Festival Artists

A dynamic performer, scholar, and mentor, Jaymee Haefner brings a globe-spanning career to the festival stage. As Professor of Harp and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of North Texas College of Music, she has built a reputation for inspired artistry and forward-looking leadership.

Her performances have taken her from Hong Kong to New York City, Mexico to the Czech Republic, and across France and Russia—often to premiere new works created for her by celebrated composers such as Libby Larsen, Paul Patterson, and Gary Schocker. A sought-after teacher, she has recently led masterclasses at Indiana University, Eastman, Boston Conservatory, and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and has served on juries for many of the world’s major harp competitions, including Hong Kong, AHS, Lyon & Healy, Young Artist’s Harp Competition, and the Italy International Harp Competition.

Jaymee is equally known for her scholarship. Her research on the legendary Henriette Renié has resulted in two published books and an article for Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press). As a presenter, she has been invited to the World Harp Congress (Amsterdam, Sydney), multiple AHS conferences, and TMEA.

Her Crimson Duo (violin & harp) has released two acclaimed albums and appeared at both the World Harp Congress and American Harp Society national events. Back home at UNT, her ensemble—HarpBeats—has become a showpiece for creative programming, performing everywhere from the Lyon & Healy Summer Concert Series in Chicago to the World Harp Congress in Hong Kong.

Jaymee has collaborated with renowned conductors including Jaap van Zweden, Roger Nierenberg, David Syrus, and David Stern, and her recordings feature performances with the Bloomington Pops Orchestra and artists such as Daniel Narducci, Alfredo Rolando Ortiz, and James Boldin.

When she’s not on stage or in the classroom, you’ll most likely find her outdoors—scuba diving, hiking, and adding new stamps to her passport whenever possible.

Parker Ramsay is one of the most boldly original voices in the harp world today. Equally at home with Bach, electronics, historical instruments, and cutting-edge multimedia collaborations, he is redefining what the harp can say—and where it can go. His critically acclaimed performances have taken him to Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y, IRCAM, King’s College Cambridge, and the Spoleto Festival USA, and his genre-shifting recordings—from the Goldberg Variations to The Street with Nico Muhly and Alice Goodman—have earned praise from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, WQXR, and the Wall Street Journal.

A fierce champion of new music, Ramsay premieres works that push the instrument’s sonic boundaries, partnering with leading composers such as Aida Shirazi, Marcos Balter, Artun Çekem, and Lucy McKnight. He appears regularly with ensembles including Mark Morris Dance Group, Apollo’s Fire, and Quatuor Van Kuijk, and co-directs the New York period-instrument group A Golden Wire. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Early Music America.

Originally from Tennessee and now based in New York City, Parker began harp studies with his mother, Carol McClure, served as organ scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and holds degrees from Oberlin and Juilliard. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in historical musicology at Columbia University.

Minnesota-born and Shetland-based, Sunita Staneslow is a beloved voice in the folk harp world, known for her lyrical playing, her deep connection to traditional music, and her remarkably accessible arrangements—featured across fifteen published books with Afghan Press, Seraphim Music, and Mel Bay. A Manhattan School of Music graduate with classical roots, she has built a career that bridges Celtic, Jewish, and classical traditions, both onstage and in the studio.

Sunita spent fifteen years as a therapeutic harpist at Schneider Children’s Medical Center in Israel, bringing comfort and music to young patients—a role that deeply shaped her artistic outlook. She is a regular instructor and performer at leading North American folk harp festivals, a featured presenter in the Virtual Harp Summit, and a lever harp instructor for Harp Column Academy.

When she’s not performing or teaching, she’s likely exploring the wild landscapes of Shetland, restoring a centuries-old stone house on the island of Unst, or guiding one of the boutique harp tours of Scotland she runs with her husband. (Yes—this is the same couple who once cycled across Europe for six months… with a harp.)

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Steiner is a dynamic harpist whose career thrives at the intersections of classical, contemporary, and popular music. As an orchestral artist, she has appeared with ensembles such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Chineke! Orchestra, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. She is also a member of The Sinfonietta, the all–female-identifying ensemble that premiered Barbie the Movie in Concert at the Hollywood Bowl and made its live debut through Carnegie Hall Citywide.

Her recording credits are equally compelling—she can be heard on the GRAMMY Award–winning track “Refuge” by Geoffrey Keezer and on Unheard Bird with Ken Peplowski. A committed advocate of new music, she performs regularly with The Crossing and Arcana New Music Ensemble and recently headlined a solo program of her own arrangements for Bowerbird New Music.

Versatile by nature and by choice, Lizzie has taken the harp into fashion, film, and pop culture, performing at New York Fashion Week for designer Tia Adeola and appearing in Adeola’s Le Noir Est Beau (premiered on Vogue.com). Her collaborations include work with Stevie Wonder, Brandy, Leslie Odom Jr., Tierra Whack, Moses Sumney, Raye, and Josh Groban.

Lizzie holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Temple University, where she studied with Yolanda Kondonassis and Elizabeth Hainen. Her leadership and advocacy have been recognized through a Sphinx LEAD Fellowship, a Sphinx MPower Grant, and a Fitler Club Fellowship.

Passionate about expanding access to harp education, she serves as a Teaching Artist for the Lyra Society at the Philadelphia High School for Girls, offering free, high-quality harp instruction to the next generation of young musicians.