Sarah Bullen was appointed principal harp of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1997 by ninth music director Daniel Barenboim. She served for 24 years and retired her post in 2021.
Originally from Long Island, Bullen was a student of Marcel Grandjany, Mildred Dilling and Susann McDonald. As a Naumburg Foundation award recipient, she earned bachelor and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School and began her orchestral career in 1981 as principal harp of the Utah Symphony. In 1987, Zubin Mehta appointed Bullen as principal harp of the New York Philharmonic, a position she would hold for ten years.
Throughout her career, Bullen has won critical acclaim as a soloist with more than 50 concerto appearances, including performances with the CSO under Barenboim and Pierre Boulez and with the New York Philharmonic under Mehta and Erich Leinsdorf, among many others. She has served as a soloist, chamber musician, lecturer and judge at numerous American Harp Society conferences and at the World Harp Congress and the USA International Harp Competition. For her achievements in the field, Harp Column magazine recognized Bullen as one of the foremost harpists of the 20th century.
As an educator, Bullen has taught master classes throughout the world. During her tenure in New York, she served as chairperson of the harp department of the Manhattan School of Music. In Chicago, she was a professor of harp at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, and she has served as adjunct professor of music at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Several of Bullen’s students have gone on to enjoy major professional careers.
Her solo and chamber music recordings include The Essential Harp and Lyon & Healy Hall’s Inaugural Concert, with the latter featuring performances by Bullen along with fellow CSO musicians Louise Dixon (flute) and Max Raimi (viola).
She is the author of the best-selling, two-volume Principal Harp: A Guidebook for the Orchestral Harpist, published by Vanderbilt Music Company in 1995 and 2008. With Lillian Lau, Bullen co-authored the first volume of Anthology of Harp Duets, published in 2016 by Lyon & Healy. Most recently, Harp Column Music published her volume The Orchestral Harpist in 2023.
