her to Breckenridge, Colorado, where she was the resident principal harpist and a concerto soloist of the National Repertory Orchestra. She has also received fellowships from Round Top Orchestral Institute, Chautauqua Festival, Interlochen Arts Camp’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA). Her performances with each festival have included collaborations with acclaimed conductors including Larry Rachleff, JoAnn Falletta, Brett Mitchell, and Carl Topilow. Most notable orchestral performances were from the NYO-USA 2019 American and European tour, which was directed by Sir Antonio Pappano and joined by guest artists Joyce DiDonato and Isabelle Leonard. Highlights of the tour included Carnegie Hall in New York, the Konzerthaus in Berlin, Usher Hall in Edinburgh, Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.

Rebekah completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in harp performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Yolanda Kondonassis, graduating with honors and receiving the Alice Chalifoux Prize in Harp. She also attended the Interlochen Arts Academy as a student of Joan Raeburn Holland, receiving both the Orchestral Fellowship and the Fine Arts Award for Harp.