
Photo taken by Louise Pilatan
About Elysha
Elysha Vorstenbosch is a harp player, composer, and improviser living in Perth County, Ontario. She has a Bachelor of Music degree from Wilfrid Laurier University where she studied lever harp with Sharlene Wallace, composition with Barbara Assiginak and Kevin Day, and improvisation with Kathryn Ladano. During her studies, she performed on multiple occasions with the Improvisation Concert Ensemble (ICE) lead by Kathryn Ladano, directed the Free Improvisation Renegade Ensemble (FIRE) and performed new solo and ensemble lever harp works, including an improvised harp trio at the Women From Space Festival. Inspired by the rich history that the lever harp holds in Irish culture, Elysha studied abroad for 4 months at the University of Limerick in Ireland.
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Elysha enjoys exploring the realms of songwriting, folk, contemporary classical, electronic, and world music within her compositions and improvisations. A few of her greatest influences include Catriona McKay, Loreena McKinnett, Yuki Kajiura, Amy Turk and Maeve Gilchrist who sparked her interest in exploring extended techniques, foot-tapping tunes and haunting serenades. Her musical creations, both composed and improvised, draw upon her love of storytelling, her perspective and experiences of the world around her, and exploring the possibilities of what the lever harp can do. Her composition, Sidetrack, won the 2021 Outstanding Composition Award at the Stratford Kiwanis Festival.
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Elysha was a member of the Canadian Musicians Co-operative (2021 - 2023). She acted as Artistic Administrator (2023), Pre-Professional Program Coordinator (2022), and Emerging Artist (2021). Each of these opportunities provided her with multiple hours developing her performance and administrative skills, and understanding of the music industry.
Elysha continues to explore, enhance and refine her musical abilities while seeking greater understanding of the history and culture surrounding the lever harp.