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Description

Ann Hobson Pilot is a pioneer and trailblazer. She is the first African-American to perform with both the Washington National Symphony and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As a principal harpist, she has performed all over the world.

Ann talks about her upbringing in Philadelphia, her forty-year career with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops under conductors Arthur Fiedler and John Williams, and the harp concerto "On Willows and Birches," which Williams wrote especially for her. She tells us about her most recent project, "La Musica at Home," a collaborative project consisting of a series of performance documentaries created during the COVID pandemic. As a music teacher, Ann tells us how she is providing opportunities for students of color to perform classical music.