1st Prize Harp 2023 Tjasha Gafner, Switzerland
· Biography
Born in Switzerland in 1999, harpist Tjasha Gafner studied at the Juilliard School in New York with Nancy Allen after completing her master's degree as a soloist with Letizia Belmondo at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne. Since 2022, she has been studying pedagogy at the Haute École de Musique de Lausanne with Sandrine Chatron. She is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions, including first places at the Felix Godefroid International Harp Competition (Belgium, 2012), Suoni d'Arpa (Italy, 2014) and the Martine Géliot International Harp Competition (France, 2016). In 2021, she won the Max D. Jost Prize, as well as the Leenaards Cultural Grant. Within ten years she has received more than 20 awards. Since the age of ten, she has performed in Germany, France, Hong Kong, and many other countries, and has appeared as a soloist with the Kammerorchester der Bayrischen Philharmonie, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and the London Mozart Players. She regularly performs with various ensembles on an international level and also contributes to the expansion of the harp repertoire with her own transcriptions. For her outstanding performances, she was awarded both first place and the audience prize at the 72nd International Music Competition 2023 in Munich.
