Alice Chalifoux
Encyclopedia
Alice Chalifoux was Principal Harpist with the Cleveland Orchestra
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1918, the orchestra plays most of its concerts at Severance Hall...

 from 1931–1974 and, for many years, was its only female member.

Education

She was the youngest of four children born to merchant and violinist Oliver Chalifoux and his wife, harpist Alice Hallé Chalifoux in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...

. After learning to play from her mother and continuing as a music student in local schools, Alice was accepted as a student of Carlos Salzedo
Carlos Salzedo
Carlos Salzedo , was a harpist, composer and conductor, born in Arcachon, France, who was one of the musical elite of his time.-France:...

 at the Curtis Institute of Music
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...

 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

.

Career

Through her work with the Cleveland Orchestra, under the direction of such legendary conductors as Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf was a naturalized American Austrian conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a reputation for exacting standards as well as an acerbic personality...

, Artur Rodziński
Artur Rodzinski
Artur Rodziński was a Polish conductor of opera and symphonic music. He is especially noted for his tenures as music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:...

, George Szell
George Szell
George Szell , originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer...

, Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...

, and Loren Maazel, Chalifoux quickly became recognized as a specialist in orchestral technique. Her recording of the Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...

 Danses sacrée et profane with the Cleveland Orchestra received a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 in 1996. Chalifoux was known as a strong advocate of the method for the harp developed by Salzedo, but she also earned a reputation as a teacher in her own right through her many years spent teaching at The Cleveland Institute of Music
Cleveland Institute of Music
The Cleveland Institute of Music is an independent music conservatory located in the University Circle district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States and is overseen by president Joel Smirnoff and Adrian Daly, dean....

, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, located on the campus of Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, was founded in 1865 and is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Students of Oberlin Conservatory enter a very broad network within the music world, as the school's alumni...

 and the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music
Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music
The Baldwin–Wallace College Conservatory of Music is part of Baldwin-Wallace College which is located in Berea, Ohio. The main building is Kulas Hall. The Conservatory is home to the Baldwin-Wallace Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach Festival in the United States.-History:The...

. Chalifoux was the primary instructor at the Salzedo Summer Harp Colony, in Camden, Maine
Camden, Maine
Camden is a town in Knox County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,254 at the 2000 census. The population of the town more than triples during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. Camden is a famous summer colony in the Mid-Coast region of Maine...

, where she succeeded Salzedo after his death in 1961.

Students

Her students continue to hold posts with major orchestras and important teaching positions.
  • Joan Holland, University of Michigan and Interlochen Musical Academy
  • Douglas Rioth, San Francisco Symphony
  • Ann Hobson Pilot, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New England Conservatory, Boston University, Tanglewood
  • Nancy Lendrim and Jody Guinn, Salzedo Harp Duo
  • Yolanda Kondonassis, Oberlin Conservatory, Cleveland Institute of Music, major recording artist for Telarc
  • Jody Guinn, Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory
  • Paula Page, Houston Symphony, Rice University
  • Elizabeth Wooster Colpean, Grand Rapids Symphony
  • Diane Evans, Indianapolis Symphony
  • Anna Maria Mendieta
    Anna Maria Mendieta
    Anna Maria Mendieta is a contemporary American harpist and teacher.-Education:Mendieta studied the harp with Efrat Zaklad at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, with Marjorie Chauvel at Stanford University and with Doug Rioth and Alice Chalifoux....

    , Sacramento Philharmonic

Further reading

  • Pike, Anastasia (2008). Alice Chalifoux: a Centenarian's Legacy. The American Harp Journal. Summer 2008.
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