Chloe Tula

Chloe Tula, harp
American harpist Chloe Tula has been widely recognized as a rising talent in the classical music world. Recently named Principal Harpist of the Omaha Symphony, she begins performing in that role in the 2022-23 season. 
 
Uniquely at ease as both a featured soloist and orchestral musician, Tula has enjoyed a varied career spanning across the United States. Most recently, she completed a three-year fellowship at the New World Symphony (NWS), in Miami Beach, Florida. South Florida Classical Review lauded Tula as a "standout" with "keen musicianship and elegance".

In demand for the musicality and clarity she brings to the orchestra, her many orchestral engagements have included performances with San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Louisville Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, and The Knights (NYC), in addition to her positions at the Omaha Symphony and the New World Symphony. She has had the privilege of having worked with conductors from all over the world, including Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andris Nelsons, John Williams, and Stephane Dénève, and has appeared in performances with artists Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, Itzhak Perlman, Johannes Moser, Augustin Hadelich, and many others. Since relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2020, she has enjoyed numerous opportunities playing with the many ensembles of the area, including the San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Opera San Jose, California Symphony, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and the Santa Rosa Symphony. 

Tula’s summer festival appearances have spanned across the country, as well. Most recently, in 2021, she performed extensively with Festival Napa Valley. She was a 2019 Harp Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and previously attended the Aspen Music Festival and School for two consecutive summers.

Since making her solo debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the age of sixteen, Tula has established herself as a prizewinning harpist. She was a top prizewinner in the 2019 Ima Hogg Competition, resulting in her concerto debut with the Houston Symphony, performing Ginastera’s Harp Concerto. In 2018, she made her concerto debut with the New World Symphony, in highly acclaimed performances of Glière’s Concerto for Harp. In 2014, she won the Anne Adams Awards, a biennial national competition for solo harpists sponsored by the American Harp Society, as well as first prize in the Mildred Milligan Harp Competition. 

Tula recognizes the need for being a multi-faceted advocate for music. In the 2018-19 season, she launched an ambitious recital series titled “Tales from the Harp” in a partnership with the Miami-Dade Public Library System to promote children's literacy and exposure to the harp in South Florida. In her first season at NWS, she worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas to curate “Double Take” – an immersive evening concert that brought visual and musical arts together for new audiences at New World Center, encouraging audiences to visually experience and react to the music of Schoenberg and Debussy through drawing and artwork. Additionally, she has collaborated with luxury fashion brands Jimmy Choo and Versace to bring classical music and fashion closer together. Through NWS, Tula also had the privilege of serving as guest faculty at the Iberacademy in Medellín, Colombia.  She was a recipient of the Sviatslov Richter outreach grant from the Shepherd School of Music and performed a recital series for children in hospitals throughout the Texas Medical Center. Tula continues to work closely with her hometown youth orchestra — the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra — to maintain a scholarship fund for students, in memory of her late father. 

A Wisconsin native, Tula received her Bachelor’s degree from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, where she studied with Paula Page, former Principal Harpist of the Houston Symphony. Prior to that, she studied with Danis Kelly, former Principal Harpist of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera. Tula plays on a Lyon & Healy Salzedo model from 2015 and a Style 100 model from 2018. When not playing the harp, she enjoys adding to her shoe collection, hosting dinner parties, and spending time with her husband, Francesco, and their Pembroke Welsh Corgi, Hibiki. 

Photo of Chloe Tula by Ekaterina Juskowski
Banner photo by Susan and Neil Silverman Photography