Lima, OH (January 12, 2023) - Lima Symphony Orchestra musicians Alix Raspé Gray (harp), Erin Torres (flute), and Carmen Granger (viola) will visit students at Lima Central Catholic High School (720 S Cable Rd, Lima, OH 45805) on Friday, January 20 from 1:45 – 3 PM to share their experiences as orchestral musicians and soloists. Students will have the opportunity to ask the musicians questions and watch them perform.
The Lima Symphony’s most valuable asset is its players. Whenever possible, the Symphony highlights the top-notch talent within in its ranks by featuring players in solo works or spotlights. Alix Raspé Gray (harp), Erin Torres (flute), and Carmen Granger (viola) are all members of the Lima Symphony Orchestra and will be center stage for the Symphony’s upcoming “Harp by Candlelight” concerts happening on Saturday, January 21 at 7:30 PM at Trinity United Methodist Church in Lima and on Sunday, January 22 at 4 PM at the newly restored Grand Opera House in Saint Marys. Raspé joined the orchestra in 2021 and is currently in her 2nd season as principal harpist. Torres also joined the orchestra in 2021 and is currently in her 2nd season and principal flute, and Granger is in her 4th season as principal violist.
The Lima Symphony In-School programs provide an opportunity for up-close, interactive music experiences for hundreds of children of all ages in Allen County. Students have the chance to ask questions and hear about guest artists’ experiences. These relaxed, often informal presentations make music accessible and interesting for children who may not otherwise have the opportunity to hear live music. This visit is part of the Lima Symphony’s ongoing commitment to educational outreach and programming in our community and is generously underwritten by Dominion Energy.
For more information about the Lima Symphony Orchestra or for tickets, please contact the Lima Symphony at 419-222-5701 or www.limasymphony.com.
Alix Raspé Gray
Alix Raspé Gray, professionally known as Alix Raspé, is an award-winning solo and orchestral harpist, chamber musician, educator, and musical entrepreneur.
Raspé currently serves as Adjunct Harp Professor for Phillips Academy Andover, Substitute Harpist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Associate Harpist for Columbus Symphony, and Principal Harpist of the Lima Symphony Orchestra. From 2017-2018, Raspé served as Associate Harpist for the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Raspé also currently teaches and coaches at the Chamber Music Connection and Brookside Music School.
Raspé has received numerous awards as a soloist including: the Annapolis Music Festival Maestro Award for Outstanding Soloist at the age of 13, the NYU Excellence in String Performance and Leadership Award, and the NYU Orchestral Excellence Award. In 2015, Raspé was the winner of the NYU String Competition. In 2016, Raspé was awarded First Runner-Up in the New England Conservatory’s Lower Strings Concerto Competition. As an orchestral harpist, Raspé has performed with the New World Symphony, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, NY Pops, Symphony of New Hampshire, Symphoria, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Harvard Bach Society, LoftOpera, Park Avenue Symphony, Chelsea Symphony, and QUO.
Raspé has performed with such artists as Michael Bolton, Roger Daltrey of The Who, MAX on Live with Kelly and Ryan, The Late Late Show with James Corden and iHeartRadio, WOSU Classical and has been featured on the soundtrack of RuPaul’s Drag Races (Season 5), and in the film Reservation Road.
Raspé has attended such prestigious music festivals as: the Tanglewood Music Center (Harp Fellow), the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin International Music Festival, National Orchestral Institute (Harp Fellow), MusicAlp, Saratoga Harp Colony, Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific, and Interlochen. Raspé has performed in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Seiji Ozawa Hall, Symphony Hall, Juilliard’s Paul and Morse Halls, NEC’s Jordan Hall, and Symphony Space.
Raspé graduated Pi Kappa Lambda from New England Conservatory with her master’s degree in Harp Performance where she studied with Jessica Zhou. Raspé received her Bachelor of Music from New York University with a minor in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies where she studied with Bridget Kibbey. Prior to attending NYU, Raspé attended the Juilliard Pre-College where she studied with June Han.
Raspé currently resides in New Hampshire with her husband, Erik, and their miniature Australian Shepherds, Ollie and Indie.
Carmen Granger
Carmen Granger is an orchestral musician and educator throughout the Midwest
and has performed with many symphonies and opera companies in Ohio, Kentucky, Arkansas, Virginia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. She is currently Principal Violist of the Lima Symphony Orchestra and has sat as principal viola of Western Piedmont Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic, Fayetteville Symphony, and assistant principal of Greensboro Symphony and Durham Symphony. An advocate for new music, Granger is currently the violist in New Downbeat – an all-female, new music ensemble in Cincinnati.
In recent years, Granger has played at the Durham Performing Arts Center as a guest with the MGP Live tour of The Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses (2017) as well as Distant Worlds: The Music from Final Fantasy (2018) and the National Music Festival (2019/2021). Granger obtained her bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her master’s degree in Viola Performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently an employee at Antonio Violina and Ukuleles in Cincinnati, and in her free time, enjoys playing disc golf, baking, and playing with her two cats; Yuffie and Clementine.
Erin Torres
Highly regarded as an educator, clinician, soloist, new music specialist, and chamber and orchestral musician, flutist Dr. Erin Helgeson Torres has performed and taught throughout the United States and abroad in the United Kingdom, France, Aus
tria, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, China, and Canada. She is currently Visiting Professor of Music at Ohio Northern University where she teaches in the flute studio and various musicology courses. She is Artist Faculty of the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lake, Michigan and is the founder of the Mid-Ohio Flute Intensive, entering its sixth season.
Torres is honored to be in her second year as Principal Flutist with the Lima Symphony Orchestra. She also serves as Second Flutist/Piccoloist with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Principal Flutist of the Worthington Chamber Orchestra and Queen City Opera, and Solo Flutist with the Columbus Ohio Discovery Ensemble), a contemporary music ensemble. She performs regularly in various area orchestras including the West Virginia, Louisville, Central Ohio, Springfield, and Westerville Symphonies and the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, she performs in the flute/saxophone duet Tower Duo with her husband, Dr. Michael Torres. Their debut album, CROSSWIND, under the Ravello label for Parma Recordings, was released in January 2019.
Active as a soloist, Torres most recently completed a performance tour through the Balkans as a solo artist on the Derek Han Tribute Concert Series, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy. She performed as concerto soloist with the North Macedonia Philharmonic Orchestra in Skopje, North Macedonia, and Pristina, Kosovo, and with the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet in Tirana, Albania in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of U.S. - Albania diplomatic relations. Earlier in the summer of 2022, she performed as a guest soloist with the Lima Area Concert Band and is slated to visit China for the third time in the near future, this time with her ensemble, Tower Duo.
Torres conducted her dissertation research in Dijon, France and holds degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, The Ohio State University, and Stetson University. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her saxophonist husband, Michael, and their rescue ex-racer greyhound, Arwen.