About
Described as 'exceptionally virtuosic and sensitive', South African harpist Jacqueline Kerrod has developed an eclectic career spanning classical, contemporary, and creative music.
Most recently, she is a founding member of Trio Candesco with flutist Sarah Shin and violist Jessica Thompson. She has toured internationally with composer and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, both in duo and as part of his ZIM music ensemble. Currently, she is leading a project with cornetist Taylor Ho Bynum and drummer Tomas Fujiwara, further exploring her love of improvisation, composition, and use of electronics. She is the founder and producer of an experimental series hosted by Morpeth Contemporary art gallery in the heart of Hopewell, NJ. Guests have included: Joe Morris, Ken Filiano, Ingrid Laubrock, Keir GoGwilt, Dan Peck, Tom Rainey, Mariel Roberts, Jeff Snyder, Liam Elliot, Elsa Nilsson, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Tomas Fujiwara.
As a champion of contemporary music, Jacqueline has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, Wet Ink, Alarm Will Sound, and Metropolis Chamber Ensemble. As a native South African, she is passionate about commissioning and performing music written by South African composers and has performed over a dozen works written for her. She has also performed with elite chamber groups such as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players.
She was a founding member and co-songwriter of the pop duo Addi & Jacq with singer/songwriter Addi McDaniel, who were winners of NYC's Battle of the Boroughs in 2015, and toured her show, ‘Harps Uncovered’ featuring vocalist Hannah Sumner through 12 states of the US.
Described as an ‘eclectic harpist’ by Lucid Culture, her discography includes: a record of solo harp improvisations that was selected as a ‘best of 2021’ by New York City Jazz Record, a duo with Joe Morris on Relative Pitch Records, a duo with Taylor Ho Bynum on Orenda Records, and a duo with Anthony Braxton on the Italian label ‘dischi di angelica’ . Recorded live on May 27th, 2018 at the AngelicA, Festival Internazionale di Musica at the Centro di Ricerca Musicale / Teatro San Leonardo, Bologna, Italy. Available on Bandcamp.Contemporary music, 3 self produced albums with Addi & Jacq, Greg Spears' Requiem (New Amsterdam Records), Robert Paterson’s Star Crossing and Book of Goddesses (American Modern Recordings), and MAYA - In The Spirit(Perspectives Recordings). Other notable recordings that feature Jacqueline include Tristan Murail’s Winter Fragments (AEON), Anthony Braxton’s Trillium J, and the single Crazy in Love by Antony and the Johnsons (Secretly Canadian/Rough Trade Records). Her recording, "Candlelight Carols" with Grammy®-nominated vocal ensemble Seraphic Fire debuted at #11 on the Classical Billboard charts.
Orchestral
Jacqueline recently won the principal harp audition for Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, PA. She has had the great fortune of playing alongside principal harpists, Deborah Hoffman and Nancy Allen in the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic orchestras respectively, and as principal harpist with the New York City Opera, American Ballet Theater, American Symphony and the American Composers orchestras. She has performed for various Broadway and off- Broadway shows (Cinderella, The Producers, Beauty and the Beast, The Fantasticks and Donnybrook!).
degrees / awards
Jacqueline began playing the harp at the age of nine in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she went on to receive her Bachelor of Music in performance with distinction from the University of the Witwatersrand under the tutelage of Ventura Rosenthal and Pauline Nossel. She was a finalist in the Jim Joel Music Prize and ATKV National Music Competitions. With the prestigious Oppenheimer Memorial Trust Foundation Scholarship, she moved to the US on the invitation of Nancy Allen to study with her at the Yale School of Music (Master of Music and Artist Diploma). During this period she spent her summers at the Aspen Music Festival as the Fellowship recipient and was the winner of the harp competition '01.
* cover photo credit: Leo Mascaro