Welcome!

 

Artistic Interests:

  • interdisciplinary collaboration

  • harp, voice, and electronics

  • contemporary chamber music

  • connecting the artistic communities of Canada and the United States

  • inspiring students to find their unique pathway in the creative arts

Photo by Agatha Rowland

 

Praised by the Ottawa Citizen for her “exquisite playing,” Michelle Gott is a versatile harpist and educator developing new pathways for the harp through interdisciplinary work with dance, film, and theatre. Born in Las Vegas, her artistic vision is shaped by the imaginative sound world of Vegas showroom culture, her classical training in New York City, extensive work in contemporary techniques, and transformative collaborations that bring forth new dimensions of her creative self. A dual citizen of the United States and Canada, Michelle embraces the opportunity to connect communities through cross-border artistic dialogue. She is based in Ottawa, Canada - the traditional, unceded land of the Anishinabe Algonquin people.

Interdisciplinary

Michelle’s passion for interdisciplinary creation is at the heart of her current projects. In 2024, Michelle founded HarpSparks – an initiative to stretch the sonic possibilities of the harp and its collaborative potential through workshops, performances, and a biannual festival in Ottawa. She is currently creating new works for harp and dance, which will premiere at the 2026 HarpSparks Festival, in collaboration with Voices Dance Project and dancer/choreographer Autumn Eckman.

Michelle and Autumn’s collaboration began in 2019 with Drift - a work exploring glacial deterioration for three harps, dance, and film by multimedia artist Jonathan Marquis. Further projects included a piece for the University of Arizona Art Museum celebrating the return of a stolen painting by Willem de Kooning. Joining forces with multimedia artist Dorsey Kaufmann and students at the University of Arizona, Michelle and Autumn created Mirage, a large-scale multimedia performance exploring cognitive dissonance within abusive relationships. Designed for six harps, dance, and film, Mirage toured to Iceland in March 2020 where performances were unfortunately cancelled due to the pandemic. Part of the material, however, was transformed into a video collaboration, called Reframe, which premiered virtually in August 2020 for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music.

Contemporary

In the field of contemporary music, Michelle has worked closely with many composers including Andrew Staniland, Pierre Boulez, Roddy Ellias, Virko Baley, Ursula Mamlok, Anthony Cheung, and Nico Muhly. She has given the world premiere of two works by Andrew Staniland: Exit Eden for flute and harp, commissioned by the National Arts Centre for Michelle’s duo with Joanna G’froerer and in between us, a sea for solo harp with electronics, commissioned in 2022 through a grant from the American Harp Society. Other notable performances include Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Freude for two amplified harps and voice, presented in collaboration with Emily Levin; Nico Muhly’s opera, Dark Sisters (2011); and the North American premiere and recording of Anthony Cheung’s Centripedalocity with the Talea Ensemble.

Solo

As a soloist, Michelle has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Atlantic String Quartet, and the Arizona Symphony Orchestra (University of Arizona.) She has also been featured at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, as a winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition, and at Carnegie Hall for the New York premiere of Kevin Kaska’s Concerto for Harp and Wind Ensemble. As a recitalist, she has appeared at the National Arts Centre and the National Art Gallery in Ottawa, Canada, and for Ottawa ChamberFest, Ottawa New Music Festival, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, and Voices of Change (Dallas, TX), among others.

Orchestral

As an orchestral musician, Michelle has subbed extensively with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, including their Canada 150 Tour to the Atlantic Provinces, and with the major orchestras of New York, Boston, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Phoenix, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. As guest second harpist, she can be heard on two recordings: Scheherazade.2 (Nonesuch, 2016) with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and The Bounds of Our Dreams (Analekta, 2018) with the National Arts Centre Orchestra. She has additional experience subbing for Broadway productions in New York City, including The Producers and The Fantasticks and for artists such as Diana Krall and Dominique Fils-Aimé.

Teaching

Michelle has held teaching positions at the University of Arizona (Tucson), the University of Ottawa, and the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy. She has also served as guest artist and clinician for several festivals, including the 2023 National Music Festival, 2022 Young Artists Harp Competition and Seminar, 2019 Brevard Music Festival, the Pacific Region International Summer Music Academy (PRISMA) in Powell River, BC, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestral Institute (VSOI) in Whistler. As a writer, she has contributed articles for The American Harp Journal on the life and music of Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, who was the subject of her doctoral research.

Education

Michelle holds her B.M., M.M, and D.M.A. degrees in Harp Performance from The Juilliard School where she studied with Nancy Allen. She is a two-time winner of the Anne Adams Awards (AHS Foundation), a recipient of the Peter Mennin Prize for Outstanding Leadership and Achievement in the Arts, and an awardee of the Richard F. French grant for her doctoral research. She is deeply grateful to Ms. Allen and to the many mentors and teachers throughout her life.