Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hannah Stater just recently completed her master's degree in Harp Performance at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance under the instruction of Professor Joan Holland. Stater graduated summa cum laude from Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music with a bachelor's degree in Harp Performance where she studied with Professor Jody Guinn. There, she also completed secondary private piano lessons with Dr. Zarina Melik Stepanova. As a student at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, she worked as a tutor for Tonal Harmony 1, 2, and 3; Music Theory Since 1900; Solfege 1, 2, 3, and 4; Tonal Counterpoint; and Keyboard Musicianship 1, 2, 3, and 4.
During her master's degree, Stater earned principal harp in University of Michigan Symphony Band and University Symphony Orchestra for which she played Mahler Symphony No. 5, Rimsky-Korsakov/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition, Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, Steven Bryant Concerto for Wind Ensemble, Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, John Luther Adams Become Ocean, and many more.
At Baldwin Wallace, Stater performed as the principal harpist in several symphonic ensemble concerts and operas including Peter Brook's La Tragédie de Carmen, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Stater was the principal harpist of Baldwin Wallace University Symphonic Wind Ensemble with which she traveled to Carnegie Hall for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Invitational Festival in 2018 and 2019 to perform Puts' Millennium Canons, Wagner's Elsa's Processional to the Cathedral, and the world premieres of Joel Love's Solace Saxophone Concerto and of Dr. Clint Needham's Trio Concerto with The Factory Seconds Brass Trio.
In February of 2019 Stater was awarded the First Prize Jan Pennington Gray Harp Scholarship from her recorded submissions of a solo harp transcription of Smetana's Moldau and Hindemith's Sonate für Harfe. In December of 2017, Stater received the honor of being inducted into the Dayton C. Miller Honor Society for her scholastic achievement in addition to being on the Dean's List for seven consecutive semesters. She was also initiated into the Mu Phi chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon—a co-educational International Professional Music Fraternity and serves on the executive board as the historian.
Stater is also a singer and was a founding member of Fem Valore—Baldwin Wallace University's collaborative all-women a cappella group for which she arranged and performed contemporary songs by artists like Lorde, Whitney Houston, and Sam Smith.
Born into an artistic family, Stater has been performing on stage as a dancer, singer, actor, pianist, and harpist since the age of five. She studied classical ballet, tap, jazz, and musical theatre at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Wexford Dance Academy, and Pittsburgh Ballet House. Stater appeared in the ensembles of several musicals in community theatre and high school theatre including Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, The Music Man, and The Drowsy Chaperone in the title role.
In middle school and high school, Stater was the harpist at Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra--an audition based youth orchestra that met weekly and played major orchestral works. In her five years playing with the orchestra, she played works like Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Bacchanale, Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (second harp), Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5, and Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.
Stater is an advocate for new music, so she dedicates herself to performing living and contemporary composers' works to share today's music. She has collaborated with her classmates at university to advise them about the nuances and techniques of the harp to give them skills to write for the instrument in the future. She has repeatedly collaborated with her colleague, Greg Watson, for whom she played a handful of pieces that he composed in his undergraduate career.
During her master's degree, Stater earned principal harp in University of Michigan Symphony Band and University Symphony Orchestra for which she played Mahler Symphony No. 5, Rimsky-Korsakov/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition, Ravel Daphnis et Chloe, Steven Bryant Concerto for Wind Ensemble, Sergei Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, John Luther Adams Become Ocean, and many more.
At Baldwin Wallace, Stater performed as the principal harpist in several symphonic ensemble concerts and operas including Peter Brook's La Tragédie de Carmen, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder, Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. Stater was the principal harpist of Baldwin Wallace University Symphonic Wind Ensemble with which she traveled to Carnegie Hall for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Invitational Festival in 2018 and 2019 to perform Puts' Millennium Canons, Wagner's Elsa's Processional to the Cathedral, and the world premieres of Joel Love's Solace Saxophone Concerto and of Dr. Clint Needham's Trio Concerto with The Factory Seconds Brass Trio.
In February of 2019 Stater was awarded the First Prize Jan Pennington Gray Harp Scholarship from her recorded submissions of a solo harp transcription of Smetana's Moldau and Hindemith's Sonate für Harfe. In December of 2017, Stater received the honor of being inducted into the Dayton C. Miller Honor Society for her scholastic achievement in addition to being on the Dean's List for seven consecutive semesters. She was also initiated into the Mu Phi chapter of Mu Phi Epsilon—a co-educational International Professional Music Fraternity and serves on the executive board as the historian.
Stater is also a singer and was a founding member of Fem Valore—Baldwin Wallace University's collaborative all-women a cappella group for which she arranged and performed contemporary songs by artists like Lorde, Whitney Houston, and Sam Smith.
Born into an artistic family, Stater has been performing on stage as a dancer, singer, actor, pianist, and harpist since the age of five. She studied classical ballet, tap, jazz, and musical theatre at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, Wexford Dance Academy, and Pittsburgh Ballet House. Stater appeared in the ensembles of several musicals in community theatre and high school theatre including Pirates of Penzance, Guys and Dolls, Bye Bye Birdie, The Music Man, and The Drowsy Chaperone in the title role.
In middle school and high school, Stater was the harpist at Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestra--an audition based youth orchestra that met weekly and played major orchestral works. In her five years playing with the orchestra, she played works like Camille Saint-Saëns' Danse Bacchanale, Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (second harp), Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5, and Alexander Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.
Stater is an advocate for new music, so she dedicates herself to performing living and contemporary composers' works to share today's music. She has collaborated with her classmates at university to advise them about the nuances and techniques of the harp to give them skills to write for the instrument in the future. She has repeatedly collaborated with her colleague, Greg Watson, for whom she played a handful of pieces that he composed in his undergraduate career.
