First Prize winner of the 2019 Ima Hogg Competition, Rachel O’Brien (formerly Rachel Lee Hall) also won the 2013 Lyon & Healy Award and has received prizes from the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra’s Anne Jett Rogers Award, Saratoga Harp Colony “Play with the Pros” Competition, Roanoke Youth Symphony Orchestra Young Artist’s Awards, and the James Bland Music Contest of the Lions Club. The 2015 Cleveland Institute of Music Presser Scholar, she has been soloist with the Houston Symphony and has been an orchestral harpist with the Cleveland, Akron, Firelands, and Roanoke symphony orchestras. She holds both a Bachelor and a Master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and has an ever-growing presence on social media, with over 40,000 followers. Additionally, she is the author of “Purpose in Practice: 26 Rules for the Practicing Musician.” When not performing, O’Brien can be found with her husband and son in Roanoke, Virginia, a valley nestled in the heart of Appalachia.
