Morgan Mackenzie Short, age 17, is a native of Virginia. She studies harp with Elisabeth Remy Johnson, principal harpist of the Atlanta Symphony and Jacquelyn Bartlett at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Morgan began her musical studies at age six. The following year she auditioned for the Roanoke Symphony’s Harp Ensemble, where she spent seven years mastering her ensemble skills.
Since age ten, Morgan’s summers have been spent attending harp camps and festivals like The American Harp Institute, Young Artist’s Harp Seminar, Saratoga Harp Colony and Masterworks Festival. She has received master classes from notable harpists such as Elizabeth Hainen, Marissa Robles, Maria Luisa Rayan-Forero, Judy Loman, Joan Holland, Mieko Inoue, Julie Ann Smith and Lynne Aspnes. As a result, Morgan became interested in competing.
Since 2012 Ms. Short has entered 20 competitions, local, national and international while being awarded 13 prizes. Competitions were for solo pieces, orchestral, chamber and, most recently, concertos. She has traveled to Szeged, Hungary and Caernarfon, Wales in the last year and has enjoyed presenting her works at the Mora Ferenc Museum and The Galeri Caernarfon. She appeared on Hungarian Duna TV in a documentary about the Third International Harp Competition of Szeged, Hungary. Additionally, Morgan is the principal harpist of the Roanoke Youth Symphony, a position which she has held since 2011. In the spring Morgan will perform Handel’s Concerto in B Flat with the Roanoke Symphony.
Morgan’s orchestral skills are in demand locally as she is hired as a guest artist throughout the area. In 2013 Morgan performed ‘Overture to Candide’ and Maslanka’s ‘Symphony No. 4’ at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium with Virginia Tech’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Ms. Short has worked with the following conductors: David Wiley, Steven White, Andrew Sewell, David Bowden, Travis Cross, James Glazebrook and Miriam Burns. In the Summer of 2014 she enjoyed performing for Christian Macelaru, Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Symphony in an orchestral mock audition at Skidmore College.