I've enjoyed performing for several services at The First Presbyterian Church of Highlands, NC over the past two years. I was thrilled to record prelude music for their YouTube service on September 13, 2020. I hope you enjoy my rendition of  J. S. Bach's Prelude in C and this online worship service!

I've enjoyed performing for a few services at The First Presbyterian Church of Highlands, NC over the past two years. Their livestream service for August 9, 2020 included harp music previously recorded at services held last year. I hope you enjoy this online worship service!
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Prelude: Angelus by Henriette Renié (starts at 0:25)
Performed on March 24, 2019 by Kela Walton, Harpist 
Anthem:  Jesus, Lover of My Soul by Philip Stopford (starts at 9:25)
Performed by The First Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir on March 24, 2019 Directed by Dr. Michael Lancaster; Kela Walton, Harpist; Angie Jenkins, Organist

With the help of several experts, we take a deep dive into the world of pulse, rhythm, and metronomes, as well as review metronome apps in the July/August 2020 issue of the Harp Column.

I was so honored to be invited to perform for this livestream service on June 7, 2020, and it was my first time performing in person with other musicians since the pandemic began. I hope you enjoy this online worship service!

Opening Voluntary: Balm in Gilead - African American Spiritual arr. Rhett Barnwell (starts at 1:30)
Offertory:  Be Thou My Vision arranged by Alice Parker (starts at 41:40)
Performed by The Quarantine Quartet, Directed by Andrew Holt; accompanied by Kela Walton, Harpist; Marcia Andrews, Organist
Communion Music: My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - Appalachian hymn arr. Erin Hansen (starts at 52:50)

This episode of Together SpARTanburg is all about harp! Principal Harpist Emily Waggoner and I discuss the harp's history, its place in the orchestra, and perform from our homes. Music featured includes a duet version of Jupiter from Gustav Holst's The Planets based on arrangement for two harps by Janet Witman, as well as the harp variation from The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten, and the Waltz of the Flowers cadenza from Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker.

Thank you to the Spartanburg Philharmonic for including harps in this wonderful online series!

With the help of several experts, I take an in-depth look at tuning as well as review tuning apps. We get into, "the nitty-gritty about the chore harpists love to hate." in this special stay at home May/June 2020 issue of the Harp Column. FREE for all harpists to download or read online here!

Naxos released the Respighi: Roman Trilogy recording by the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra today! In May and June of 2018 during my brief time as acting principal harpist with the BPO, the orchestra recorded Respighi's trilogy of tone-poems celebrating Rome. My sweet friend Catherine Case flew to Buffalo to play second harp for the concerts and the recording sessions. Catherine and I met in graduate school, and I've always been in awe of her amazing harp skills. Not surprisingly she is also supremely gifted at playing in a section, which is an art we harpists don't get to practice very often. Fontane di Roma (Fountains of Rome) tracks 5-8 and Pini di Roma (Pines of Rome) tracks 9-12 includes Catherine and I playing both my new and my old Salzedo model harps! Respighi did not include harp in Feste Roman (Roman Festivals). I suppose he didn't think the harp was raucous enough for the revelry at festivals, and perhaps he decided between the piano, organ, mandolin, strings, and three or more of every type of wind and brass instrument there just wasn't room for harp?

It is interesting how life moves in circles. My husband, conductor Stefan Sanders, and I spent most of our honeymoon in Rome. We rented a Vespa and spent a week scooting around looking at the very trees, roads, and fountains Respighi so eloquently captures. We even joked about hearing his music in our heads as we saw the sights, and sang the themes together while we ate gelato. When I first met Stefan he was a member of the BPO trombone section, and who would have thought that all these years, one honeymoon, and a few jobs later I would get to record Respighi with the same orchestra? I'm so grateful to Music Director JoAnn Falletta for inviting me to play with the BPO and be a part of this project.

​The recording is available on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify or your favorite music streaming service.