04/10/2026
Les Fleurs du Mal
Noël Wan, harp
“Did you spring out of heaven or hell, O Beauty?” (Baudelaire)
One of classical harp’s most distinctive emerging soloists, Noël Wan brings together her unique artistic voice and intellectual imagination in an all-new solo program, Les Fleurs du Mal. Pairing pieces by beloved late Romantic composers with exquisite twenty-first century works, she and her harp conjure a tangled, efflorescent world of decadence, perversion, and beauty.
Lilacs, op. 21, no. 5 Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
trans. Wan
Stalk (2008) Gabriel Jenks (b. 1981)
Une châtelaine en sa tour…, op. 110 Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Arches and Strings (20242026) Clifton Callender (b. 1969)
I. Cadenza
II. Muted Groove
III. Bisbigliando
IV. Ballade
Crisantemi (Chrysanthemums) Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Isoldes Liebestod Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Bio
Lauded as “a huge talent with hidden power and amazing maturity” (Bart van Oort) and “not [a harpist] to be slept on” (The Globe and Mail), Taiwanese-Canadian-American Noël Wan 萬依慈 commands a remarkably fresh creative voice, bridging charismatic artistry and intellect in her work as an international prize-winning solo harpist and interdisciplinary scholar.
Unparalleled in her musical versatility and technical virtuosity, Noël has garnered top prizes at major competitions, including the Astral Artists National Competition, USA International Harp Competition, Prix Orford Musique, and World Harp Competition. Her solo work spans classical repertoire to jazz transcriptions to experimental improvisation and has been supported by the Chimei Arts Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Florida State University.
Recent seasons include debut solo recitals in Chicago, Auckland, Hong Kong, China (Fuzhou, Wuxi), and Atlantic Canada; performances of Pull No More, Liliya Ugay’s award-winning solo electroacoustic harp work, at the Chicago Electro-Acoustic Festival, Seoul International Computer Music Festival, and CAMPGround Festival; and the premiere of “The Angel of Death,” an electroacoustic harp-sculpture designed by installation artist Tra Bouscaren. In July 2026, she will make her Elora Festival recital debut and give the world premiere of Jovian and Telluric, op. 54, Caroline Lizotte’s new work for flute and electroacoustic harp at One Harp World in Toronto.
An alumna of the University of Illinois (BM, DMA) and the Yale School of Music (MM), Noël is currently the Assistant Professor of Harp and Entrepreneurship at Florida State University and harp faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.
