Dr. Vanessa Fountain (née Sheldon): It was during my first harp lesson, at the age of nine, that I discovered my life’s vocation, a career in harp performance. A native Southern Californian, I hold a Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music in harp performance from the California State University Los Angeles, where I was named the CSU system's youngest to receive a graduate degree. In 2005 I earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in harp and musicology from the University of Arizona, where I was the Graduate Teaching Assistant to professor Carrol McLaughlin and member of the world-renown HarpFusion. Other instructors have included Stephanie Osborne, Susan Allen, and Linda Wood Rollo. I have also been honored as the University of Arizona's youngest doctoral graduate, receiving my degree at age 19.
I have performed as a member and guest soloist with countless chamber ensembles, orchestras, and bands across the United States. Highlights of my international tours include concerts in Shanghai, Seoul, Spain and South Africa. At the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. I premiered "Reverie" by Masatoshi Mitsumoto for solo harp. In addition to playing for such notables as Oprah Winfrey, Maya Angelou, Tippi Hedren, Barbara Sinatra, Florence Henderson, and Arnold Spielberg, I have played as an honorary guest at UCLA, the Colburn School, at the California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education at UC Santa Cruz, for the Japanese Ambassador and Embassy, and appeared as guest artist with the Anderson String Quartet, Barry Manilow, John Bayless and on tour with Il Divo.
I have been the recipient of numerous awards for both my musical and academic performance, including the Valeria Finzi Memorial Harp Competition two years consecutively, the Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, and have been named as a Medici Scholar and on the Who's Who Among American Women and National Dean's List. I am also a member of the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and the Golden Key International Honour Society. As a member of the Venice Youth Pops Orchestra, I was featured in a Southern California Edison television commercial. Other television appearances include feature-length stories on ABC's 20/20, KUAT's Arizona Illustrated, and KGUN 9 News, in addition to radio appearances.
I specialize in composing, arranging, and transcribing music with a focus on works and genres less commonly performed on harp, including rock, jazz, and ragtime. In addition, I advise composers as well promote new music for harp and have released two solo CDs as an independent artist. When I'm not playing or teaching harp, I serve as Dean of Social Sciences and Arts at College of the Desert.
