Welcome to "Meet the Musician," a behind-the-scenes blog series getting to know the Houston Symphony's exceptional musicians. In this series, we take you up close and personal with the artists who sit on stage at Jones Hall every weekend. Read on to learn more about the inspirations, challenges, and musical passions that drive these remarkable artists. And, of course, you'll learn some fun facts along the way! Dive in and help us celebrate the diverse stories and experiences that make each musician an integral part of our symphonic family.
Name: Allegra Lilly
Position: Principal Harp
Hometown: Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
How long have you been playing your instrument, and what do you love the most about it?
I started playing the harp when I was seven years old, two years after starting piano lessons. My relationship with the harp is ever-evolving, but what I love most about the harp lately is that it is fundamentally a percussion instrument. Though it has 47 strings, the harp is not bowed, so I don’t think of it as part of the string section. In my mind, the harp is a member of the
percussion family, and we actually get quite a bit of rhythmic material to play. I love the cognitive dissonance of this ethereal, angelic instrument, being the one to lay down the beat.
How did you get started playing your instrument?
My parents used to take my sister and me to as many classical concerts as they could, including many Detroit Symphony performances. I fell in love with the harp at first sight! It’s usually all alone in the orchestra and it quite literally stands out in all its tall and ornate glory, and it has the most beautiful material to play. I begged my parents for lessons and eventually wore them down, and I never really looked back.
What concert are you looking forward to performing in the most this season?
I’d have to call it a tie between Bartok’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with our superb concertmaster Yoonshin Song in January and Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in March.
What is your favorite piece of music?
I think it's impossible to choose just one! Can I pick six?! I love Stravinsky's Petrouchka and Le Chant du Rossignol, Bartok's The Miraculous Mandarin and The Wooden Prince, and Prokofiev's Second and Third Piano Concertos. But I also love more works by Mahler, Debussy, and Ravel than I could possibly name here. Like I said... impossible to choose just one!
Outside of classical music, what genre of music is your favorite?
I listen to a little bit of everything, but I'd have to say the genres and bands I return to most often are grunge, classic rock, and rap.
What do you love the most about Houston?
It probably goes without saying that the clear highlight is being here with my husband, Robin, so I will add that I really can’t get enough of the food scene in Houston. I’ve never been to a city that had such diversity of cuisine in every neighborhood and at every conceivable price point.
What’s a fun fact about you that you would like our patrons to know?
It seems appropriate that I’ve ended up here in Texas: when I was a little girl, before I started playing the harp, what I really wanted to be when I grew up was a cowgirl.
If you could choose any three people, living or deceased, to have dinner with who would
they be?
Lorin Maazel, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Alma Mahler.
