![]() ![]() “I don’t ever remember not wanting to play the harp for a career," O’Brien said. “If that’s what you want and you're dedicated and you also have dedicated parents, they’ drive you all over Virginia,” O’Brien said. Eventually the teacher wasn't able to come to Roanoke as often, so O’Brien and her parents would travel as long as three hours for harp lessons. She had a teacher who would travel to Roanoke where she also led a harp ensemble and played with the Roanoke Symphony. O’Brien started taking formal lessons around age ten. “I tried all of their hundreds of harps that they have there, and this is the one that I picked. “When I was ready to size up to my full concert grand, my family and I took a trip to Chicago where there is a famous harp factory, Lyon & Healy,” O’Brien said. She took to the instrument naturally and when she was 11 years old, her parents agreed to upgrade her harp. I always say they didn't know what they were getting into.” So the next year, my parents got me a little folk harp for Christmas. I fell in love with the sound of the harp. “So we went to this craft show, and there was a woodworker who had made these beautiful folk harps, and there was a lady playing them. “Craft shows are very popular in this part of the country, in Roanoke, Virginia, where I grew up and where I live now,” she said. She started off playing the violin, but her life was changed forever when her family took her to a craft show when she was five-years-old. O’Brien and her two brothers were introduced to music when they were very young. On April 10, O'Brien will give a recital in Philadelphia which will celebrate her Appalachian heritage. ![]() She has also written a book to inspire young musicians and she regularly performs herself. Having studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, O’Brien is now settled in her beloved Appalachia, teaching her own students both locally and around the world on Zoom. O’Brien’s musical artistry is worthy of her harp. Rachel O’Brien's ornate bronze and walnut harp looks positively celestial, as though it might have been played by an angel in some Medieval or Renaissance painting. ![]()
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