NICHOLE LUCHS
Harp Instructor
Nichole Luchs, native of Freeport IL, started
playing the harp at the age of ten through the harp program at her public
school. At the time, Freeport School District was the only district in
Illinois with the harp as part of the school's music program. She studied
with harpist Nanette Felix, until she graduated from high school, and
then went on to study with Elizabeth Cifani, principal harpist with the
Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Nichole received a Bachelors degree in Harp Performance from Northern
Illinois University and a Masters degree in Harp Performance from
Northwestern University. During her studies, she was the recipient of the
prestigious Eckstein Scholarship and the Keefer award. In 2002, she
performed two duets with world-renowned Steel-pan artist, Liam Teague, on
his Christmas recording A Christmas Gift produced by Sack records. She
also performed on the duet recording of modern composer Dexter Morrill
entitled Dexter Morrill: Three Concertos produced by Centaur Records,
Inc. In 2003, she was a featured artist at the first annual Viroqua Fine
Arts Festival and also in 2005 for the Dubuque Symphony Chamber Musicians
Series. Recently, she was a featured performer in the Paidiea Project, a
documentary on the music of ancient Greece.
Nichole is currently an active free-lance musician and performs
throughout Illinois and Iowa. She is the principal harpist for the Peoria
Symphony, DuPage Symphony, and Illinois Valley Symphony, and she has
performed with many orchestras in the area including the Rockford
Symphony, Evanston Symphony, Skokie Valley Symphony, Fox Valley Symphony,
Quad City Symphony, and Dubuque Symphony. She is a member of the American
Harp Society and the Great Lakes Harpers.
