Janelle Lake is a creative
and diverse, full-time harpist in Chicago. Equally comfortable
with solo, chamber, and orchestral works, she specializes in
contemporary, jazz, and pop music. Ms. Lake was recently
appointed; as faculty; to Columbia College's Sherwood Conservatory
of Music in downtown Chicago. She also teaches harp at the
University of Chicago, and in her own private studio. Currently,
she teaches between 30 and 40 harp students.
When not teaching, Ms.
Lake's performance sphere reaches many far corners. She
currently holds the principal harp position to the Elmhurst
Symphony Orchestra, the DuPage Symphony Orchestra, the
Southwest Symphony Orchestra, and the New Millenium chamber
players. As an
advocate of new music, Ms. Lake holds the principal harp
position with the Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble Dal
Niente. With this group she has
performed a multitude of irregular harp techniques and has even
invented a new technique to suit a composer's desire. She has
premiered works by Augusta Reed Thomas, Drew Baker, and Kirsten
Broberg. Some of her favorite new music performances include
works by Jon Deak, Michael Daugherty, and Lucio Berio.
One of Ms. Lake's passions is meeting
new people and taking part in their lives in a memorable way on
a daily basis. Despite playing hundreds of weddings,
funerals, and other services, each ceremony is unique to her. Most
memorable performances for Ms. Lake include the National
Republican Candidate conference (2007, MI), tea time and
demitasse at the Grand Hotel (2007, Mackinac Island, MI), the
opening of the Miller Park Baseball Stadium (2001, Milwaukee,
WI), and the preview party for the international art and antique
show with flutist, Kim Sopata (2008, Chicago's Merchandise
Mart).
Janelle Lake received her Bachelors and Master of music
degrees from Northwestern University. There, she studied
with the harpist of the Lyric Opera, Elizabeth Cifani. "Liz"
helped Janelle foster a love of arranging and writing music.
Her most recent arrangement is a harp duet combining Gershwin's
"An American in Paris" with "Rhapsody in Blue". As a
supplement to the Suzuki method, Ms. Lake wrote a book
"Beginning Music on Harp" that is currently up for publication.