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Gillian Benet Sella
Gillian Benet Sella has recently returned to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra after a year's leave of
absence to play Principal Harp with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Highlights of her career
include performances with James Galway of the Concerto for Flute and Harp by Lowell Liebermann, a
flute and harp recital in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York for the Mostly Mozart Festival,
and the Ginastera Harp Concerto at the Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.. In 1999 she performed at
the World Harp Congress in Prague with the Radio Prague Symphony Orchestra and in 2000 she
played at the American Harp Society National Conference. She has also performed as a soloist with
the Israel Philharmonic, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and
at the Festival Estival de Paris.
Ms. Sella has also been a busy chamber musician participating in the Abu Gosh, Aspen, Kfar Blum
and Tanglewood Music Festivals as well as concerts with soprano Dawn Upshaw. Her chamber
music recordings include compositions by Debussy, Jolivet, Jongen, Ravel and Schmitt with the
Atlantic Sinfonietta, the Tailleferre Concertino for Harp with the Women's Philharmonic on the Koch
International label and In Distance for harp, piccolo and bass drum by Tan Dun with the Oscar Award
Winning composer playing the bass drum for CRI.
Ms. Sella has been Principal Harpist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra since 1995, and for one
season before that she was the Principal Harpist for the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra. Ms. Sella
won first prize in the American Harp Society National Competition two times as well as the Aspen
Concerto Competition. She was presented in a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall
as a winner of the Artist's International Competition. In 1995 she was chosen by the Juilliard School
to receive the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence.
Ms. Sella received a French Civilization bachelor's degree cum laude from Harvard University and
master's and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Nancy Allen.
Three articles excerpted from her doctoral thesis, Debussy's Use of the Harp in the Orchestra, have
been published in the World Harp Congress Journal. She was awarded Fulbright and Rotary Grants
to study with Judy Loman at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto where she was granted the Artist's
Diploma. She also studied at the Ecole Normale de Paris with Marie–Claire Jamet where she was
awarded the Diplome de Concertiste. She studied privately with Marcella DeCray, Pierre Jamet,
Susann McDonald, Ann Pilot and Linda Wood.
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