Ellen Formanek Tepper of Glenside, a professional harpist and award-winning artist and dancer, passed away on July 17 after several years of serious health challenges, according to her obituary in the Chestnut Hill Local. She was 71.
Tepper taught lessons and workshops in harp performance and arranging out of her Glenside studio for more than 30 years.
She also played for hundreds of weddings and funerals and recorded five pieces over the course of her professional career: Timeless Music for the Celtic Harp, Celtic Refractions, Waltzes with Harps, The Space Between the Strings, and her newly released Winter Cycles.
According to her biography on TM Entertainment, she spent most of her childhood in Vienna, Austria, where she began studying classical harp at the age of eight.
From her biography:
Her abiding interest in early music was inspired by a childhood spent exploring ruins in Europe and by her exposure to the multi-faceted cultural life of Vienna. After returning to the United States, she continued her studies to earn a degree in Harp Performance from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts (now The University of the Arts).
A versatile performer, Ellen has performed the traditional pedal harp repertoire but now focuses primarily on music composed before 1800, playing it on a variety of harps, including the medieval harp, the Irish wire strung harp, the Italian triple harp, the Renaissance bray harp, and the modern “Celtic” or lever harp. Ellen has performed with the Historical Harp Society, the American Harp Society, Early Music at the University of Pennsylvania, and with the iconic Philadelphia early music ensemble Piffarro. She also performs for “Music for All Seasons,” and frequently appears as a soloist in the historic homes of the Delaware Valley.
“My parents asked me when I was just 5 what instrument I wanted to play, and I just knew it was the harp,” she told the Local in 2019. “I was good with my fingers, and I wanted that sound to be my voice.”
The public is invited to a memorial session on September 12, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Irish Center (Commodore Barry Club) in Mt. Airy.
You can watch her 2021 interview and performance on Berks County Community Television below:
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