Harpist Katherine Siochi Has Been Accepted to Juilliard!

Two-time From the Top alum Katherine Siochi recently received one of the best emails of her life – an acceptance to The Juilliard School for this fall!

Katherine, who appeared on Show 197 in Cedar Rapids and Show 214 in Iowa City, was driving in the car with her mom when she got the email. According to her youth profile on the Eastern Iowa Schools website, she started screaming with joy when she opened the message and saw the first word – “Congratulations.”

Out of 20 harpists who auditioned, Katherine was one of the few to be accepted into the classical music-bachelor of music program at Juilliard. Although she was nervous, the evaluation team praised Katherine for her poise, confidence and innate sense of musicality.

“Anyone can be a technician and play the notes, but Katherine has been musically mature since I’ve known her,” says Pam Weest-Carrasco of The Preucil School of Music in Iowa City, who’s been Katherine’s harp teacher since January 2005.

One of the best parts of this article is the comment from John Duffy, an 80-year-old retired doctor from Walker, Iowa. Here’s what he says:

Congratulations on your acceptance to Juilliard! Your whole life, talent, intelligence, aspiration, and vigor are wondrous. Maybe I can help you. I have several CD’s by your future mentor, Nancy Allen, of NYC. She is my favorite harpist. (She also is the prettiest harpist.) I am 80 years of age and am a retired medical doctor and psychiatrist. I have 52,000 prime recorded musical items that fill my garage and barn. I live on a farm near Walker, 30 miles north of Cedar Rapids, IA. I give my music away, to “spread the wealth” and because I am elderly and altruistic. I have 3,000 items available for free download, a “FileFactory” which is my webhost. If you send me your email address, I will send you all my links to download free of charge.

We are checking with Katherine to make sure she’s seen this generous offer. Please join us in wishing her good luck on the next exciting chapter of her musical career! 

15-year-old harpist Katherine Siochi leads demonstration at Franklin Middle School with From the Top's Iowa Makes Music project. (May 2009)