Biography of Ted Nichelson, Harpist

Ted Nichelson is a native of Normal, Illinois. He earned a Doctor of Arts degree in Harp Performance and Music Education from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana and a Master of Music degree in Harp from the University of Michigan. Dr. Nichelson also received a Bachelor of Music in Harp from Illinois Wesleyan University and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, national music honorary society. Currently, he is a freelance harpist in Hollywood , CA and serves Los Angeles County and surrounding areas. His other commitments include serving as staff harpist for Hollywood Forever Funeral Home, and public school teaching in the Beverly Hills and Glendale Unified School Districts .

Dr. Nichelson has served as harpist in the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra, Illinois State University Symphony, the Muncie Symphony Orchestra, and many other orchestras in the Metro-Detroit and Indianapolis areas. His primary teachers include Martha Burwell, Lynne Aspnes, and Elizabeth Richter. Dr. Nichelson has also studied harp with Alice Chalifoux at the Salzedo School (Camden , Maine), Alice Spero Keene of the University of Illinois, and Ruth Myers of Eastern Michigan University. He served as a harp teaching assistant at both the University of Michigan and Ball State University, and taught harp on the faculty of Indiana Wesleyan University. Dr. Nichelson also has numerous solo and guest performances to his credit and played regularly for church services at College Avenue United Methodist Church, Muncie, Indiana.

Dr. Nichelson earned a graduate degree in Musicology from Illinois State University and a portion of his research was published in the Winter, 2000 issue of  The American Harp Journal, a scholarly music periodical. He also teaches piano professionally and maintained large studios in both Ann Arbor, Michigan and Muncie, Indiana. He is a member of the American Harp Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America and the National Guild of Piano Teachers.

In 2007 he received an outstanding alumni award from University High School, Normal, Illinois.

(photo by Rob Wallace, Los Angeles)