Jacobs School student Liza Wallace founded the Present Time Ensemble three years ago with clarinetist Liz Gorman. Fast-forward to this month and she will celebrate the release of her CD “Waken” April 19 at 8pm at the Ivy-Tech John Waldron Arts Center in downtown Bloomington.

The concert will feature the music from the CD which consists of Liza’s original compositions and arrangements. Her work draws from Venezuelan, Brazilian, and Cuban styles as well as North American Jazz and Folk music.

A native of Berkeley California, Liza has studied harp with Susann McDonald and will graduate in May. The concert culminates her time here in Bloomington. She will be joined by Gorman, percussionist Bruno Cabrera, violinist Daniel Stein, cellist Guilherme Monegato, bassist Jon Nadel, and special guest pianist (and brother) Eli Wallace. Come out for a wonderful night of music and dance!

The concert is free and will include a one-time only discounted price for the CD.  More info at lizawallace.com.

Congratulations to Alexandra Mullins and Natalie Salzman, who are co-winners of the Jacobs School of Music’s recent harp concerto competition and will perform Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez for Harp and Orchestra” with the Concert Orchestra this Saturday, Jan. 19, with Arthur Fagen conducting.

Salzman will play the concerto before the intermission, and Mullins will play it afterward.

From Matthews, N.C., freshman Alexandra Mullins is pursuing a bachelor of music degree in harp as a student of Distinguished Professor of Harp Susann McDonald. A graduate of Covenant Day School, she played the third movement of the Ginastera Harp Concerto with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra in March as grand prize winner of its Young Artist Competition. In February 2012, she performed at Lyon and Healy Hall in Chicago, Ill., as one of the winners of the 2011 Lyon and Healy Awards. Mullins was featured in an article in Harp Column Magazine after winning the 2011 American Harp Society Advanced Division Competition, in addition to being awarded the prize for best performance of Grandjany’s “Rhapsodie.”

Natalie Salzman is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Harp at Indiana University under the guidance of Distinguished Professor of Harp Susann McDonald. Originally from Boston, Mass. Salzman began her studies in harp at age seven with Juli Miller and later, Ann-Hobson Pilot, former principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. At age 16, she moved with her family to Israel, where she attended the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in lieu of her senior year of high school and studied with Irena Kaganofsky, former principal harpist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra. Salzman was a finalist at the 2010 American Harp Society Anne Adams Awards. For the past three summers, she has studied at music festivals in France with Marie-Pierre Langlamet, principal harpist of the Berlin Philharmonic; Germaine Lorenzini, former principal harpist of the Orchestre National of Lyon; and Isabelle Moretti, professor of harp at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris. Also interested in non-classical harp, Salzman spent three weeks in Switzerland studying one-on-one with renowned jazz harpist Park Stickney. She is part of the Huttons Honor College and is a Founder’s Scholar, receiving a minor in French.

Harpist, singer, and composer Liza Wallace will travel to Concepcion, Chile this month to perform in the Arpas Al Sur De Chile, an international harp festival in which she has been asked to represent the music of North America.  The festival will take place during January 24^th-26^th and Wallace will play in the daily evening concerts.  Funded by the IU Hutton Honors College and the United States Embassy at Santiago, Chile, Liza is honored to not only represent the United States but Indiana University as well.

Wallace is a senior studying Harp Performance and Jazz Studies at the IU Jacobs School of Music. As a composer and arranger, Liza draws from World, Jazz, Folk, and Classical styles. Specifically, her music is largely inspired by the rhythmically passionate music of Venezuela and the intricately melodic music of the Balkans in combination with western Jazz and Classical harmonic sensibilities. At this festival, she will perform her arrangements of classical American Jazz standards such as “S’Wonderful” by George Gershwin, and well-known American folk songs such as “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. She will also play many of her compositions for both solo harp and harp and voice.  Liza’s music can be found on her website (lizawallace.com), itunes, CDBaby, and youtube.

Harpist and singer Liza Wallace will travel to Concepcion, Chile, this month to perform in the Arpas Al Sur De Chile, an annual international harp festival. The festival will take place January 23-26. Her trip is funded by the IU Hutton Honors College and the United States Embassy at Santiago, Chile. She is a senior studying harp performance and jazz studies.

As a composer and arranger, Wallace draws from world, jazz, folk, and classical styles. At this festival, she will perform her arrangements of classical American jazz standards such as S’Wonderful by George Gershwin and well-known American folk songs such as Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell.

Her music can be found on her website, iTunes, CDBaby, and YouTube.

Both seniors in fall 2012, Natalie Salzman, harp, and Even Chapman, percussion, recently posted a video on YouTube covering the No. 1 Billboard single “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. Within 24 hours of posting the video, it had received 1,400 views. Most excitingly, the singer himself tweeted the video and sent Salzman and Chapman a personal e-mail saying how much he liked their arrangement for harp and percussion, and the video (among the hundreds of its covers on YouTube).