Biography

Praised for her “wonderful musical sensibility” and “effortless virtuosic flair”, Madeline Olson is the principal harpist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and an award-winning soloist with a diverse performance history. 

In 2019 she was awarded a career grant from Salon de Virtuosi, and a Golden Medal in the Virtuoso division of the Manhattan International Music Competition. In 2017 she was the first American to be awarded first prize at the Nippon International Harp Competition in Soka, Japan. Winner of the 2016 Aspen Music Festival Harp Competition, she was awarded the following year the New Horizons fellowship. Awarded first prize at the Young Artist’s Harp Competition, she was a 2013 National Young Arts winner, and was featured as a Focus on Youth soloist at the 11th World Harp Congress in Vancouver. She has taken prizes at the American Harp Society National Competition and the Yvonne LaMothe Schwager Regional Competition, and has most recently been heard as a soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Buffalo Opera Unlimited, Modesto Symphony, and Merced Symphony. Recent virtual performances include a 2020 BPO Musician Portrait on WNED PBS, and performances of the Handel Harp Concerto and Debussy Danse Sacree et profane, recently featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

As an orchestral musician, Madeline has performed with many ensembles including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, The Orchestra Now, the Juilliard Orchestra, New World Symphony, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Fresno Philharmonic, and the Riverside Symphony. In February 2020 she was appointed the principal harpist for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under music director JoAnn Falletta.

Passionate about expanding the harp repertoire, Madeline revels in her work with composers and is becoming known as an advocate for new solo works for the harp. In the last few years she has worked closely with Marco-Adrián Ramos, premiering his Mexican folk music-inspired Jarochito o Capricho, and 48 Testigos for electronics and harp. A five year participant in The Juilliard School’s Focus! Festival, in 2018 she performed the Western Hemisphere premiere of Cinq stades de l’existence for solo harp by China’s Yao Chen. Madeline has regularly performed as part of the New Juilliard Ensemble, and has had the privilege of premiering new works for chamber ensemble under the direction of Dr. Joel Sachs. As part of Juilliard’s 2019 Commencement ceremony, Madeline performed Kaija Saariaho’s Fall for harp and electronics, to commemorate the composer’s awarding of an honorary doctorate. Madeline continues this work as a member of the Buffalo-based new music group Liminal Space Ensemble.
  
Born in Tracy, California, Madeline began her musical studies on the piano at age five. After seeing her first harp performance at age eight, she became obsessed with the instrument and began studies under Modesto harpist Donelle Page, moving on to study with Fresno Philharmonic principal Laura Porter and World Harp Congress Vice-president Linda Wood Rollo a few years later. She participated in a number of youth orchestras, including the Modesto Symphony Youth Orchestra, The Young People’s Symphony Orchestra in Berkeley, and the San Francisco Youth Orchestra. She has received both her BM and MM degrees from The Juilliard School under Nancy Allen.